Fourteen faculty members from the Tickle College of Engineering received 15 awards totaling $693,221 through the AI TENNessee Initiative Seed Funds program.

Made available through the Office of Research, Innovation & Economic Development, the seed funding advances knowledge and team building in multidisciplinary AI – both fundamental and applied – that helps UT grow its capabilities, reputation, and impact in AI-related research across disciplines as part of the AI Tennessee Initiative.

The focus areas for the Seed Funds program this year included AI in medicine and healthcare, fundamental AI for science and technology, and AI in the humanities and social science.

Applicants were able to apply for $25,000 for team building activities, up to $50,000 for collaborative grants, up to $75,000 for exploratory grants, and up to $30,000 for the AI Tennessee Distinguished Seminar Series. 

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Associate Professor Anahita Khojandi led the TCE faculty with two awards.

TCE faculty members receiving one award were:

• Shradha Agarwal (Nuclear Engineering)
• Ahmed Aziz (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
• Charles Cao (EECS)
• Gerd Duscher (Materials Science and Engineering)
• Joshua Fu (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
• Doowon Kim (EECS)
• Haochen Li (CEE)
• Xiangyu Li (Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering)
• Jian Liu (EECS)
• Tony Shi (ISE)
• Jindong Tan (MABE)
• Michela Taufer (EECS)
• Zhenbo Wang (MABE)

Led by UT, the AI Tennessee Initiative is engaging with academic, industry, and community partners across Tennessee to leverage the benefits of AI across all disciplines and economic sectors in areas such as smart manufacturing, climate-smart agriculture and forestry, precision health and environment, future mobility, and AI for science. 

Contact

Rhiannon Potkey (865-974-0683, rpotkey@utk.edu)