Vibhuti Gupta, Ph.D., assistant professor, computer science and data science, has received a National Science Foundation Expanding AI Innovation through Capacity Building and Partnerships (NSF CAP) grant. The two-year, $395,703 award will be applied to foundational and use-inspired advances in trustworthy artificial intelligence in medical systems.
“Trustworthy AI ensures that medical decisions are based on accurate, high-quality data, reducing the risk of errors and misdiagnoses,” says Dr. Gupta. “The NSF CAP grant will support essential research at Meharry to advance the effective use of AI in health care.”
Dr. Gupta’s research will focus in the following areas, building capacity for a potential AI institute at Meharry.
- Developing interpretable methods and tools to reduce the black- box nature of AI algorithms.
- Exploring existing AI algorithms and their data sources to understand potential limitations in medical systems and develop techniques to improve accuracy and fairness.
- Secure and privacy-preserving AI in medical systems.
- Applying AI techniques to real-world use cases to build trustworthy AI systems.
The NSF CAP grant also funds student research assistant positions and provides valuable training opportunities to further extend expertise in trustworthy AI.
“We will have multiple training activities to disseminate awareness among medical professionals, graduate students, staff, and faculty,” explains Dr. Gupta.
These sessions will be led by the primary investigator team at Meharry and external speakers who are experts on trustworthy AI research.
“These thought leaders will not only advance understanding of AI for our participants, but also serve as invaluable contacts for our continuing research of trustworthy AI,” says Dr. Gupta.
The grant will also develop a new course focusing on trustworthy AI in medical systems for Meharry SACS students in the Data Science Ph.D. and Biomedical Data Science Ph.D. programs. Additionally, a summer online program for high school students and teachers will provide an even broader understanding of trustworthy AI.
In addition to principal investigator Dr. Gupta, the co-principal investigators on the grant are T.L. Wallace, Ph.D., chair, biomedical data science department; Uttam Ghosh, Ph.D., associate professor of cybersecurity; and Todd Gary, Ph.D., director, external research and development partnerships.
