On April 21, 2026, the Public Interest Technology Initiative at UMass hosted a session of the AI & Us SBS Series, featuring the 2025–2026 PIT Faculty Fellows as they presented early outcomes from their Responsible AI seed-funded projects. The event took place in the Old Chapel first floor multi-purpose room and on Zoom, with lunch provided for attendees.
The program included a series of 15-minute lightning talks followed by audience Q&A, moderated by Ethan Zuckerman, Research Director of the Public Interest Technology Initiative at UMass.
This year’s presentations included:
- Youngbin Kwak and Mohommad Atari of the College of Natural Sciences, who shared research on cross-cultural human-AI collaboration, focusing on trust, communication styles, and decision-making across diverse populations
- Chaitra Gopalappa and Mohammad Derakhshi of the College of Engineering, who presented work on integrating social determinants of health into AI-driven epidemic modeling to support more equitable public health strategies
- Joe Pater and Virginia Partridge of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the College of Information and Computer Science, who discussed the development of AI tools for automatic, accurate transcription into the International Phonetic Alphabet using speech recognition technologies
Presented by the Public Interest Technology Initiative at UMass and co-sponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences AI & Us Series, the event brought together faculty and attendees to engage with interdisciplinary research exploring responsible and impactful applications of artificial intelligence.