Spring Semester Complete - Stay Connected with LIVE this Summer

While the semester is winding down, LIVE will stay active this summer with informal opportunities for the community to gather and share ideas. We’ll also share periodic updates and announcements along the way. We hope you’ll join us for good company, conversation and a chance to stay connected. Stay tuned.

LIVE Summer Skills Session

Seeking Graduate Student Leaders

This summer, LIVE will continue its tradition of hosting skills seminars. We are looking for PhD students, postdocs, and research scientists to lead sessions on practical skills that can support others in their learning technology research projects. Presenters will receive an honorarium.

Know something worth sharing? Suggest a topic, format, and time that works for you and we'll be happy to accommodate. Past sessions have focused on topics such as rapid prototyping in Unity, various learning tech research applications of LLMs, approaches to open science and more. Students who have presented in the past are welcome to reuse or adapt a previous presentation.

Please email live@vanderbilt.edu with your suggested topic and a brief overview of what the session would cover.

iTELL AI Awarded New Chancellor Funding

LIVE Learning Tool Continues to Grow in Impact

iTELL AI (Intelligent Texts for Lifelong Learning) augments traditional texts with AI-based scaffolding to support active reading. Their work makes it possible for career technical education (CTE) program directors to turn their libraries of manuals, standard operating procedures, and instructional text into interactive, AI-powered learning platforms without expensive vendors or long production timelines.

Led by Scott Crossley and his team, iTELL AI  recently received a Vanderbilt Chancellor's Launch Grant to support its continued development. This is one of Vanderbilt's most selective startup competitions: 40+ teams apply, 10 pitch, and only 6 win. Teams have to demonstrate real traction against KPIs set by a panel of investor judges and the iTELL AI delivered.

The Chancellor’s Launch Grant will allow the iTELL AI team to accelerate development, enabling more sophisticated capabilities, a richer product experience, and a more robust overall platform. If you know a CTE program director who's ready to move beyond static training materials, reach out to iTELL AI directly. 

Fall 2026 Learning Tech Courses

Selected Offerings Across Campus

Each semester LIVE compiles a list of courses from across campus that may appeal to students interested in learning technologies. From Fundamentals of Learning Analytics to Playful and Creative Technologies for Learning and more, these courses provide a unique opportunity to learn from leading experts in the field. Explore the list of Fall 2026 course offerings on our website by clicking below.

Upcoming LIVE Affiliated Events

Research Talk & LLM-Code Session with Shreya Havaldar

Next week the HLAB (Human Language Analysis Beings) and LIVE are hosting Shreya Havaldar a Computer & Information Science PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in how large language models (LLMs) understand and respond to social and cultural context—including implied meaning, social norms, emotion, linguistic style, and cultural variation.

Shreya will be doing a research talk on April 23 from 11a-12p about Evaluating LLMs in Context - Dependent Domains and is open on everyone. 

Additionally, Shreya will be hosting a targeted coding session on April 24:

LLM Code Assistance for AI Research

When: April 24, 2026

Time: 11am-1pm

The session is a tutorial aimed at AI/NLP Researchers, and registration is required. Those who attend must have coding experience, VU affiliation and install Cursor in advance of the event. Seats will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis and location details will be shared with those selected to attend the session. If you have any questions, please contact the HLAB. 

Summer 2026 RAship in NLP and Mental Health

Human Language Analysis Beings (HLAB)

The HLAB is seeking multiple RAs to work on building language, speech, and multi-modal foundational models of mental health symptom severity from natural language communication. The position sits at the intersection of Natural Language Processing (NLP), longitudinal modeling, and cognitive and clinical psychology and seeks candidates with a strong interest in publishing at top NLP and interdisciplinary venues.

Requirements

- VU / VUMC Student

- Proficiency in natural language processing

- Prior experience training and evaluating deep learning models

- Expertise in PyTorch, MySQL, and Linux

- Experience a plus: Longitudinal or Time-series modeling

Duties

-Regular presentation of findings to collaborators

-Supporting other AI and software engineering on the team (apps, comp vision, statistical modeling)

-On-site presence at the lab at least 4 days per week

How to Apply

Submit the form below and email your resume and cover letter expressing interest in the paid RA position to Julia Buffolino  & CC Adithya V. Ganesan with subject line [HLAB Summer 2026 RAship]

Let's Celebrate

The LIVE Student Leadership Team invites you to come celebrate all the accomplishments both big and small made throughout the year. Join us in the LIVE seminar room to celebrate. 

Light refreshments will be provided. Come hang out, reflect and enjoy one last gathering this spring semester. 

April 29, 2026 | 12p-1p

1400 18th AVE S | A2009

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