UMass Students Present AI Agency Projects to Governor Healey

 UMass Students Present AI Agency Projects to Governor Healey 

UMass-Amherst Chancellor joins Administration in celebrating student-led emerging technology projects that will improve services, address challenges 

BOSTON - Today Governor Maura Healey hosted students from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) showcase. The event highlighted the students’ AI innovations addressing real-world challenges in state government as part of the AI for the Commonwealth (AI4CW) initiative. Governor Healey was joined by UMass-Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes, faculty and administration from the university, and Technology Services and Security Secretary Jason Snyder to view the students’ presentations.  

As part of the program created by Govenor Healey, UMass-Amherst students have worked directly with state agency employees to use artificial intelligence to improve public services and address real challenges across government. Presentations demonstrated the progress of several agency-specific AI use cases, conducted in the state's AI “sandbox” - a walled-off, secure virtual environment in which to work with generative AI tools while ensuring that data entered will not be used to train any public AI models. The Healey-Driscoll Administration created the AI higher education program in Spring 2024 with Northeastern University and continued it through the UMass-Amherst AI partnership. 

“AI has enormous potential to make it easier for people to access government services, such as reducing wait times at the RMV or for unemployment assistance. And by improving efficiency, we’re saving taxpayer dollars,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Our young people are plugged into AI innovation and showing us the path forward, which is why we launched this higher education partnership. I’m inspired by the work that these students are doing and know that it will have a positive impact for the people of Massachusetts.” 

Artificial intelligence projects presented by the students included: 

• An AI-powered permitting navigator for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), designed to help residents more easily understand and complete complex environmental permit applications. 
• A call center assistant tool for the Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) that helps staff quickly direct callers to the right unemployment resources. This reduces wait times and improves service for residents. 
• Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (TSS) human resources chatbot assistant tool to help expedite responses to HR inquiries within TSS, pointing TSS staff members to relevant information on salary grades, professional development opportunities, and other HR needs. By handling routine inquiries, the tool frees up time for HR staff to have more meaningful, one-on-one interactions with employees. 
• Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Requests for Information (RFI) tool to better collect and aggregate vendor information for MassDOT procurement needs. This improves efficiency in the procurement process and supports more informed purchasing decisions. 
• Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) problem resolution system (PRS) report generator tool, allowing faster ingestion of complaints and generation of reports to reduce delays in students receiving appropriate services. 
• University of Massachusetts-Amherst Culinary Career Ladder (CCL) tool to provide training for culinary workers across Massachusetts. The tool makes training available in multiple languages, helping workers learn and advance their skills while strengthening retention and creating new opportunities for career growth.  
• Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) Unity chatbot, allowing researchers to resolve high-performance computing issues more quickly. By drawing on existing knowledge bases and past support cases, the tool reduces helpdesk burden and gives researchers more time to focus on their work.   

“From the outset, our work in AI has been focused on applying these tools to directly address the state’s business functions to better serve our residents,” said Technology Services and Security Secretary Jason Snyder. These student-led projects demonstrate a high degree of technical skill and professionalism, and they underscore what an amazing partnership we have had with UMass-Amherst.”  

"I’m so proud of the work that UMass Amherst students are doing to help state government incorporate AI to make services more efficient and effective,” said UMass President Marty Meehan. “Governor’s Healey’s leadership in establishing the AI4CW Initiative is fostering an environment of innovation that is helping state government work better, giving our students valuable hands-on experience, and ultimately making sure Massachusetts has the best prepared AI workforce in the country.” 

"As a land-grant university, UMass Amherst’s mission is both to educate emerging leaders and advance research that benefits the common good," said UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes. “This important partnership with Governor Healey and Secretary Snyder enables our talented students to use artificial intelligence to gain valuable experiential learning while helping the state tackle important, future challenges." 

These higher education AI partnerships have helped apply this technology to solve real challenges in state government. These collaborations not only deliver practical solutions, but also expose talented students to the mission-driven work of public service and the impact they can have through technology. To ensure these tools are used responsibly and effectively, each project is reviewed by the TSS AI Center of Excellence (CoE). The AI CoE provides tailored guidance to support ethical use, protect privacy and data, and align with Commonwealth standards. Once that feedback is incorporated, the tools are made available for agency use. The Healey-Driscoll Administration will continue to partner with the state’s higher education institutions to harness AI in order to elevate government service delivery and cement Massachusetts as a global technology leader.