UMass Boston

• AgenticOps
  • Agentic Ops: An AI service-desk agent that triages common employee IT and business support tickets (VPN, MFA, laptops, expenses), follows runbooks, and escalates to a person when needed.
• HistorAI
  • HistorAI — "When I Was Your Age": Connects young people with older adults who share life lessons by voice or text; a multi-agent pipeline turns their stories into articles, published only with the storyteller's approval.
  • Award: Best Interdisciplinary Collaboration
• LearningPulse
  • Learning Pulse: An AI tutor that surfaces student misconceptions before class so instructors can focus teaching time and approve targeted follow-up practice.
• HealthBot
  • HealthBot: An agentic personal health companion that turns Apple Watch and iPhone data into clear answers, clinician-ready reports, and timely alerts.
  • Award: AI for Social Good
• GhostClick
  • Ghostclick: A Chrome extension with a local AI browser agent: describe a task in plain words and it completes it step by step, asking before anything that matters — data never leaves your computer.
• ClinicalTrialAI
  • Clinical Trial AI: Three AI agents turn lengthy clinical trial protocols into plain-language summaries and answer patient questions, with source checks and coordinator approval.
• Research2Market
  • Research2Market AI — From Discovery to Market: An agentic assistant that helps researchers, investors, and entrepreneurs judge whether a scientific discovery can become a real product.
• CrucibleCast
  • Crucible Cast: An Agentic Data Pipeline Engine: An agentic tool that turns unfamiliar source data into structured records that programmers, analysts, and consumers can query and use.
• JustInCase
  • Just in Case: A Quiet Backup Plan for Living Alone: Helps people who live alone, especially older adults, build a plan of who to call for common unexpected situations such as rides after a procedure or home repairs.
  • Award: Second Place
• Signum
  • Signum — One Civic Advisory Channel, Every Fleet: A neutral civic layer that turns public city signals into signed, expiring advisories any robotaxi fleet can read
  • Award: Honorable Mention
• EyeCatcher
  • EyeCatcher: An open-source agentic AI gaming coach: upload a match video and get a real-time walkthrough, critique video, and report on what to improve.
• Sync
  • Sync: An iOS menstrual cycle and wellness companion that combines cycle and symptom tracking with conversational AI support, keeping users in control of their records
  • Award: People's Choice
• StudyFlowAI
  • StudyFlow AI — Plan Smarter. Study Better: A multi-agent academic planner that turns a student's workload into a conflict-free study schedule and replans automatically when things change.
• CivicRoute
  • CivicRoute AI: An agentic complaint-management platform that classifies, prioritizes, and routes residents' non-emergency city reports, with staff approval for every AI recommendation.
• LiveTracker
  • Live Tracker: Turns live camera video of lab mice into researcher-approved behavior alerts, using a pose model and behavior classifier, with plain-English rules a researcher must confirm.
  • Award: First Place
• HealthInsurancePriceTransparency
  • Health Insurance Price Transparency Explorer: Makes insurers' massive federally required price-transparency files usable, letting people compare negotiated rates across Massachusetts providers.
• ZINC
  • ZINC — Strength for the Years Ahead: A safe, adaptive strength and cognitive-resilience coach for adults aged 40–70 that adjusts to readiness, recovery, and limitations over time.
• Sidekick
  • Sidekick: A live AI meeting agent that listens to a call and takes actions while people talk.,
• CircuitMax
  • CircuitMax: Scan a photo of a breadboard circuit, simulate it, and let an AI agent debug it and explain the problem in plain language.
  • Backend GitHub
• ITDR
  • ITDR Agent (Identity Incident Builder): An identity threat detection and response agent that builds incident reports from risky sign-in alerts, with a human countersign at every step
  • Award: Honorable Mention
• BlastBridge
  • BlastBridge: Reconstructs service members' occupational blast-exposure history from scattered records to support future brain-injury care for veterans
  • Award: Honorable Mention
• AgentGauge
  • AgentGauge: CI/CD for AI agents: puts an agent through staged scenarios, including data with hidden malicious instructions, and scores what it actually did step by step.
• Saturn
  • Saturn — Reverse Engineering with AI: An AI agent that reverse-engineers legacy 'black-box' programs by experimenting with inputs, forming hypotheses, and rebuilding a verified implementation.
• InvoiceReviewAI
  • Invoice Review AI: Automatically checks property-management invoices against vendor, work-order, and contract records to flag overcharges, duplicates, and unknown vendors.
• BuyTheRumor
  • Buy the Rumor: An agentic middleman that turns market commentary into validated research briefs; language models propose leads while code enforces every hard limit.
• Kepler
  • Kepler: Connects office plans with on-site construction work so changes are caught before they become rework, disputes, or unpaid bills.
• MoneyMindAI
  • MoneyMindAI: An AI budgeting assistant for students and young adults that recommends budget changes, checks them against rules, and applies only what the user approves.
• EventPilot
  • EventPilot: Turns an informal event idea into a sourced venue and supplier shortlist, budget, and timeline for birthdays, weddings, and small corporate events.
• AgentGate
  • AgentGate: A real-time firewall for AI agents that enforces policies on agent actions as they happen.
• PRAIFitness
  • PR — AI Fitness Platform: An agentic strength-training coach offering personalized planning and AI video form review as an affordable alternative to personal trainers.
• Virtuoso
  • Virtuoso — The Shopping Browser Extension: An AI-agent Chrome extension that judges Amazon products against a shopper's own priorities — specs, price, brand ethics, and review trustworthiness.
• Roameo
  • "Roameo: Agents Plan the Trip, You Make the Call": A multi-agent travel planner for short, budget-limited trips: describe the trip in one sentence and agents research flights, hotels, sights, events and weather, build an hour-by-hour plan, and check it against your budget — you approve or ask for changes, and it never books or pays on its own.
  • Award: Third Place

The Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (PEAAII) at the University of Massachusetts Boston is launching its AI Summer Camp from July 27 to August 28, 2026, a five-week, project-based program where students of all backgrounds build skills in areas like machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, generative AI, robotics, and AI ethics. Through a hybrid format and faculty mentorship, students progress from foundational concepts to hands-on, portfolio-ready projects in a real research environment. The program concludes with the final day “AI in ONE Day” event on August 28th, where students present their work, with no prior programming experience required.

The Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute hosted the Distinguished Speaker Series featuring Dr. Latifur Khan and Dr. Shiqian Shen. This series highlighted how artificial intelligence is shaping real-world challenges and advancing research across disciplines. Dr. Latifur Khan shared insights on the potential of generative AI and large language models in areas such as cybersecurity, intelligent transportation systems, and political science. Dr. Shiqian Shen discussed how AI can be applied to biomedical and clinical challenges, highlighting its role in integrating data, improving disease understanding, and supporting more precise, patient-focused care.

Speaker Dates

• April 2nd, 2026: Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) for Cyber-Security and Political Sciences, Transportation Security, and Resiliency
• May 4th, 2026: AI in biomedicine - Perspective from a Physician Scientist

Distinguished Speakers

Dr. Latifur Khan

Dr. Shiqian Shen

The Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute collaborated with Rob Arsenault, UMass Boston Alumnus and R&D Engineer at Miele, to host an AI Career Path Panel focused on industry culture, applied AI skills, and career preparation. During the event, he shared insights on how AI is used at Miele, discussed workforce expectations and emerging career opportunities, and connected with students interested in practical applications of AI in the workplace.

The Student Advisory Council of the Paul English Applied AI Institute is hosting the AI Workshop Series, a six-session program designed to empower UMass Boston students to use AI intentionally and responsibly.

Workshop Dates

• LinkedIn Optimization: February 17th
• Data Mining: February 24th (Rescheduled to April 21st)
• GitHub: March 5th
• Prompt Engineering: March 26th
• ML of Structured Data: April 1st
• Applied LLMs & Responsible AI Research: April 9th

AI Workshop Series Guest Speakers

• LinkedIn Optimization: Saisumedha Billapati
• Data Mining: Gregory Blike and Chengjie Zheng
• GitHub: Sireesha Kuchimanchi
• Prompt Engineering: Ila Lama
• ML of Structured Data: Moumita Saha
• Applied LLMs & Responsible AI Research: Chengjie Zheng and Nyingi Brown

AI Workshop Series Planning Team

• Chengjie Zheng 
• Gregory Blike 
• Nyingi Hannah Brown
• Dora (Dawn) Nguyen
• Frayni Calderon 
• Ajanee Igharo
• Rami Huu Nguyen
• Moumita Saha 
• Rebaz Kamal
• Deedee D Ndecham
• Matin Hussainy

The PEAAII recently collaborated with UMass Boston’s Academic & Career Engagement & Success Center for our first big collaborative Webinar!  Kurt Klopmeier from ACES conducted two talks on career exploration and interview preparation with the assistance of AI, while Graduate Assistant Steven Carr moderated an interview with the distinguished Dr. Haixun Wang, the VP of Engineering and Head of AI at EvenUp, where they discussed student concern’s about the current job market with respect to AI.

Video of our Interview with Dr. Haixun Wang, available here:

Interview with Dr.Haixun Wang

The Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute hosted their Fall 2025 AI Symposium, a campus-wide celebration of student innovation, creativity, and applied artificial intelligence. This event brought together students, faculty, and industry mentors to explore the power of AI through project-based collaboration, presentations, and live competitions. 

Hackathon Period: September 29 – October 31

Key Dates and Activities

• October 17 (Friday): Provost and Paul English will provide initial feedback and suggestions to each team.
• October 19 (Sunday): AI Contest Day! Peer evaluations and project presentations — where your team’s innovation will shine.
• October 31 (Friday): AI Symposium, Final Competition, Showcase & Awards at UMass Boston VDC, during the PEAAII Symposium Day.

October 31st Symposium Organizing Committee

Professor Wei Ding
Chengjie Zheng
Steven Carr
Ajanee Igharo
AyazAhmed Mohammed
Benny Mei
Dora Nguyen
Gregory Blike
Hannah Brown

Weekly AI Talks – “Prompt to Project: Build with AI”
Thursdays at 4:00 PM (ET)

• October 9
• October 16
• October 23
• October 30

Recognition & Microcredential
Students who successfully complete the AI Contest and the AI Application Hackathon will earn a PEAAII Microcredential in Applied Artificial Intelligence. This microcredential recognizes your demonstrated ability to apply AI tools, develop solutions, and communicate results effectively—an excellent addition to your academic and professional portfolio.

The Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute hosted The AI Frontier: Student Research and Career Symposium, a special event dedicated to showcasing student research projects that either focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) or incorporate AI to assist the research process.

This was a free, campus-wide event that featured innovative work  presented by our student researchers. Thank you to all who participated and attended!

PEAAII AI Symposium

On October 30, the AI Institute hosted AI for All, an event that showcased hackathon projects, student presentations, and a panel discussion on Mentoring the Next Generation.

AI Applications Hackathon

The purpose of a hackathon is to put aside distractions and get something done, something that might not otherwise be achieved because it is too ambitious or there are too many other responsibilities that take priority. Hackathons have been a way for many ideas to see the attention they might not otherwise get.

Fifteen teams submitted hackathon projects. Four teams were selected to present in front of Paul English and Provost Joseph Berger. 

Watch Hackathaon Presentation Results

Student Presentations

Students from all academic disciplines were given the opportunity to present for one minute – either an abridged presentation of their AI project, connecting AI to their major, address ethical considerations and challenges, or other AI-related ideas. Watch the presentations here:

View Student Presentations

Mentoring the Next Generation: Faculty and Industry Perspectives on Democratizing AI in Education and Beyond

Our panel highlighted faculty and industry perspectives on democratizing AI in education and beyond. Audience questions were taken via QR code and aggregated using AI.

• Paul English ’87, G’89, H’19 – tech entrepreneur, co-founder, and philanthropist  
• Xiaohui Liang - Associate Chair, Computer Science Department
• Rosemary Samia G'18 - Clinical Lecturer, Nursing; Director, Center for Clinical Education & Research 
• Cody Turner - Postdoc, Applied Ethics Center & Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
• Tim Zeng - Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction Department
• Moderated by Nyingilanyeofori (“Nyingi”) Hannah Brown, PhD candidate and program coordinator for the NSF CRISES planning grant in UMass Boston’s Sustainable Solutions Lab

Watch Panel Discussions    Read Panelist Bios

A conversation with Paul English

September 11, 11:00 AM–Noon, Web Lab (M-3-731) and [Zoom].
Refreshments will be provided. 

Amanda Potasznik’s Talk on Ethics in AI

September 20, 11:00 AM–Noon, Zoom (Zoom ID TBD).

TEDxBoston at UMass Boston, January 2024

John Werner, organizer of TEDxBoston, hosted the TEDxBoston Nonprofit Leaders ​conference at UMass Boston on January 8. The event included a Q&A between Paul ​English and Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco on “cultivating kinder, gentler, ​more democratic AI.” The talks drew a large in-person audience and have ​collectively been viewed more than 12,000 times online.

Access Recording

UMass system-wide forum on AI, April 2024

On April 11, PEAAII was featured at the UMass system’s forum on AI. Rajani Srikanth ​highlighted PEAAII during UMass Boston’s Campus Presentation. Professor Wei ​Ding was a featured presenter on the panel “Impact of AI in Research,” and Professor ​Nir Eisikovits presented on the panel “Equity and Ethics in AI Applications.”

University Conference on Teaching, Learning, and Technology, ​May 2024

The May 9 University Conference on Teaching, Learning and Technology, titled “The ​Good, the Bad, and the Unknown of AI,” included a panel of PEAAII Student Advisory ​Council members, as well as a discussion between faculty and librarians about the ​use of AI with students.

PEAAII Launch Symposium, October 2023

​“Succeeding in an AI-Powered World,” which featured a panel with Paul English, ​Wei Ding, Nir Eisikovits, Ramesh Raskar of the MIT Media Lab, and John Werner ​of Link Ventures. The panel was followed by a robust Q&A.

Access recording

Applied Ethics Center Conference on AI and Work, November 2023

Through Nir Eisikowits, PEAAII has established an ongoing linkage with UMass ​Boston’s Applied Ethics Center. This fall, the center presented a major conference ​titled, “AI and the Future of Work,” hosted at UMass Boston. The Center also held a ​series of workshops on AI at the UMass Club for Boston youth, at which Wei Ding ​served as a speaker.