The CITRIS Interdisciplinary Innovation Program (I2P) provides UC Santa Cruz Principal Investigators with funding for projects focussed on developing information technology solutions to significant societal challenges. The 2024-25 edition requested projects focussed in three new areas: Responsible/Ethical Technology, Educational Technology and Art and Technology. The program received a strong field of proposals and the review committee chose three projects for funding, representing all three of the requested focus areas. The projects include a focus on the ethics of AI-enabled cybersecurity, a technological approach to reducing inequality in Latinx STEM education, and a collaboration to increase climate action around fog capture technology.
The program runs annually, with a submission period during the summer quarter. This year’s three funded projects are:
Use and Development of AI-Enabled Cyber Defense
Alvaro Cardenas, professor of Computer Science and Engineering, will lead a project to tackle the new ethical dilemmas related to using AI agents for cyber defense. Cardenas will collaborate on the project with Lauren Lyons, professor of Philosophy. The team will develop a set of use cases that highlight the ethical dilemmas in training AI agents for cyber security and as a byproduct, AI agents that can launch sophisticated cyber attacks. They will also focus on developing a set of principles to help developers, policymakers, and students understand the ethical questions that these systems generate and to facilitate their judgment.
Reducing Education Inequalities in Latinx Communities Through Cloud-Enabled Project-Based Learning
Mohammed Mostajo-Radji, assistant research scientist in Genomics, will collaborate with Kristian Lopez-Vargas, associate professor of Economics, to develop culturally relevant, technologically enhanced STEM education tailored to diverse Latinx populations in the U.S. and Latin America. The project aims to address the fact that traditional educational approaches often overlook the diversity within Latinx communities, leading to generalized methods that fail to engage students effectively. Their approach will leverage cloud-based technologies for remote experimentation, project-based learning (PBL), and context-aware curriculum development to create a more inclusive and impactful educational experience designed specifically for communities in both California and Peru.
Coastal Fog Catchers: Public Art, Technology, and Climate Action
Professor of Art Jennifer Parker will lead a project in collaboration with Peter Weiss, professor of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, to develop fog catchers as a public art and sustainable technology initiative to address the environmental and socio-political challenges posed by climate change. Integrating art and technology, this project offers both a practical solution—fog catchers—and an engaging multi-sensory augmented reality (AR) experience and website that will actively involve audiences, fostering greater community engagement in climate action.
Future CITRIS funding opportunities
The UC-wide CITRIS Core Seed Funding program invites proposals from teams which must include researchers from two or more of the UC CITRIS campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Davis Health, UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz. Projects must be based around the themes of aviation for a changing planet, sustainability and climate resilience, digital health innovation, people and robots, or semiconductors and systems. The 2025 request for proposals will open in Summer of 2024. For more information, please watch an information session recording on the website.
CITRIS at UC Santa Cruz also funds student projects and events through the Tech for Social Good program and invites applications for its technology track until Nov. 15. To learn more, an information session will be held on Zoom on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
