AI competency, bilingual teacher training, immersive learning experiences and social and emotional learning curricula receive $100,000 in funding

USF Research & Innovation and the Florida High Tech Corridor are collaborating to support a new round of projects with $100,000 from the Early Stage Innovation Fund program, a program designed to jump-start innovative ideas. The four awarded projects are led by faculty from the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Behavioral & Community Sciences, Education, and Engineering and represent USF’s Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota-Manatee campuses, as well as the Morsani College of Medicine.

This seed round will support four projects focused on USF’s strategic focus areas. The projects will develop a roadmap for community-focused AI education for students in grades 1-12, a unique method for training the next generation of bilingual education professionals, an immersive virtual reality learning experience for youth participants to test innovative solutions to real-world problems, and an expanded multicultural curriculum to enhance students’ social and emotional learning.

“Every day on our campuses, USF faculty develop creative solutions to society’s greatest challenges,” said Dr. Sylvia Wilson Thomas, USF Vice President of Research and Innovation. “This important work supports the breadth and depth of community-focused, high-impact research at USF. This round of early-stage innovation funding was an opportunity for USFRI and the Corridor to highlight the ingenuity of USF researchers in the areas of social science, design and education, and student engagement.”

Corridor CEO Paul Sohl said the projects are unique efforts to deploy new technologies in the broader community. “The Florida High Tech Corridor has launched this seed capital initiative to support promising new ideas from University of South Florida faculty and to spur research ideas that will evolve into larger initiatives,” he said. “These projects will engage and serve the broader community in unique and meaningful ways, and we are excited to see the results of these efforts.”

The newly funded projects are:

Dr. Fan Yang, College of Arts & Sciences, Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications

The goal of this project is to create a roadmap for AI education in Tampa Bay’s K-12 schools. The roadmap leverages existing collaborations in the region and outlines focus areas for AI education programs such as age-appropriate curriculum guidelines, teacher and parent training programs, resource allocation strategies, and methods for integrating AI education into existing subjects.

Dr. Matthew Foster, College of Behavioral & Community Sciences, Department of Child and Family Studies

To meet the critical need for bilingual educators, the team will develop a unique methodology to train the next generation of multilingual leaders in evidence-based bilingual instruction, culturally appropriate assessment practices, special education, and family engagement. The program will include hands-on experiential and service-learning activities for USF students providing bilingual language interventions for emerging bilinguals in kindergarten and first grade.

Discover a wonderland of research
Dr. Lindsay Persohn, College of Education, Department of Language, Literacy, Ed.D., Special Education and Physical Education

This collaborative project with a team of faculty and teachers from the Advanced Visualization Center, College of Education, Muma College of Business and Digital Learning aims to create a prototype of a virtual reality application in which a “world of wonders” offers participants the opportunity to explore, create and collaboratively solve real-world problems. The project envisions interactive multiplayer spaces, such as a library, workshop or gallery, where young people develop and test innovative solutions to the problems they see in their community.

Dr. AnnMarie Alberton Gunn and Dr. Susan V Bennett, College of Education, Department of Language, Literacy, Ed.D., Special Education and Physical Education

The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive curriculum that schools and after-school care centers can use to improve students’ vocabulary and social and emotional learning. The team plans to publish this curriculum and work with new and existing community partners to implement it in after-school care centers to support the needs of this underserved community in Pinellas County and beyond.

Established in 2022, the Florida High Tech Corridor and USF Research & Innovation Early-Stage Innovation Fund supports early-stage innovation and applied research with significant potential for commercial or societal impact. These funds are intended to catalyze USF-developed innovations that could lead to industry investment, community engagement, startup creation, and/or licensing opportunities. Previous funding rounds supported innovations in artificial intelligence, sustainable manufacturing, defense technology, and Alzheimer’s disease research, as well as vaccine development and infection control strategies. USF researchers can apply for up to $25,000 to support USF research costs associated with advancing the target innovation.