UNM introduces two interdisciplinary research teams advancing to level 2 of Grand Challenges

The University of New Mexico continues to demonstrate its commitment to leading research and innovation by expanding its level 2 Grand Challenges program with the addition of two interdisciplinary research teams, Trustworthy AI and Biodiversity Nexus.

"By championing these vital areas of study, our researchers are paving the way for a future where technology and environmental studies of biodiversity coexist harmoniously across an extraordinary community of scholars, inspiring both academia and the communities around us to envision and work toward a brighter, more sustainable tomorrow," said UNM Vice President for Research Ellen Fisher.

Grand Challenges supports interdisciplinary collaborative research that addresses problems too complex for any single field to solve alone. As level 2 teams, Trustworthy AI and Biodiversity Nexus will each receive $220,000 to expand their research programs and to pursue larger external funding opportunities. The teams will also benefit from OVPR project management and research development resources. Together, these investments are designed to help the teams strengthen partnerships, generate new knowledge, and build momentum toward long-term impact for New Mexico and beyond.

"One of the greatest strengths of The University of New Mexico is our ability to bring together exceptional scholars from across disciplines to tackle the most pressing challenges of our time," said UNM President Garnett Stokes. "These two Grand Challenges teams exemplify that spirit of collaboration, advancing innovative research in trustworthy artificial intelligence and biodiversity that will generate new knowledge, attract significant external investment, and deliver meaningful benefits for New Mexico and beyond. I congratulate our outstanding Lobo researchers as they take this exciting next step."

Together, the teams represent another step in building a strong, collaborative research ecosystem at UNM, one designed to connect people, ideas, and expertise around challenges that matter to communities across the state and beyond.

Reviewed by a team of both external and internal experts, teams were chosen based on the strength of their research plans and the match of research team expertise with important challenges facing the state, nation, and world. Level 2 teams are encouraged to engage community stakeholders and to broaden the impact of their research through dissemination, engagement of students and community members, and other methods that fit their team and topic.

Meet the Teams

Trustworthy AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing how people work, learn, receive care, and make decisions. As AI becomes more common in daily life, the need for systems people can understand and trust has become increasingly urgent.

The Trustworthy AI team focuses on one of the central challenges of this moment: how to build AI systems that are not only powerful, but also responsible and accountable. The team will study how trust is developed in AI-enabled systems, especially in settings where decisions carry real consequences.

During level 2, the team plans to connect technical research with ethical, legal, and human-centered approaches. One area of work will focus on AI-supported communication in healthcare, including tools designed with safety measures and oversight built in from the start. Another area will examine how people interact with autonomous systems and what makes those systems feel trustworthy in practice. The team will also explore how AI affects access to justice. This work will consider whether emerging technologies expand opportunity or create new barriers for people who rely on public systems.

Beyond individual research projects, the team aims to strengthen UNM's broader role in responsible AI; that includes contributing to university conversations about AI governance and supporting educational efforts that prepare students and researchers to work with these technologies responsibly. Through this effort, the team hopes to help shape AI systems that are practical, effective, and worthy of public confidence.

"We are thrilled to be selected as a level 2 Grand Challenge team," said Melanie Moses, co-convener and Computer Science professor. "AI impacts so much of UNM's mission, from education and research to health care, engineering, the arts and humanities. This support allows us to bring together expertise from across main campus and the Health Sciences Center to build AI that is trustworthy and, therefore, trusted at UNM and beyond."

Biodiversity Nexus: Natural History Collections as Scientific Infrastructure to Study Earth-Life Interactions
New Mexico and the broader Southwest are experiencing environmental change in visible and urgent ways. Climate change, drought, wildfire, biodiversity loss, emerging disease, and environmental contamination are reshaping ecosystems and affecting the health and well-being of communities across the region.

The Biodiversity Nexus team is building on one of UNM's major research strengths: its natural history collections and long-term ecological records. These resources hold decades of information about life, land, and environmental change. Much of that knowledge, however, is spread across separate departments and systems.

Through level 2, the team aims to bring these resources together as a more connected research infrastructure. By linking specimens, datasets, and researchers, the project will open new ways to understand how environmental change affects biodiversity and public health over time.

The team's work will help researchers study how species respond to changing environments. It will also support research on how contaminants move through ecosystems and how disease patterns shift across landscapes. Another important focus is understanding how ecosystems respond after major disruption.

A central goal is to make UNM's collections more than a record of the past. The team wants to turn them into a comprehensive resource that can help anticipate future risks and inform better decisions.

This work is especially important in New Mexico, where environmental change can deeply affect rural, tribal, and Hispanic communities. By connecting scientific collections with applied research, Biodiversity Nexus aims to support conservation, climate resilience, and public health.

"Our team is very excited to have the support of the University of New Mexico and the Grand Challenges program to unleash the potential of UNM's extraordinary biodiversity collections," said co-convener and Honors College chair Jason Moore. "With upwards of six million specimens gathered by generations of UNM scientists, these collections offer a powerful resource for understanding how environmental change reshapes biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human health over time. This level 2 award will help us begin uniting them into one accessible archive centered in the newly renovated Natural History Science Center."

Although not a requirement for level 2, both Trustworthy AI and Biodiversity Nexus (BioTime) participated in level 1 of the Grand Challenges program. Level 1 provides a year of structured teambuilding and support, allowing nascent teams to develop relationships and research plans that will serve them in level 2.

For more information, visit UNM Grand Challenges.