IIDS Generative AI Fellow, Tyler Bland, Publishes in MDPI AI
Medical students face a tough challenge: learning an overwhelming amount of complex information quickly. To help make one of the most difficult topics—antiparasitic medications—more engaging and easier to remember, Dr. Tyler Bland and his team created a new way to teach: short, cinematic, educational films powered by artificial intelligence. These Cinematic Clinical Narratives (CCNs) use storytelling, animated visuals, catchy songs, and humor to teach about parasites and the drugs that treat them.
Barrie Robison on the Vandal Theory Podcast
Barrie Robison, Professor with the Department of Biological Sciences and director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences (IIDS), is featured on the newest episode of the Vandal Theory podcast. Season 9, Episode 5: Incorporating artificial intelligence into universities.
IIDS Generative AI Fellowship Program
In Fall 2024, the Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Science (IIDS) launched the Generative AI Fellowship Program, a one-semester opportunity designed to empower faculty and research staff to incorporate generative AI into their research. The program offers tailored project support from IIDS experts, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. Open to participants at all levels of AI proficiency—whether you're an experienced coder or just beginning to explore AI tools—this fellowship provides an opportunity to enhance your research by leveraging generative AI technology. At the conclusion of the fellowship, participants showcase their work in a research presentation, highlighting how generative AI has enhanced their projects. Photo by Chris Giamo and Garrett Britton, University Visual Productions.
GRANTED Award
University of Idaho (U of I) has been awarded a $4.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Economic Development (GRANTED) program. The GRANTED program’s goal is to enhance the U.S. research enterprise by improving administration support infrastructure, increasing service capacity and broadening participation by developing institutions across the national research landscape.
GRANTED Program Now Hiring
The University of Idaho is seeking two Data Scientists to participate in an innovative National Science Foundation-funded project: “Crossing the Innovation Valley of Death: Democratizing Data and Artificial Intelligence for Research Administration.” The project offers the opportunity to pioneer the development of open-source AI solutions that will reshape how universities manage operations, while leading the democratization of data access and analysis across the research administration landscape. One position will have a focus on technical development and implementation, while the other will combine technical expertise with training and knowledge dissemination responsibilities.
Graduate Student Internship Opportunity in AI and Data Science
The Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences (IIDS) at the University of Idaho is offering an exciting opportunity for up to three graduate students to participate in internships during the 2025-2026 academic year. These internships are supported by the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) and aim to engage students in the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science to enhance the university's strategic planning and administrative operations.
Xiaogang Ma Awarded NSF Grant Supplement
University of Idaho Associate Professor of Computer Science Xiaogang (Marshall) Ma has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant supplement of $140,091 to integrate large language models (LLMs) into the Mindat open data interface to create a more interactive and responsive data platform for the world's largest open database of minerals, rocks, meteorites and the localities they come from (Mindat.org).
PrinTimber featured on Idaho Today
Mallory Bermensolo (Master of Architecture student) was interviewed on Idaho Today regarding the PrinTimber project. The Boise-based show brings statewide recognition to PrinTimber and the team's research into developing technology to produce sustainable building products made from wood waste. Congratulations to PI Michael Maughn and all the PrinTimber researchers for this well deserved recognition.
BCB Spotlight - Kristen Martinet
Kristen Martinet completed her Ph.D. this spring with University of Idaho’s Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB) program. Kristen came to U of I in the fall of 2019 after speaking with U of I researcher Luke Harmon (Biological Sciences). The research focus in his lab sold Martinet on attending U of I.
Evan Eskew Publishes in Nature Communications
University of Idaho researcher Evan Eskew (Idaho Initiative for Computational One Health) recently published in Nature Communications. Fellow U of I researchers Scott Nuismer (Biological Sciences) and Andrew Basinski (formerly with the Institute of Interdisciplinary Data Sciences) co-authored "Reservoir displacement by an invasive rodent reduces Lassa virus zoonotic spillover risk". This publication developed from a series of research projects on Lassa virus at University of Idaho involving Scott Nuismer and numerous other experts, including Elisabeth Fichet-Calvet at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine and researchers with the One Health Institute at the University of California, Davis.
IIDS Now Hiring Genomics Research Associate
The Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences’ (IIDS) Genomics and Bioinformatics Resources Core (GBRC) is currently hiring a full-time Genomics Research Associate (GRA). The GRA will assist in the operation and maintenance of sophisticated research equipment to produce cutting edge genome-scale data.
U of I Transmissible Vaccine Research Published in SCIENCE
University of Idaho researcher Scott Nuismer (Biological Sciences) published in the leading peer-reviewed research journal, SCIENCE. "Developing Transmissible Vaccines for Animal Infectious Diseases" was co-authored by fellow U of I researchers James Bull (Biological Sciences), Chris Remien (Mathematics and Statistical Sciences) and Courtney Schreiner (M.S. ’22, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology). This paper emerged from a collaborative workshop organized by Nuismer and his collaborator Daniel Streicker from the University of Glasgow. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) Core (Grant No. 2216790), this workshop convened virologists, immunologists, mathematicians, ecologists, evolutionary biologists and sociologists to develop recommendations for the safe and effective development of transmissible vaccines.