Students explore AI at the intersection of innovation and intention

JOYCELYN MUÑOZ

March 3, 2026

AI is evolving fast. At Arizona State University, students are keeping up with the technology while learning how to lead responsibly.

The Principled AI Spark Challenge, an ethical AI hackathon hosted by ASU Enterprise Technology, invited ASU AI Scholars to move beyond technical problem-solving. Guided by Principled Innovation, teams competed in a technical track based on experience and worked together to create ethical, sustainable and human-centered AI solutions in the areas of education, economy, ethics and environment.

Led by Lead Experience Designer Olivia Herneddo and IT Associate Project Manager Rachel Hayden, the AI Scholars program brings nearly 100 first-time ASU students from across colleges and degrees to explore the possibilities of AI through technical workshops, industry networking and hackathons.

The Spark Challenge challenged students with designing a solution that would help society adopt AI more responsibly across environment, economy, ethics and/or education. Teams selected a technical track to determine scope and deliverables, then worked for a week to complete their challenge before pitching their process and solutions to a live jury for grand prizes.

Exploring the purpose of Principled Innovation

Practice Principled Innovation is an ASU design principle that focuses on character and values while innovating for positive change. ASU Assistant Vice President of Principled Innovation for the Office of University Affairs, Ted Cross, said that principled innovation asks for a balance of efficiency, care, freedom and accountability. Cross was keynote speaker for the challenge as well as a jury member.

“It’s about developing your own character, clarifying your own values, and making sure that you’re making decisions based upon those,” Cross said.

Pursuing innovation with Fortune

Fortune Lavie, a graduate teaching assistant at The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, had many options when it came to choosing a university for her English degree path. But even against other big-name universities, for Lavie, ASU was the obvious choice.

“I picked ASU because it's focused on innovation, and that's one of the things that I've been passionate about,” Lavie said.

Looking at impacting education, Lavie’s team ideated an AI-powered cognitive scaffolding platform that guides student thinking so that they may produce cohesive essays. For Lavie, identifying the gap between critical analysis and word generation is what ultimately led to her team’s Spark Challenge solution, bridging the two together.

Even without a tech-based background, Lavie’s drive motivated her to pursue the AI Scholars program. Through the ASU initiative, Lavie is able to explore new AI tools and present new ideas for problem-based solutions.

“The AI Scholars program has granted me the opportunity to learn and explore them in ways that I wouldn't have if I weren't part of it,” Lavie said.

Learning new technologies with Kevin

Kevin Monsen is also driven by a thirst for knowledge and curiosity for new technologies. An undergraduate student at the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, Monsen is studying computer science with an emphasis on cybersecurity. For Monsen, the most cutting-edge technology is at the forefront of career discussions.

“We're seeing more and more companies leveraging AI to become more efficient, to get stuff done quicker, and people who don't know how to leverage those tools are just going to be left behind,” he said.

In the education sphere, Monsen’s team created an essay evaluator, powered by Google Gemini, meant to give students a late-night resource to use after writing and tutoring centers have closed, preserving academic integrity.

Monsen credits the AI Scholars program and their workshops, challenges and activities with growing his knowledge-base of evolving AI tools. “It's been a really great way to experiment with the different tools, and also learn what all ASU has to offer,” Monsen said.

Creating meaningful collaborations with Shristi

For some AI Scholars, the program is exactly what they needed to come out of their shell. Shristi Pathak, UX designer for Enterprise Technology student support, is a graduate student at the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.

“I am an extremely introverted person, so it's difficult to ask for help,” Pathak said. “Being on the other side and trying to help people who I know are shy and introverted and going through the same thing that I used to – it feels really, really meaningful.”

During the Spark Challenge, Pathak worked with hackathon organizers to mentor her fellow students, supporting them throughout the challenge and providing guidance on ideas and prototyping.

Pathak says the hackathons are the perfect environment for fear-free collaboration because all AI Scholars have the same motivation: creatively thinking ahead with AI. “AI has changed the way that I learn,” Pathak said. “If you have an idea, just go for it.”

Practicing Principled Innovation in AI

Winners received cash prizes, and all participants will earn digital credentials recognizing skills in AI upskilling, rapid prototyping, collaboration, public speaking and presentation design.Three teams tied for first place on the prototyping track: Teams B2, F2 and G2.

In the prototyping track, three teams tied for first place:

Team B2 (Akash Bagchi, Akshaya Nadathur and Pranjal Padakannaya) developed “Socratic AI,” a tutor designed to close education gaps by guiding students through questions and strengthen understanding rather than simply deliver answers.
Team F2 (Dipesh Gupta, Reya Attri and Shrehan Hazarika) created “Zeno,” a classical machine learning prototype built with environmental sustainability in mind.
Team G2 (Annie Anderson, Dheeraj Kumar and Jash Ramde Karangiya) introduced an AI-powered tool that aligns students’ career goals with degree pathways best suited to help them get there, aligning their education with their career path.

On the ideation track, Team A1, made up of Andrea Wang, Ethan Kelly, Jaymison Day and Margarito Roman III, earned top honors for conceptualizing a Strategic AI Playbook focused on responsible and economic implementation of AI.

“We assume that being principled and having character and values in all of our actions was implicit and baked in,” Cross said. “We live in a time and space, not just politically, but also economically and in other ways, that we need to make sure that we are making our own principles, front and center of our decisions and actions.”