NCSA Expands AI Career Pathways with Student Research Programs
March 12, 2025 -- There are many researchers at NCSA who specialize in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML). In addition to the many staff with AI expertise employed there, NCSA partners with even more affiliated researchers who work in this domain. But you might not be aware of the student programs designed specifically for those interested in this work.
Vira Kasprova presents her work during the summer poster presentation at the STEM Career Exploration and Symposium at U. of I.
Each year, the Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation (CAII) hosts a number of student researchers providing them with hands-on experience on real world research projects involving AI/ML. This year alone, CAII worked with 17 graduate students and 14 undergraduate students, pairing them with teams and mentors that would give them a one-of-a-kind research experience.
Ruixin Han
“At Illinois, students have numerous opportunities to learn about AI through a variety of courses offered by many departments,” said Volodymyr Kindratenko, director of CAII. “CAII takes it a step further by helping students apply their classroom knowledge to solve real-world problems. Career development in AI is one of the key pillars of CAII. While working under the guidance of researchers, students not only learn new concepts but also contribute their ideas to advance projects.”
Ruixin Han knew about CAII before she joined. Han, a master’s student pursuing her degree in information management at the University of Illinois School of Information Science, had been introduced to CAII through Volodymyr Kindratenko, director of CAII. “Initially I worked with Professor Kindratenko through an Independent Study,” said Han. “I was interested in developing web applications and enhancing user experience with modern AI-powered applications.”
She was assigned to work on the UIUC.chat project, a project CAII has been developing for more than a year now. “UIUC.chat is a knowledge-based chatbot designed to provide insights and assistance based on uploaded documents, supporting multiple LLM providers,” said Han. “Its use cases include serving as a teaching assistant, offering user analytics and so on.”
During her time with CAII, Han has picked up and refined a number of skills. “I have built my technical skills such as using web framework libraries like Next.js, React and Flask. More importantly, integrating LLM providers into the UIUC.chat workflow has inspired me to further explore how cutting-edge research at CAII can be applied to solve real-world problems. For example, using the n8n tool within UIUC.chat, instructors can set up automated reminders for students to review concepts.”
Kai Karadi
Kai Karadi is a computer engineering student at U. of I. He found out about the opportunities at CAII through a registered student organization (RSO) on campus called AI@UIUC. “AI@UIUC had many projects that it had students on, and I was able to be introduced to the Personalized Nutrition Initiative team through the club,” said Karadi.
Karadi’s knowledge of how AI works and can be applied expanded greatly during his time with CAII. “My biggest takeaway would be how practical new LLM technologies can be. I think with all the hype around AI it can be hard to get a good sense of how applicable the current technology is but by working on a real use case I gained a lot of insight. There were many times that our Nutrition chatbot surprised me with really accurate details that could be compared to a dietetics student’s analysis.”
The experience did more than help Karadi better understand AI, he also found the experience useful when he started to apply for jobs. “Working with CAII helped a lot with interviews as interviews always want to learn how you designed a system. Our project at CAII was relatively simple but complex enough that I had plenty to talk about.”
Vira Kasprova is a senior in the highly competitive U. of I. computer science program. She joined CAII after her work experience with the SPIN student program at NCSA. She began with an introduction to the UIUC.chat application, and decided to continue on with that work once her SPIN internship ended.
“My initial interest was in applying NLP and machine learning to real-world problems,” said Kasprova, “and this project gave me the opportunity to explore how AI can enhance education. During my internship, I focused on analyzing chatbot interactions and developing methods to cluster questions to improve response accuracy and better support students. Seeing the direct impact of AI on students’ learning experiences motivated me to continue working with CAII beyond the internship. Now, I’m part of the UIUC.chat development team, where I work on expanding its capabilities, refining user interactions and ensuring the system effectively assists both students and instructors.”
During her time with NCSA, Kasprova’s plan for the future solidified, and she credits the work at the Center as helping her reach her goals, both with new skills and experiences.
“This experience has strengthened my research background and directly contributed to my decision to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science, focusing on AI,” said Kasprova. “CAII has expanded my career opportunities by allowing me to collaborate with researchers, faculty and technical teams on real-world AI applications. The exposure to large-scale AI deployment, ethical considerations and model evaluation has been invaluable, reinforcing my technical knowledge and shaping my understanding of AI’s societal impact.”
CAII is currently building a new portal for students interested in learning more about AI through hands-on experiences. The portal is currently in the development stage, but eventually, students will be able to enter their information to be alerted when researchers are looking for students excited to work on an AI project.
Keep an eye on the new CAII AI Talent Showcase page for updates and more information about this new resource for students and researchers.
Source: Megan Meave Johnson, NCSA
