The Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS) has announced 11 Broader Impact Awards designed to expand access, participation and understanding of trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI). Several funded projects, including one to the University of Maryland College of Education, focus on improving AI literacy across K-12 and higher education settings.
The awards—up to $25,000 each—will support seed projects that help diverse stakeholder communities engage with and influence the future of AI. TRAILS leaders say the funding is intended to spark grassroots initiatives connecting academia, industry and local communities while expanding access to AI education and governance tools.
“Our goal is to help close the loop among academia, industry and communities, all of whom are focused on harnessing the power of AI to advance the social good,” said Hal Daumé III, professor of computer science at the University of Maryland and director of TRAILS.
One of the projects, “AI Literacy Codesign Workshops with Social Studies Teachers,” led by Associate Professor Sarah McGrew of UMD College of Education and Virginia Byrne of Morgan State University, will convene middle and high school educators to develop lessons that help students critically evaluate AI-generated text and media. Through collaborative workshops, teachers will align AI literacy concepts with existing curricular standards and pilot classroom-ready materials.
Collectively, the 11 awards reflect TRAILS’ mission to broaden participation in trustworthy AI and ensure that communities most affected by emerging technologies have a voice in shaping them.
By investing in educators, students, families, librarians and small businesses, TRAILS leaders hope to build sustainable pipelines of talent and informed stakeholders who can guide AI innovation responsibly.
“The Broader Impact Program is designed not only to support promising pilot projects, but also to build lasting connections that ensure AI technologies are developed with transparency, accountability and community trust at their core,” said David Broniatowski, professor of engineering management and systems engineering at GW and deputy director of TRAILS.
TRAILS is a partnership between the University of Maryland, George Washington University, Morgan State University and Cornell University, with participation from private sector organizations like the DataedX Group, Planet Word, Arthur AI, Checkstep, FinRegLab and Techstars. TRAILS receives administrative and technical support from the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) and from staff at George Washington University.
Funded by a $20 million award from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the institute is focused on transforming the practice of AI from one driven primarily by technological innovation to one that is driven by ethics, human rights, and input and feedback from communities.
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This story is adapted from an article that first appeared on the UMIACS website.
