Through the NASA-funded TRANSCEND project, a collaborative team of researchers led by Florida Institute of Technology is working to understand the safety and trustworthiness of autonomous systems. But the research is just the beginning. The next step is sharing this knowledge to help establish a future workforce trained in artificial intelligence (AI) safety.
“The overall idea is that safe AI is not widely understood. We need to be able to answer questions like, ‘how can I safely use it?’ and ‘when can I not trust it?'” said Dr. Sandip Ray, lead of the University of Florida team, working in partnership with Dr. Swarup Bhunia.
The project is led by Florida Institute of Technology researchers Dr. Siddhartha Bhattacharyya and Dr. Meredith Carroll, with collaborators from Penn State, the University of Alabama, Stanford University, University of Florida, North Carolina Agricultural and Technological University, Collins Aerospace, ResilienX, and Santa Fe College in Gainesville, FL.
The involvement of Santa Fe College plays a key role in the workforce development goal. “We’re teaching the instructors at Santa Fe College so they can integrate concepts of AI, in particular as it relates to safety, into their courses,” said Dr. Ray. “Our goal is to integrate these ideas across different areas in all the community colleges in Florida.”
The first training session, held in May 2026, brought together eight Santa Fe College instructors from a variety of fields including physics, mathematics, psychology, IT, and English.
“The significance of this NASA grant-sponsored training extends far beyond Santa Fe College. We are empowering community college faculty across Florida to bring AI and machine learning concepts into the classrooms in meaningful, hands-on ways.”
Because participants were not required to have any background in AI, the curriculum followed a comprehensive approach, beginning with foundational AI concepts. They then had a practical hands-on training session using AHA boards, a learning platform developed in the Nelms Institute IoT Lab by Dr. Swarup Bhunia. Equipped with sensors and a microcontroller, the AHA boards are capable of running AI-based applications and connecting with IoT devices to facilitate experiential learning.
“They say if you think you know something, try teaching it,” said PhD student Tambiara Tambassum, lead student instructor of the hands-on training session. “The absolute highlight for me was watching the faculty get hooked on playing Flappy Bird on our AHA board. It reminded me that learning should be fun and engaging. That was our literal ‘AHA!’ moment.”
Dr. Siddhartha Bhattacharyya of Florida Institute of Technology highlighted the training’s impact: “The training session was highly interactive, thoughtfully structured, and enriched by meaningful discussion. It was particularly insightful to observe the diverse perspectives participants initially held about AI and how many of those viewpoints evolved through engagement and dialogue during the session.”
The project’s next phase will begin in September 2026, when the Santa Fe College instructors will train peers from five other community colleges across Florida. Those instructors will then train others, eventually covering all 34 community colleges across Florida. It’s a “chain reaction effect” across the state, explained Dr. Ray. The upcoming training session will again be held at Santa Fe College, cementing Gainesville as a hub for AI education and workforce development.
“This initiative is especially impactful because it connects emerging technologies with real-world safety and workforce applications, while making advanced AI concepts accessible to educators and students who may not traditionally have exposure to this type of training,” said Nichols. “We are honored to work alongside UF and FIT in training faculty these next three years who will prepare upcoming generations of an AI-ready workforce.”
