SOCKS Researchers Present Working Group at Santa Fe Institute

January 6, 2026
The SOCKS Team visited the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) to help facilitate a multi-day working group from December 10th to 12th. The working group, "Towards a Data-Driven Science of Stories," was organized by SOCKS co-PIs Peter Dodds, PhD and Juniper Lovato, PhD, University of Vermont Assistant Professor Sam Zhang, PhD, and University of Toronto Assistant Professor Samsun Knight, ...

 

EPSCoR Research Fellow Awarded to Dr. Jennifer Crodelle, Middlebury ...

December 21, 2025
Jennifer Crodelle, PhD, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Middlebury College, received a $237,174 National Science Foundation (NSF) award for her project "EPSCoR Research Fellows: NSF: Building Mechanistic Models for the Interaction of Tau Protein and Neuronal Voltage." The award will help shed light on the relationship between the buildup of tau protein, ...

 

UVM Attracts $5.5M from NSF for AI Supercomputer, Underground Robots, ...

December 16, 2025
The University of Vermont has secured over $5.5M in National Science Foundation funding to support researchers investigating next-generation artificial intelligence computing, human tissue mechanics, atmospheric science, underground robots, and renewable energy systems.

 

Pilot and SBIR Applications Open!

December 15, 2025
Vermont EPSCoR is pleased once again to offer funding opportunities for Vermont researchers and small businesses. Applications for the 2026-2027 Pilot Research Grant Program and the 2026-2027 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase(0) Grant Program are open!

 

Constructing a Science of Stories

December 15, 2025
From Pride and Prejudice to Beowulf to the classic sitcom Friends, all stories share a common purpose: to convey knowledge about how to navigate the world.

 

Dr. Julia Zimmerman Response Featured in nmj Mental Health Research

December 15, 2025
SOCKS postdoc Julia Zimmerman, PhD and Vermont Complex Systems Institute postdoc Alejandro Ruiz, PhD were published in the "Matters Arising" section of nmj Mental Health Research in November 2025. Their article, "A Response to Loneliness and Suicide Mitigation for Students Using GPT3-Enabled Chatbots," was a response to a 2024 article in the same journal which explored the use ...

 

Terry Barrett Presents AI Friday at UVM

December 2, 2025
Terry Barrett, MS, Senior Research Facilitator at the Vermont Advanced Computing Center (VACC) and member of the SOCKS Capacity Team, presented at an AI Friday for the University of Vermont (UVM) Libraries group.

 

Undergraduate Intern Applications Now Open!

November 12, 2025
Vermont EPSCoR is offering 2026 summer research internship opportunities for our cutting-edge NSF-funded project, Harnessing the Data Revolution for Vermont: The Science of Online Corpora, Knowledge, and Stories (SOCKS). Click here to apply!

 

SOCKS at Vermont Fest for K-12 educators!

November 10, 2025
Regina Toolin, PhD (center), member of the SOCKS Education and Workforce Development Team and Associate Professor of STEM Education at the University of Vermont, Rusti Gregory, Missisquoi Valley School District (left) and Jonna Keith, Otter Valley Union High School (right) attended the Vermont EPSCoR at Vermont Fest 2025 held November 5-7, 2025, in Killington, Vermont!

 

Dr. Juniper Lovato on "Across the Fence"

November 7, 2025
Juniper Lovato, Co-PI of the VT EPSCoR SOCKS award, teaches computer science at the University of Vermont. She's trained as a philosopher and also works on large language models -- she talks about the ethics behind A.I. and the good, bad and ugly of what large language models are learning.