NSF I-Corps Grant Awarded

SoC Faculty Awarded NSF I-Corps Grant to Advance AI Reliability Technology

CARBONDALE, Ill. — August 19, 2026

Dr. Alvi Ataur Khalil, Assistant Professor in the School of Computing at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, has received a $50,000 award from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) through its National I-Corps program to explore the commercial potential of a technology that evaluates the reliability and trustworthiness of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Dr. Khalil serves as Principal Investigator (PI) on the project, titled "Translation potential of Automated Artificial Intelligence (AI) Reliability Evaluation Platform." The award was made through NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships program.

As AI systems are increasingly used to inform high-stakes decisions in fields such as education, healthcare, and finance, organizations face a persistent challenge: there is no efficient, standardized way to confirm that an AI model is reliable, fair, and safe before it is deployed. Current practices rely on manual, fragmented tools with no common measure of trustworthiness. The technology developed by Dr. Khalil's team addresses this gap by automating evaluation across five dimensions—robustness, privacy, fairness, transparency, and accountability—and combining them into a single, interpretable reliability score with a risk breakdown and actionable recommendations.

The project is a team effort. A PhD student in Computer Science serves as the team's Entrepreneurial Lead and will lead the customer-discovery interviews, working alongside Dr. Khalil and an experienced Industry Mentor. Over the coming months, the team will interview practitioners, organizations, and potential partners to assess real-world needs and the technology's path to commercialization. The collaboration reflects the School of Computing's emphasis on involving students directly in translating research into real-world impact.

The project builds on Dr. Khalil's research in trustworthy AI, machine-learning security, and system reliability, conducted through his Transformative Innovation for Trustworthy AI and Network Security (TITANS) Laboratory in the School of Computing.

“This award gives our team the chance to take research from the lab toward real-world impact, and to learn directly from the people who would use this technology. One of the things I value most about the I-Corps program is that it puts our students at the center of that work, learning to talk with real customers and turn research into something people can use. I'm grateful to NSF, our mentors, and everyone at SIU who supported us.”
— Dr. Alvi Ataur Khalil
    Assistant Professor, School of Computing

The award (NSF Award #2637735) can be viewed on the NSF website.

Media Contact: School of Computing Communications • socinfo@siu.edu