Three ambitious, multidisciplinary projects led by Vanderbilt School of Engineering faculty will be featured Wednesday and Thursday, July 28 and 29, during the NSF Convergence Accelerator Expo 2021.
The two-day virtual event will present 15-minute demonstrations of novel solutions that address big-scale societal challenges. The NSF-funded projects integrate disciplines and include industry partners from their outset to speed up translation of research into practice.
The Expo is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
The Vanderbilt projects are:
NEUROAI@WORK
Transforming Neurodiverse Employment Through Inclusion AI is a Convergence Phase 2 project led by David K. Wilson Professor Nilanjan Sarkar, professor of mechanical engineering and department chair. The team is developing a suite of AI-driven tools to support individuals with autism in successfully entering and contributing to the U.S. workforce. The team, which includes engineers, psychologists and business experts, received a Phase 2, $5 million grant in 2020.
Demos are at 9 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Central time Wednesday and Thursday.
STRAIT CONSORTIUM
Validating AI Models and Establishing Trust, co-led by Bennett Landman, professor of computer science, computer engineering and electrical engineering, and Ipek Oguz, assistant professor of computer science and computer engineering, received a Phase 1 grant in 2020. AI technologies in medical imaging can transform diagnosis and treatment but the benefits are not reaching patients because the breakthroughs can’t be scaled or, in some cases, verified. STRAIT, Scalable, Traceable AI for Imaging Translation, aims to close that gap with streamlined validation, development, assessment and translation of medical imaging AI.
Demos are at 9 am, 10 am, noon, 1 pm and 2 pm Central Time Wednesday and Thursday.
COMPUTING THE BIOME
Sensing and Predicting Biothreats with AI works in tandem with a large Microsoft project called Premonition, which follows successful proof-of-concept tests that included Vanderbilt engineers. The convergence team, led by Janos Sztipanovits, E. Bronson Ingram Distinguished Professor of Engineering and director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Software Integrated Systems, is creating a data platform for monitoring and predicting biothreats in a major city. The project, which will use Houston, Texas, as a case study, received a Phase 1 grant in 2020.
Demos are at 9:45 am, 10:45 am, 12:45 pm, 1:45 pm and 2:45 pm Central time Wednesday and Thursday.
Registration directions and the full agenda are available online.