Sign in Subscribe
College faculty

Collaborative NSF Grants Address Health Disparities Research and AI Performance

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Faculty members from the University of Tennessee's Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science are involved in two National Science Foundation grants aimed at addressing health disparities research and enhancing the performance and productivity of AI science. The grants, totaling $882,824, are collaborative efforts among various universities and institutions, with Tabitha Samuel as the principal investigator for UT on both projects. The initiatives focus on utilizing AI and high-performance computing to improve medical research and healthcare delivery, particularly in the context of health disparities unique to the Mid-South region.

Key Takeaways:

  • The first grant, part of the NSF's National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, will train participants in using high-performance computing, cloud-based AI applications, and open data tools in medical research and healthcare delivery. ($82,824)
  • The project, Mid-South Conferences on Cyberinfrastructure Advances to Enable Interdisciplinary AI Research in Health, will consist of three workshops held biannually over an 18-month period in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis.
  • The project's focus on health disparities research in the Mid-South region stems from awareness of the unique challenges faced by the region in addressing health disparities unique to the region.
  • The second grant, a collaboration among several universities, aims to enhance the performance and productivity of AI science by improving the Message Passing Interface (MPI), a widely used standard for coordinating work across many high-performance-computing nodes in parallel programs. ($800,000)
  • The project, Enhancing Performance and Productivity of AI Science through Next-generation High Performance Communication Abstractions, builds on and advances Open MPI to make it more efficient, flexible, and better suited for modern AI tasks.
  • The researchers will share content and outcomes with the NSF NAIRR program and the public at no charge, adhering to UT's land-grant mission.

Statistics:

  • Tennessee ranks 44th among the 50 states in national health outcomes, according to the 2023 America's Health Rankings report.
  • The project will consist of three workshops to be held biannually over an 18-month period in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis.
  • The combined total of the two grants is $882,824.

Sources:

  • VerticalNews, "Faculty Members from the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of Tennessee are Involved in Two Collaborative NSF Grants" (2025 SEP 14)

Read more