Blog

Chad McDonald and Matt Davis, Research Associate Professors at the University of Utah, have developed Virtual Motivational Interviewing (VMI), an AI- and VR-powered training tool within the Virtual Skills & Workforce Trainer (VSWT) platform. VMI provides social workers with repeated, realistic practice using AI-generated scenarios and a chatbot that simulates clients, offers feedback, and supports skill development in motivational interviewing. Modeled after Duolingo’s scaffolded learning approach, the platform delivers thousands of varied practice interactions efficiently. Early research shows the tool is well-received and performs as effectively as traditional training methods.

Discover how the University of Utah is using artificial intelligence to help students make more confident academic and career decisions. Associate Professor Jim Agutter introduces UGuide, an AI-powered advising tool that personalizes major exploration, connects students with mentors, and supports their path to graduation.

Jess Tate of the SCI Institute shares about the National Data Platform (NDP), an NSF-funded collaboration designed to transform how researchers access, share, and analyze data. By connecting data sources, tools, and compute resources in a federated ecosystem, NDP makes data more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reproducible (FAIR)—advancing collaborative, scalable, and trustworthy science.