CIRI Faculty Grant Projects

CyVerse: An XR Immersive Cybersecurity and AI Training Game

PI: Dr. Tonia San Nicolas-Rocca
Funding Agency: American Honda Corp
Funding Period: 2025-2026

Summary: Honda’s contribution supports the development of CyVerse, an immersive Cybersecurity Metaverse that uses Extended Reality (XR) to educate and train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. The program is designed to welcome users, no matter their background or where they live, making cybersecurity education more accessible, engaging, and exciting for everyone.

CIRCLE: Cross-campus Interdisciplinary Responsible Computing Learning Experiences

Co-PIs: Dr. Darra Hofman, Dr. Michele A. L. Villagran, and Dr.Souvick Ghosh
Funding Agency: Responsible Computing Challenge Award from Mozilla
Funding Period: 2024-2026

Summary: The project team will create an interdisciplinary working group to develop “responsible datasets in context” and revised courses in humanistic critical computing and data studies.

Legally, Algorithmically, and Culturally Aware Systems of Accountability (LACASA)

Co-PIs: Dr. Michele A. L. Villagran, Dr. Darra Hofman and Dr.Souvick Ghosh
Funding Agency: SJSU VPRI Team Award
Funding Amount: $25,000
Funding Period: 2024-2026

Summary: The funding application aims to support the interdisciplinary team from the School of Information and Department of Computer Science in preliminary work for the Legally, Algorithmically, and Culturally Aware Systems of Accountability (LACASA) project. This project will lay the foundation for an NSF ExpandAI proposal, focusing on diversifying AI research, education, and workforce development. LACASA builds on existing collaborations, addressing the need for legally compliant, socially, and culturally aware digital privacy systems. The project will conduct stakeholder surveys, develop accountable algorithms, create fair and explainable prototypes, and focus on the digital privacy of marginalized groups, enhancing context-based data annotation.

BIPOC Community College Librarians

PI: Dr. José Aguiñaga
Funding Agency: SJSU RSCA Seed Grant
Funding Amount: $7176.80
Funding Period: 2024-2025

Summary: The project’s scope is to explore the potential for recruiting, training, developing, and retaining Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) as community college librarians in California. Additionally, a graduate research assistant will assist in creating an online survey and assist with a peer-reviewed publication based on the project’s research. Despite years of librarian diversity programs, the percentage of BIPOC community college librarians does not represent the communities they serve. Based on recent literature findings, incremental improvements in BIPOC academic librarians have occurred, but enhanced efforts must continue.