September 9, 2025
Join us in congratulating Adriana Kovashka, Chair of the Department of Computer Science, for her recent National Science Foundation (NSF) grant in regards to her groundbreaking work in AI assisted science education.
Aiming to help middle school students interpret scientific diagrams, graphs and charts, her project, the Representational Reasoning Assistant (RRA), facilitates an environment which will help advance interdisciplinary research and practices in AI, computer science, learning sciences, and STEM learning. The AI assistant will utilize innovative generative AI technologies to encourage students to partake in meaningful conversations, guide their thinking, and provide personalized support, while giving teachers the flexibility to adapt it to their classroom needs.
Over the course of the three year project, teachers and students from urban, suburban, and rural schools will participate in recursive cycles of development, piloting, and refinement. By adapting multimodal large language models (MLLMs) to be visually focused and pedagogically supportive, the project aims to advance interdisciplinary research in AI, computer science, learning sciences, and STEM education.
This award, funded through NSF’s Research on Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Learning (RITEL) program, recognizes both scientific innovation and the potential impact on education.
Congratulations Adriana Kovashka on this remarkable achievement!