A team of faculty from multiple departments at Fayetteville State University received a $100,000 grant from the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) to increase research capacity in AI applied to Health Equity.
The funding was provided under AIM-AHEAD’s Program for Artificial Intelligence Readiness (PAIR). Faculty members from computer science, biology and nursing are collaborating with the PAIR program to develop research capabilities that can transform Health Equity through novel applications of AI.
"Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the enabling technology of the 21st century and it has transformed, and continues to transform, many aspects of our lives,” said Sambit Bhattacharya, Ph.D., full professor of Computer Science and principal investigator for the research project, in a press release. “AI has high potential for improving Health Equity by analyzing large and complex health care datasets to combat disparities in minority healthcare.”
Collaborating with Bhattacharya are co-investigators Jiazheng Yuan, Ph.D, associate professor and assistant chair of the Biology and Forensic Science department and nursing faculty members Angela McLaurin, Ph.D, and Jamil Norman, Ph.D.
The team’s Phase I, Increasing Capacity in Health Equity through Use-Inspired Research in Artificial Intelligence, will focus on creating the foundation for establishing a comprehensive network of prominent scholars and experienced practitioners. The network will collaboratively participate in workshops and symposia to delineate specific research thrusts, pinpoint existing gaps in research, understand the current state of research infrastructure and discern technological methods that can be employed.
Creating this network is the catalyst for establishing an AI Lab on Health Equity.
Focusing on minority populations and other communities that often face extra challenges is a pivotal aspect of this initiative. “Using AI to connect people to community resources can also help to decrease health disparities,” Bhattacharya added in a press release.
The primary funder of the AIM-AHEAD consortium is the National Institutes of Health.
To wrap up the first day, attendees were able to meet up for a social event at the Brad Halling American Whiskey Ko. in Southern Pines where a $10,000 check was presented to the Joint Special Operations Foundation for their scholarship fund. Photo pr
The three-story, 200,000 square-foot business incubator space is located at 420 Maiden Lane. The building features an elevator, construction has begun on handicap bathrooms for the first floor and the second and third floors feature window walls offering views of Segra Stadium.
Image provided by FTCCFocused on building the local workforce and streamlining the education process through real world learning, the Hope, Opportunity, Prosperity through Education Program at Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC), also kno
