SUMMER 2021 – SC EPSCOR / INBRE RET PROJECT DESCRIPTION FORM Mentor's Name Prof Biplav Srivastava Institution AI Institute, University of South Carolina Department Computer Science and Engineering Mailing Address AI Institute, Scient and Technology Building 1112 Greene St Columbia, SC 29208 Telephone 518-496-0128 Email biplav.s@sc.edu Research Subject Area Collaborative Assistants, Artificial Intelligence, Applications – Education, Health A Briefly describe overall research program at your laboratory The aim of my research is to enabling people to make rational decisions despite real world complexities of poor data, changing goals and limited resources by augmenting their cognitive limitations with technology We work on advanced methods to build useful collaborative assistants (“chatbots”), assess issues that may cause lack of trust and methods to mitigate them, and apply decision support for real work situations in society like education, health and water B Briefly describe specific project(s) for your teacher: In the summer of 2021, the teacher and I could together explore how collaborative assistants could be help in the classroom Some possible scenarios are: (a) a game (e.g., text puzzle, tiles manipulation) being available through a chatbot with an objective to improve a student’s analytical skills, or (b) a single chatbot helping a teacher manage a running class and keep students engaged C Will any other people (post docs, grad students, undergraduate students, colleagues, etc.) be involved directly with your teacher? Yes Based on the problem selected, I will involve 1-2 graduate students and 1-2 colleagues D Will you require any advanced reading/preparation for the teacher? If yes, please briefly describe Yes Some knowledge of what chatbots are, what techniques are behind building them, and what are the challenges, will be helpful An example is: https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.06723