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New AI Institute Led by UT Researchers Will Accelerate Cosmic Discovery

Four quadrants of scientific-images come together, with webs showing bright spots for star formation, galaxy clustering, identifications of galaxies that are labeled and a futuristic network.

09/18/2024 - The University of Texas at Austin has been selected to lead the NSF-Simons AI Institute for Cosmic Origins, a new $20 million research initiative focused on using AI to explore the universe’s biggest mysteries, from dark matter to the origins of life. Greg Durrett, Associate Professor of Computer Science at UT, is a co-investigator on this groundbreaking project, further cementing UT’s leadership in AI research.

UT Computer Science Professor Trains AI Through Game Theory

Computer scientists Ryan Farell and Chandrajit Bajaj standing side-by-side in front of the visualization wall in the POB Vis Lab.

08/30/2024 - Computer science professor Chandrajit Bajaj was recently awarded funding by the U.S. Army Futures Command’s University Technology Development Division (UTDD), in support of DEVCOM C5ISR, for game theory research to develop artificial intelligence systems. The project will utilize Dynamic Belief Games to train AI agents to be better planning and decision support tools for next-generation communications systems.

Central Texas students start school year with new tool that could revolutionize education, experts say

Professor Greg Durrett teaches a course designed for educators that explains the ins and outs of large language models like Chat GPT.

08/22/2024 - AUSTIN (KXAN) — Students heading back to school this semester are entering the classroom with a new tool that experts say could soon be as common as a calculator. “It’s a very useful tool, and students are going to have to know how to use that tool when they should use that tool when they shouldn’t use the tool,” said Greg Durrett, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas in Austin.

Texas RoboCup Team on KXAN

NAO Humanoid robots playing soccer in the Intelligent Robotics lab in the UT Computer Science Gates Dell Complex.

08/12/2024 - Are AI robots the future of sports? These UT students think soAustin (KXAN) — A team of UT students, led by Professor Peter Stone, recently triumphed at the RoboCup Home competition in the Netherlands, where their AI-powered robots autonomously played soccer. The students believe their research is paving the way for a future where robots can compete against humans in sports, revolutionizing the field of AI robotics.

UT computer science lab announces way to make short-form content more accessible

Amy Pavel standing outside on UT Austin campus in a black button down shirt smiling at the camera.

08/09/2024 - The UT computer science lab, with faculty member Amy Pavel and recent graduate Tess Van Daele at the forefront, has developed an AI system called ShortScribe to enhance accessibility for visually impaired users of short-form videos on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. Pavel, an assistant computer science professor and co-author of the research paper, explained that the system utilizes AI technologies such as Optical Character Recognition, Automatic Speech Transmission, and GPT-4 to segment videos, transcribe speech, and create detailed audio descriptions.

Computer Scientist Honored for Teaching Excellence

Calvin Lin sitting in a chair in the GDC atrium

05/20/2024 - Calvin Lin, a professor of computer science at The University of Texas at Austin, has won the Minnie Stevens Piper Teaching Award, which celebrates outstanding postsecondary teaching. Since 1958, the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation, a non-profit, charitable corporation focused on postsecondary education in Texas, has selected excellent educators from four- and two-year institutions from across Texas to be named "Piper Professors" for their superior teaching at the college level.

UTPC Team Excels at International Programming Competition

Students on the UTPC team (Left to right) - Ruoshi Dai (’23, M.S.) Jiawei Li (current Ph.D.), and Stanley Wei (’23, Turing Scholar)

05/06/2024 - This past month, UTPC competed at the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals hosted by the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Luxor, Egypt.The competition consisted of teams from 124 regions (approx. 372 students) trying to solve 11 problems in 5 hrs. The first-place team, Peking University, solved 10 problems. The second-place team, M.I.T., solved 9 problems.UT solved 6 problems and came in 53rd place, 9th place in North America.

Transforming Human-Robot Interaction Through Mood Inducing Music

Young person lounging back with a boombox under their right foot listening to music.

05/06/2024 - Music has always had the power to stir our emotions, from the exhilaration of a fast-paced rock anthem to the melancholy of a soulful ballad. But, could the music we listen to also affect how we make decisions, especially in our interactions with robots? This intriguing question lies at the heart of a study conducted by UT Austin Assistant Professor Elad Liebman and Professor Peter Stone.