Via Maryland Today / By Mël Coles
From tracking the impact of artificial intelligence data centers to investigating how responsible AI technology could help alleviate homelessness or support students in the classroom, 11 new seed grants will fund projects by faculty from across the University of Maryland who are advancing AI innovation in ways that uplift society.
The grants were selected through the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland's (AIM) 2026 Research Seed Award Program, which supports innovative science and scholarship advancing foundational AI research as well as AIM's core focus areas of accessibility, justice, sustainability and learning.
Together, the funded projects explore how emerging technologies can address complex societal challenges and generate meaningful public impact:
AI Infrastructure and Energy Justice: How Data Centers Reshape Community Vulnerability to Power Outages and Health Impact
Professor Yueming "Lucy" Qiu, the Roy F. Weston Chair in Natural Economics and associate dean for research and faculty affairs in the School of Public Policy, is leading a project that investigates how AI data centers affect nearby communities. Using a nationwide county-level panel dataset, the research will assess how data center presence and expansion influences outage frequency, duration and recovery disparities. The project will also use machine-learning methods to estimate backup generator deployment and associated localized air pollution and health costs, informing equitable policies for data center siting, utility restoration protocols and emission controls.
See the full list of seed grant awards.
