UF researchers join new NSF-funded AI institute to transform rehabilitation and health care - University of Florida

UF researchers join new NSF-funded AI institute to transform rehabilitation and health care

- University of Florida researchers are part of a new $21.5 million National Science Foundation AI institute focused on improving rehabilitation and health care through advanced technology.

- The institute will develop AI systems that can analyze complex patient data and adapt treatments to individual needs, helping clinicians deliver more personalized care.

- UF researchers will focus on combining AI, neuroscience and clinical tools to make rehabilitation more effective and speed up patient recovery.

Researchers from the University of Florida are playing a key role in a new national effort to advance rehabilitation and health care through artificial intelligence.

The National Science Foundation has awarded $21.5 million over five years to establish the NSF AI Institute for Human-AI Cooperation, or HAIC, led by the University of Delaware in collaboration with UF, Delaware State University, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania. At UF, faculty in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering will help lead research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, neuroscience and clinical care.

“This is a golden opportunity,” said Jose C. Principe, Ph.D., distinguished professor and UF co-principal investigator. “Our role is centered on the interface of AI with the clinic — bringing together statistical signal processing, brain-computer interfaces and adaptive algorithms to improve rehabilitation.”

The NSF HAIC Institute will develop AI systems that can interpret complex, multimodal data and adapt to individual patients, supporting clinicians and patients in rehabilitation and long-term care. The goal is to enable more personalized, responsive treatment, particularly for conditions affecting motor control.

“This will help tremendously with rehabilitation,” Principe said. “We expect to improve both the effectiveness of treatment and the speed at which patients recover.”

UF’s interdisciplinary team brings together expertise across several critical areas of AI. Principe, a pioneer in brain-computer interfaces and computational neuroscience, will lead efforts integrating neural data with adaptive AI systems.

He is joined by:

- Sean Meyn, Ph.D., an expert in reinforcement learning, who will focus on developing adaptive algorithms to improve brain-computer interface performance

- Joel Harley, Ph.D., who specializes in physics-based AI and will help design models that predict movement and support rehabilitation pathways

- Jie Fu, Ph.D., an expert in control theory and robotics, who will lead efforts to translate AI methods into clinical applications

- Yuheng Bu, Ph.D., whose expertise in information theory and statistics will help ensure the reliability and performance of AI systems

A key component of UF’s contribution is the use of HiPerGator, one of the nation’s most powerful university-owned supercomputers. The system will enable researchers to process large volumes of health data and accelerate the development and testing of advanced AI models.

“This gives us the ability to use HiPerGator in a very prestigious application in AI,” Principe said. “We have the infrastructure, and this allows us to push it further into cutting-edge health research.”

In addition to advancing core technologies, including digital twins, intelligent sensing systems and AI-enabled virtual coaching, the institute will serve as a national hub for training students, researchers and health professionals in AI-enabled health care.

UF’s involvement positions the university at the forefront of human-centered AI innovation, helping ensure that emerging technologies are designed to support clinicians and improve patient outcomes — not replace human decision-making.