Nineteen faculty-led working groups will spend the spring semester identifying where and how Notre Dame can make an impact in data, AI, and computing research and scholarship.
The working groups, funded through a University-wide call from the Data, AI, and Computing Initiative, will surface where Notre Dame excels and where opportunities remain in faculty expertise, computing infrastructure, and the connective capacity for scholars to work across disciplinary boundaries.
The call drew a strong response from across the campus, with proposals from 29 teams representing 139 faculty members. The 19 funded working groups include lead faculty members from five colleges and schools, the Hesburgh Libraries, and several University-wide centers and institutes. Through these targeted investments, the Initiative aims to amplify the University’s existing strengths and cultivate interdisciplinary groups of faculty to identify areas of opportunity to further research and scholarship in data, AI, and computing.
The working group topics range from responsible, human-centered AI design and global AI ethics to applications of AI in peace and conflict research, urban sustainability, and scientific discovery. They span organizational and technical questions, including AI auditing, theoretical AI foundations, and data-driven methods across the sciences and humanities.
“At a moment when nearly every discipline seeks to engage with data, AI and computing, these working groups offer our faculty a way to lead and to identify where Notre Dame can make a distinctive contribution, grounded in our strategic framework and our values,” said Nitesh Chawla, Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, and the Lucy Family Director for Data and AI Academic Strategy, leading the Data, AI, and Computing Initiative.
“The strength of the faculty response, with proposals from 29 teams spanning disciplines, tells us the appetite for this kind of collaboration is real. I look forward to the working group reports at the end of the semester, and I also encourage faculty to look for more opportunities like this ahead.”
The teams’ focus areas fall into five broader priority areas: AI-enabled science and engineering; foundational AI and next-gen computing; Responsible, Inclusive, Safe, and Empowering (RISE) AI; computational social science and digital humanities; and health data and AI.
By the end of the semester, the groups will share their findings and recommendations—insights that will help shape the Initiative’s direction as it evolves.
“These working groups began in mid-January and wrap in May, but the ambition behind them extends well beyond the semester,” Chawla said.
Part of the University’s Strategic Framework, the Data, AI, and Computing Initiative launched in fall 2025 to advance purposeful excellence in data, AI, and computing while catalyzing interdisciplinary collaboration and real‑world translation and application—all grounded in Notre Dame’s ambition to be a force for good.
Originally published by Emily Monacelli at strategicframework.nd.edu on February 12, 2026.