AI Micro Grant Program

AI Micro Grant Program is sponsored by Oberlin College. Supports projects that study or experiment with AI usage in different areas, proposed by faculty, staff, or students. While primarily academic, an individual with an academic affiliation or collaboration could be eligible.

AI Micro Grant Program Funds Short-Term Projects to Examine Artificial Intelligence – The Oberlin Review AI Micro Grant Program Funds Short-Term Projects to Examine Artificial Intelligence Griffin Larson-Erf , Staff Writer As part of the ongoing Year of AI Exploration, Oberlin College announced the AI Micro Grant Program in the Campus Digest on Feb. 20 .

The initiative offers anywhere from $ 500–$5,000 to support projects that study or experiment with AI usage in different areas, proposed by faculty, staff, or students — who must be advised by faculty or staff — in any department. Those applying for a micro grant can either propose a new method of using AI, or examine “new models, practices, or critical questions inspired by AI’s rapid emergence,” as per the AI Resource Hub.

“The Micro Grant Program has come out of multiple conversations about how to best support campus-wide exploration during this Year of AI Exploration,” Adam Eck, David H. and Margaret W. Barker associate professor of Computer Science and Business and Data Science, as well as the College’s director of AI innovation and strategy, wrote in an email to the Review .

“In addition to the collaborative initiatives that have been ongoing (e.g., workshops, speakers, and surveys), it is also important to give faculty, staff, and students some space and support for individual, self-guided exploration. ” Eck noted that the Micro Grant Program might provide benefits for the incoming Critical AI Studies minor.

“Some of the pilot projects could inform the development of the Critical AI Studies minor through examples of ethical applications of generative AI to important tasks or by facilitating the study of how generative AI fails by negatively impacting our society and world,” Eck wrote. All the same, several Oberlin students reached by the Review were critical of the Micro Grant Program’s existence.

College third-year and Computer Science and Anthropology major Arev Lima Boudakian felt that the program did not represent the best possible allocation of Oberlin’s funds. “A lot of student employees have had their hours cut, and there’s been a lot of stuff with that,” Boudakian said.

“The money that could be going toward student workers and letting people have on-campus jobs and getting experience is going toward exploring generative artificial intelligence, which, even according to Oberlin College’s own findings, people don’t really use or like as much as they think they do.

” On the other hand, Boudakian still saw a potential use for the micro grants: offering information to students about the effects of AI, as well as the differences between multiple forms of the technology. College fourth-year Dante Fitts objected to the existence of the Micro Grant Program on the basis of environmental costs and other harms associated with artificial intelligence.

“Folks, do whatever you want with this program; I just think it shouldn’t exist,” Fitts said. Meanwhile, Student Senate Vice President of Academic Affairs Kana Sakamoto wrote in an email to the Review that the existence of the program came as something of a surprise to her. “I had never heard about the plan, even though I was involved in meetings with those engaged in this initiative for the past semester,” Sakamoto wrote.

“I hope that there will be more clarification on the development of this micro-grant funding and that this funding is properly used, not as the first step of implementation of AI in the curriculum but as a campus-wide experiment to assess its utilization and impact.

” Eck noted the importance of student feedback when asked about the College’s reasons for making artificial intelligence available to students in the face of a lack of enthusiasm for the technology.

“We wanted to make this opportunity available to those interested in engaging with this type of hands-on exploration of generative AI, while also supporting partnerships between faculty/staff and students through research and development activities on campus,” Eck wrote. The process of applying for a micro grant is threefold.

Applicants first fill out a Google Form describing, among other things, the idea that their project would focus on, the actions involved in the project itself, and the division of time and funding that they foresee. Applicants are further asked to report any “privacy, equity, accessibility, or academic integrity considerations” their project raises.

The form is due by March 6 , while funds will be awarded by March 20 , with members of Oberlin’s AI Advisory Group weighing applications in the interim. The form then requires a plan from applicants for making their findings known to the rest of the Oberlin community once projects have been completed — which it recommends should take between three and six months.

Micro Grants go to Staff, Faculty Exploring Uses of AI in Research, Administration An Ode to the Hallway Hello Tic-Tac-Toe - Crossword 4/17 Frustration Surrounding Structure of Studio Art Capstone Sparks Conversation Editorial Comic - 4/10/26, "The Home Stretch" Students Should Rethink OSCA Nutrition Assumptions