Provost IMPACT Award: Enhancing training through AI, machine learning

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 9, 2025) — Last fall, the University of Kentucky Office of the Provost announced the second cohort of the Institutional Multidisciplinary Paradigm to Accelerate Collaboration and Transformation (IMPACT) Awards winners. 

The IMPACT Awards initiative, an internal funding program from the Office of the Provost, launched in 2023 to support innovation and transformation within UK’s colleges. The awards recognize the groundbreaking work conducted by faculty and staff across campus, and they create opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration to occur between UK community members to help the university’s mission of advancing Kentucky.

This spring, UKNow is highlighting the 2024-25 IMPACT Award projects and the faculty who are leading them. In total, 15 colleges, including UK Libraries and the Graduate School, are working collectively to break new ground on ways to advance the state.

Today, we learn more about the project titled “University of Kentucky Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Hub.”

The UK Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) Hub connects, trains and empowers AI/ML consumers, practitioners and developers across campus, at other institutions and throughout the Commonwealth. Built on three key pillars, the Hub provides student experiential learning opportunities that immerse students in transdisciplinary, hands-on experiences using AI to enhance their degree programs and prepare them for the workforce; delivers practical training through nontechnical workshops and an annual campus-wide symposium; and serves as a concierge for projects and applications, linking subject matter experts with a wide network of AI expertise to foster collaborative innovation.

The team is led by:

• Katie Thompson, Ph.D., associate professor of statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences;
• Zeya Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor of statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences;
• Chenglong Ye, Ph.D., assistant professor of statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences;
• Jiawei Zhang, Ph.D., assistant professor of statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences;
• James Brusuelas, Ph.D., associate professor of classics in the College of Arts and Sciences;
• Yuanyuan Su, Ph.D., assistant professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences;
• Svetia Slavova, Ph.D., professor and associate dean for research in the College of Public Health;
• Carlos Lamarche, Ph.D., director of graduate studies and Gatton Endowed Professor in the Gatton College of Business and Economics;
• Zongming Fei, Ph.D., professor of computer science in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering;
• Brent Harrison, Ph.D., associate professor in the Pigman College of Engineering;
• Katsutoshi Mizuta, Ph.D., assistant professor of computational agricultural and environmental sciences in the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE); and
• Akinbode Adedeji, Ph.D., associate professor in Martin-Gatton CAFE: and
• Yuha Jung, Ph.D., professor and director of graduate studies in the UK College of Fine Arts.

UKNow caught up with the team to get insight into the project. You can read more in this Q&A session below, and learn more at https://www.as.uky.edu/ai-ml-hub. 

How has the IMPACT award inspired innovation at UK with your research?

The UK AI/ML Hub is an active and vibrant gathering place for campus members and the broader Commonwealth to engage with AI and is led through a partnership of faculty across seven colleges and the Center for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT). In its first year, the IMPACT award launched the UK AI/ML Hub through an annual AI/ML symposium, ongoing research workgroup and pilot project opportunities. The current IMPACT award has helped us grow the UK AI/ML Symposium and expanded the UK AI/ML Hub to offer immersive experiential learning opportunities for UK students. Open UK AI/ML Hub events foster training, collaboration and innovation across the university and beyond.

How did you decide on this particular topic or research area?

The UK AI/ML Hub is a gathering place for AI/ML work fostering training, collaboration and innovation across the university and beyond. By focusing on the core idea that everybody has a place for engaging with AI, the UK AI/ML Hub connects students, faculty, staff and community members through open events and connecting participants to encourage collaborations.

What positive impact will your research have on Kentucky and beyond?

The 2024-25 UK AI/ML Hub Student Experiential Learning Program provided opportunities for AI/ML student training for real-world data projects in a variety of disciplines. Some example projects include:

• Using data from UK King’s Daughters Hospital, two graduate students received immersive interdisciplinary training to identify patients in Kentucky at high risk for missing colorectal cancer screenings using ML models in a team of researchers from the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Public Health.
• One graduate student and MS graduate are using AI/ML models to predict abundance of tall fescue potentially toxic for pregnant mares and foals using photos from researchers in the Martin-Gatton CAFE and data analysis in collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences.

What comes next for your research?

First, the first transdisciplinary training groups for immersive student learning experiences proved the success of such a model, with projects benefiting not only the students but also Kentuckians. Expanding such projects and formalizing the project submission process will provide more opportunities for UK students to engage with AI/ML methods in preparation for the workforce.

Second, there has been interest in increasing the frequency of the Annual UK AI/ML Symposium and Nontechnical Workshop. The UK AI/ML Hub is working to organize more frequent open events, such as the next UK AI/ML Symposium and AI/ML Nontechnical Workshop, both offered next on Nov. 17, 2025.