Trustworthy AI for West Michigan
A partnership of universities, industry, K-12 schools, community organizations, and public agencies advancing AI that is fair, transparent, secure, and human-centered — and preparing the workforce that will build it.
Responsible AI, built together.
What trustworthy means
- Fair and free of harmful bias
- Transparent and explainable
- Secure and robust
- Privacy-preserving
- Accountable
- Human-centered
The consortium advances the responsible development, adoption, and governance of AI through collaboration among academia, industry, and community partners. It addresses the challenges that determine whether people can rely on AI — bias, privacy, cybersecurity, explainability, and accountability — while supporting interdisciplinary research and practical innovation.
It strengthens the region's AI talent pipeline from K-12 to professional reskilling, and helps organizations implement AI responsibly through governance frameworks, risk assessment, and guidance aligned with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
What we do
Researchers, students, and industry professionals co-develop AI solutions for real challenges in healthcare, manufacturing, cybersecurity, and finance through applied research, internships, and sponsored projects.
Interdisciplinary research in trustworthy AI, supported by shared high-performance computing, data repositories, and industry testbeds. Advance collaborative research and innovation while translating emerging AI research into practical, real-world solutions.
Design and deliver K-12 outreach programs, including summer camps, workshops, competitions, and curriculum development, while coordinating teacher professional development and classroom initiatives and building partnerships with regional schools and districts to expand our reach.
Develop workforce upskilling and reskilling offerings, including stackable credentials and executive education. Align our training with regional workforce demand and employer input.
Four areas of focus
Methods that let people understand, trust, and effectively work with automated decisions, including explainability frameworks and human-centered evaluation metrics.
Identifying, measuring, and mitigating bias so outcomes are equitable, with a focus on healthcare, finance, and public services.
Resilience against adversarial attacks, data corruption, and operational uncertainty, including secure architectures and robustness benchmarks.
Translating national standards into practical governance models, risk-assessment tools, and compliance strategies for organizations.
From the classroom to the workplace
K-12
- Summer AI camps, workshops, and competitions
- Classroom outreach and teacher professional development
- AI literacy curriculum
Undergraduate & graduate
- Applied research projects and assistantships
- Industry internships and capstones
- Faculty-mentored projects in trustworthy AI
Professionals
- Short courses and industry workshops
- Stackable credentials and certificates
- AI governance and executive education
- Workforce upskilling and reskilling
Who leads the consortium
Marouane Kessentini
Chair, Advisory Board
Dean, College of Computing
Samah Mansour
Executive Director
John Thompson
Director of Industry Partnerships
Hua Ming
Director of Research
Andrew Kalafut
Director of K-12 Outreach
Raj Patil
Director of Workforce Development
Join the consortium
Industry & public sector
Join the Industry Advisory Board, bring real use cases, sponsor student projects, and access governance services and trained talent.
GVSU Faculty
Join as core or affiliate faculty to lead research working groups, mentor students, and collaborate across disciplines.
Students, schools & community
Take part in research, internships, and capstones, bring AI camps to your school, or attend public seminars and events.