#aifoundationcom
Mugunth Vaithylingam, CIO of the College of Southern Nevada, collaborated with the **AI Foundation** to create a digital avatar of the college president, Dr. Federico Zaragoza, aiming to enhance student engagement. After an encounter with AI Foundation’s COO, Russ Logan, they designed the avatar to welcome students, answer questions, direct them to resources, and offer emotional and academic support. Given the challenges posed by the pandemic and the unique needs of the predominantly bilingual, minority student population, this digital tool provided an effective way to personalize the student experience. The avatar, initially a likeness of the president, was later redesigned as a youthful character named ‘Ellie’ to be more relatable. Plans are underway to make the avatar mobile-friendly, increase its service scope, and integrate it with the college’s CRM system for a more tailored student experience. This initiative has also garnered the college a 2023 CIO 100 Award for IT innovation.
https://www.cio.com/article/654919/college-of-southern-nevada-deploys-ai-avatar-to-better-engage-students.html