Nvidia funds WSU AI TA project

Artificial intelligence can act like a round-the-clock tutor, answering questions and guiding students through problems one exchange at a time. Washington State University says an Nvidia-backed grant will let students build and test that kind of virtual teaching assistant on campus. (news.wsu.edu) Washington State University announced the project on April 14, 2026. Parteek Kumar, an associate professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, is leading it, with Peng He, a scholarly assistant professor in science education, as co-primary investigator. (ebs.publicnow.com) Nvidia is providing computing hours and access to its developer ecosystem through its Academic Grant Program. Nvidia says that program offers cloud, hardware, or software grants for academic research and supports work in artificial intelligence, accelerated computing, and data science. (ebs.publicnow.com) (nvidia.com) The system is meant to function as a virtual teaching assistant that students can chat with about course content. Washington State University said students in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science will help build the tool and then use it in their own coursework. (ebs.publicnow.com) The immediate goal is not a general-purpose chatbot. Kumar said the project is aimed at helping students understand complex concepts and helping instructors deliver more adaptive and personalized learning experiences, while researchers study how well the assistant actually helps in courses. (ebs.publicnow.com) Washington State University has been building toward this for months. In November 2025, another campus team won a three-year, $400,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop and test a virtual teaching assistant for upper-level thermal fluids engineering courses with student volunteers. (news.wsu.edu) That earlier project focused on training an artificial intelligence bot with engineering question-and-answer data, measuring answer accuracy, and analyzing student conversations with the system. Researchers also planned to connect it to Canvas, the university’s learning management system used for classes. (news.wsu.edu) The new Nvidia-backed effort also fits into a broader university push to put artificial intelligence into classrooms, labs, and teacher training. In February 2026, Washington State University said it was developing artificial intelligence tools for kindergarten through 12th grade teachers, planning campus workshops, and expanding interdisciplinary research on artificial intelligence in education. (news.wsu.edu) Kumar said students on the new project will build a full system from scratch, and the team is exploring whether the tool could eventually connect with Nvidia’s Deep Learning Institute certificate program. For now, the next step is to see whether a virtual teaching assistant can move from a research idea into a working part of classroom instruction. (ebs.publicnow.com)