UNC Greensboro’s Division of Research and Engagement and Innovate UNCG hosted its inaugural AI Innovation Challenge, a campus-wide event that brings together faculty, staff, and students to explore human-centered artificial intelligence (AI). The day featured keynote presentations, lightning talks, roundtable discussions, and culminated in a student innovation pitch competition that was judged by UNCG faculty and external partners.
The event showed UNCG’s commitment to integrating AI across teaching, research, and community engagement. Through new general education courses, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and programs that merge human creativity with technological innovation, UNCG is helping students and faculty adapt to an increasingly AI-driven world.
“AI is not just the future, it’s already the present,” said Dr. Minjeong Kim, Head of the Department of Computer Science. “UNCG’s vision is to prepare students to lead with AI, not just use it.”
The Lightning Talk series featured Dr. Lakshmi Iyer and Dr. Motahareh Pourbehzadi from the Bryan School of Business and Economics, and Dr. Salih Rakap, Dr. Tolulope Sulaimon, and Dr. Olga Karadimou from the School of Education, highlighting practical, ethical, and research-driven applications of AI across disciplines.
Drs. Iyer and Pourbehzadi demonstrated how their department is including AI in both administration and instruction by developing specialized AI bots for promotion and tenure guidance and an Excel tutor, designing immersive virtual-reality modules for cybersecurity and consumer-apparel retail, as well as integrating classroom activities on AI governance and human-versus-AI text recognition. From the School of Education, Drs. Rakap, Sulaimon, and Karadimou shared research using AI and custom bots to enhance teacher efficiency and instructional fidelity. Projects included AI-assisted Individualized Education Program (IEP) drafting with human oversight, real-time accessibility captioning, reading-level adaptation tools and new rubrics for AI disclosure and accountability in instruction. Highlights included an AI self-coaching tool, a real-time “AI Coach,” and a decodable-text generator matched to phonics and reading levels.
Together, these conversations reflected UNCG’s commitment to responsible, creative, and cross-disciplinary innovation. Following the faculty presentations, eight roundtables brought together participants from diverse fields to discuss the role of AI across disciplines with the goal of mapping future advantages, opportunities, challenges and priorities for responsible AI advancement.
The event concluded with a student pitch competition featuring six interdisciplinary teams presenting innovative AI applications with real-world impact. Student teams offered innovative solutions that leverage AI, under the theme “Innovation Through Curiosity and Creativity.” All participating teams will advance to present their projects at UNCG’s annual Research Con in 2026, where they will represent the next wave of interdisciplinary, responsible AI innovation emerging from the UNCG community.
The top three student innovations were chosen by a panel of external investors, AI specialists, business developers and UNCG faculty.
Green Pulse AI led by Dr. Dennis Lajeunesse in Nanoscience and students Maurelio Cabo Jr., Farbod Ebrahimi, and Dr. Ronnie Serra Juan, a nanotechnology-enabled biosensor paired with an AI app to detect micro- and nanoplastics in water and food, advancing sustainability and public health took home the first-place award. SpartyWiz led by Dr. Malitšitso Moteane in Information, Library, and Research Sciences and students Henry Sanmi Makinde, Hope Oluwaseun Adegoke, and Chidinma Catherine Ezugwu, a UNCG-trained AI chatbot using retrieval-augmented generation to help students navigate campus resources and academic services won second place and also earned the Audience Choice Award for its immediate impact and engaging demonstration. Third place honors went to Hally, AI Health Companion led by Dr. Channelle James in Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality, & Tourism and students Martina Josimovska, Isaiah Ball, and Jaiden Bauza, a multilingual, voice-first assistant that bridges communication gaps between patients, families, and providers. Integrated with healthcare systems, Hally aims to reduce preventable readmissions.
Other standout concepts included Health Hub AI, lead by Dr. Jonathan Zerecki in Ancient Mediterranean Studies & Archaeology and students Kennedy Walker, Kaylee Hinson, and Lee Franklin, a pharmacy-based kiosk for preventive care; Invisible Confidence Technology lead by Dr. Ryan Isham in Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality, & Tourism and students Nick Baker and Yen Tran, a real-time calm and confidence support tool; and Outcast lead by Dr. Qianqian Tong in Computer Science and student Siva Ganesh Peddisetti, a project exploring renewable energy networks for AI infrastructure.
The AI Innovation Challenge brought together staff and students from various departments and colleges at UNCG, affirming the University’s commitment to advancing human-centered AI that combines curiosity, creativity and accountability. The inaugural event marked a milestone in UNCG’s growing AI ecosystem, demonstrating how collaboration across disciplines can shape ethical and innovative approaches to technology. Building on the success of this year’s Challenge, organizers plan to expand partnerships with industry, government and community organizations to ensure that UNCG remains a leader in AI innovation. We look forward to seeing the next generation of innovators share their progress and new ideas at ResearchCON 2026.
by Anthony Dellinger
Photography by Rashmi Kumari
Correction: The names of Chidinma Catherine Ezugwu and Henry Sanmi Makinde were corrected on 11/5/2025.
