Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) provides UMD students of all backgrounds, disciplines, and levels of experience with the opportunity to engage in scaffolded, multidisciplinary team-based projects.
VIP Team Information
VIP Team
Beyond Co-Intelligence: Partnering with Artificial Intelligences to Reimagine Our Future
VIP Faculty Mentors:
Mr. Kevin Calabro
Keystone Program, A. James Clark School of Engineering
Meeting Location, Day & Time:
Edward St. John (ESJ), Room B0320, Mondays 2:00pm - 3:50pm
Description:
What happens when humans and artificial intelligences team up to think, create, and solve problems together? This VIP invites undergraduate researchers to explore the cognitive, technical, and social dimensions of building high-performing human-AI teams. Students will engage in interdisciplinary research bridging neuroscience, cognitive science, machine learning, systems design, and ethics to prototype, evaluate, and refine new forms of collaborative intelligence.
Research topics span cognition, learning, trust, autonomy, and innovation. Projects may include designing and evaluating intelligent agents that act as teammates, testing methods for cognitive augmentation, creating interfaces that promote collaboration, and developing ethical frameworks for hybrid teams. Students will have the opportunity to contribute to contemporary research projects, work with generative AI tools, and collaborate in teams that blend human and artificial intelligences.
Whether you're passionate about AI, psychology, design thinking, or social impact, this VIP empowers you to reimagine the boundaries of co-intelligence—and to shape a future where humans and AIs tackle previously unthinkable problems together.
Methods:
Mixed-methods and design-based research combining quantitative approaches (experiments, surveys, and computational modeling) with qualitative approaches (discourse analysis, thematic analysis, case studies).
Majors:
- Engineering
- Computer Science
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Information Science
- Communication
- Business
- Philosophy
- Education
Preferred Interests:
We seek students from a wide range of disciplines—including engineering, computer science, psychology, neuroscience, education, information studies, philosophy, business, and the arts—who bring both technical curiosity and creative energy. Ideal team members take initiative, work independently when needed, and generate new knowledge and understanding through cross-disciplinary collaborations. Contributions might involve coding and quantitative data analysis, applying qualitative research methods such as interviewing and transcript analysis, or developing novel products through design, storytelling, and prototyping. By bringing these diverse skills together, the team will advance research on human-AI collaboration.