Current Research Projects

Current Research Projects

The Imaginarium’s current projects reflect our commitment to interdisciplinary research, community-engaged innovation, and proposal development across STEAM learning, wisdom, AI, and rural resilience. These efforts bring together faculty, students, and partners from multiple fields to design new ideas, study meaningful questions, and build pathways for future impact.

Collaborate With Us Recent Publications

SCC-IRG: Resilient and Affordable Housing for Rural Communities

  • Status: Funded

This National Science Foundation Smart and Connected Communities project is the first NSF award received through Imaginarium-related collaborative work. In partnership with Dr. Nazanin Tajik in Industrial and Systems Engineering and Dr. Farshid Vahedifard, the project focuses on resilient and affordable housing for rural communities and reflects the Imaginarium’s growing role in interdisciplinary, community-centered research.

  • Award: NSF 25-527 Smart and Connected Communities, $1,250,000
  • Team: Nazanin Tajik (PI), Mehdi Garemani (Co-PI), Farshid Vahedifard (Co-PI), Sareh Karami (Key Personnel)
  • Award Number: 2530559

Learning in Focus: Detecting Behavioral and Collaborative Engagement Using Vision Transformers

  • Status: Active Research

This project explores how AI-driven computer vision can help identify behavioral and collaborative engagement in learning environments. Using transformer-based models, the study examines how visual cues such as gaze direction, interaction, and peer collaboration can be used to better understand children’s engagement during learning activities. The work highlights the Imaginarium’s interest in emerging technologies, educational data, and deeper insight into how children learn together. 

STEM Wisdom

  • Status: Scholarly Initiative

This project grows out of a special issue of Roeper Review focused on STEM wisdom—the idea that STEM education should develop not only knowledge and analytical skill, but also wise reasoning, ethical judgment, and commitment to the common good. This line of work reflects the Imaginarium’s broader interest in connecting creativity, wisdom, and higher-order thinking in educational settings. 

HARVEST: A Community-Driven Framework for Building Resilient, Accessible, and Trust-Based Local Food Systems in the Mississippi Delta

  • Status: Proposal Under Review

This submitted USDA-NIFA proposal brings together an interdisciplinary team to explore community-driven approaches to building more resilient, accessible, and trust-based local food systems in the Mississippi Delta. The project reflects the Imaginarium’s interest in collaborative, community-centered innovation and in developing research that responds to regional needs through strong cross-disciplinary partnerships.

  • Sponsor: National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA)
  • Amount: $649,907
  • Team: Nazanin Tajik (PI), Mehdi Garemani (Co-PI), Sareh Karami (Co-PI), Diego Thompson (Co-PI)

AI-Powered Agricultural Decision Labs: Building the Next Generation of AI-Literate Agricultural Innovators through K–12 Pathways

  • Status: Proposal Under Review

This project is designed to create and evaluate an AI-powered agricultural learning pathway for K–8 students through four immersive modules: AI Crop Clinic, Water-Wise Farming Lab, Farm-to-Fork Studio, and Ag Automation Exploration Corner. In partnership with the Imaginarium and the Center for Mississippi Food Systems, the project combines curriculum development, mobile exhibits, educator professional development, and pilot testing to support AI literacy, computational thinking, systems reasoning, and agricultural career awareness. It is also designed to build pilot data and materials for future USDA funding.