Artificial intelligence takes center stage at Nittany AI Challenge Celebration

Lion Mask
Credit: Patrick Mansell

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State community is invited to virtually attend the Nittany AI Challenge Celebration, where nine student teams will present their minimum viable product for a chance to share in the remaining pool of $25,000 in funding. Saqib Shaikh, software engineering manager and project lead for the Seeing AI project at Microsoft, will be the keynote speaker. The event will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, via Zoom.

The following nine teams were chosen during preliminary rounds of the challenge and spent the past six months competing virtually from all over the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They stayed connected online as they worked out the final details of a solution that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for good to address problems within the areas of education, health, humanitarian challenges, sustainability and climate change.

  • AI Guide: AI used to help the visually impaired navigate indoors and find objects.
  • Aidly: Use of AI to assist nonprofits in volunteer outreach.
  • Cowriting Optimized and Ascended Clinical Trials aims to accelerate the number of Food and Drug Administration-approved medical therapies by guiding investigators.
  • Cyclone: Smart technology to reduce large-scale energy waste in buildings.
  • Depression Advisory Correctional Therapy is a tool for health care practitioners.
  • Energy Intelligence: Reduce energy use by regulating heating, cooling and lighting systems.
  • MedArmor: Genetic and AI-based diagnosis and medical cost estimation.
  • Nyansapo: Increase literacy rates in African countries.
  • OpenVessel: Build 3D vascular network model to detect tumors and advance artificial tissue growth.

Students are from Penn State's Berks, Great Valley, Harrisburg and University Park campuses and are enrolled in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, College of Education, College of Engineering, College of Health and Human Development, College of Information Sciences and Technology, College of the Liberal Arts, Smeal College of Business, Eberly College of Science and the Division of Undergraduate Studies.

Join in the celebration by registering for the event here. The Nittany AI Challenge is organized by the Nittany AI Alliance, a Penn State Outreach service.

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