A team of two graduate students from the College of Education and Human Sciences and three undergraduate students from the College of Engineering won the first-ever Great Prairie AI Show Wednesday evening at Carolyn Pope Edwards Hall.
Judges’ scoring determined the overall winning team of Abisola Aiyeola, Williams Boakye, Andrew Medina, Deva Pushkaran and Zohaib Shaikh. Each team member received a one-year enterprise license to an AI tool courtesy of the College of Engineering’s PRAIRIE Initiative, which focuses on connecting students, faculty, staff and industry partners to shape responsible AI integration in education and research.
The Great Prairie AI Show, hosted by the College of Education and Human Sciences as part of Husker AI Days, featured 18 students from undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels across the two colleges. The students were randomly placed on four interdisciplinary teams to compete in three 25-minute rounds where they were tasked with developing AI tools to solve educational challenges.
Each round, teams were provided with a specific challenge and asked to address a specific concept. The challenges included developing a tool to help teachers teach a lesson that is challenging for students to understand, a tool to help students successfully complete a specific long-term assignment, and a tool to help school administrators develop and sustain a strategy for responsible AI use in their school or unit.
At the end of each round the teams presented their tools and responded to questions from the judges before moving on to the next round. Judges provided team scores for each round and members of the audience also voted for winners of audience choice awards for each round.
The five judges for the competition were: Terry Chvatal, director of New Ventures for Nelnet Business Services; Minji Jeon, assistant professor of teaching, learning and teacher education; Jeff Reese, dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences; Jane Stavem, deputy commissioner of the Nebraska Department of Education; and Mark Stone, director of the PRAIRIE Initiative.
The full list of student participants, including their academic programs, is below.
- Nastaran Aghilizadeh, Ph.D. student, materials engineering
- Abisola Aiyeola, Ph.D. student, educational studies: teaching, curriculum and learning
- Deborah Ajeboriogbon, master’s, child, youth and family studies: child development/early childhood education
- Yin Po Po Aung, junior, computer science
- Williams Boakye, master’s, teaching, learning and teacher education: innovative learning technologies
- Isabel Ching, senior, computer engineering
- Tuggen Even, Ph.D. student, educational studies: innovative learning technologies
- Azadeh Hassani, Ph.D. student, educational studies: innovative learning technologies
- Adam Khattak, sophomore, computer science
- Isabel Loriaux, freshman, mechanical engineering
- Andrew Medina, junior, computer science
- Jean Claude Niyomugabo, master’s, agriculture systems technology
- Deva Pushkaran, junior, computer science
- Vittoria Quaranta, junior, computer science and mathematics
- Zohaib Shaikh, junior, computer science
- Tina Shetabi, Ph.D. student, human sciences: apparel design
- Hengly Te, master’s, teaching, learning and teacher education: innovative learning technologies
- Sandarika Warjri, freshman, computer science
The concept for The Great Prairie AI Show was developed by Elizabeth Niehaus, professor of educational administration, and Guy Trainin, professor of teaching, learning and teacher education. Trainin served as the emcee for the event, and audience members engaged in AI-related contests and experimenting with virtual reality goggles from the CEHS VR Sandbox during the competing teams’ work time.
College of Education and Human Sciences
Child, Youth and Family Studies
Educational Administration
Teaching, Learning & Teacher Education
Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design
