The $431,000 award, the university’s first Mellon grant, will fund fellowships, courses, and a symposium focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence, ethics, and disability studies.
LOS ANGELES — Loyola Marymount University has been awarded a competitive $431,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to launch a three-year initiative exploring the ethical and social justice implications of artificial intelligence through the lens of disability studies.
The interdisciplinary project – “Habitable Worlds: A Disability, Ethics, and AI Think Tank” – aims to foster critical conversations about the role of AI in shaping a more just and inclusive society. It will be supported with LMU’s first institutional Mellon Foundation grant, which will fund nine faculty fellowships over three years, and enable scholars to integrate AI ethics and disability justice into their research and teaching.
“We are incredibly grateful to launch this initiative at LMU with the support of the Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest supporter of arts and the humanities,” said Mairead Sullivan, associate professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, who is leading the initiative and serves as principal investigator.
Richard Fox, dean of LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, said the interdisciplinary project “puts LMU at the forefront of national conversations on AI ethics and accessibility, reinforcing the university’s leadership in applied humanities and its commitment to social justice.”
In addition to funding faculty fellows, the initiative will develop new community-based learning courses that engage students in real-world applications of AI and accessibility. A key component of the project is an annual symposium that will bring together scholars, technologists, disability rights advocates, and community partners to examine AI’s impact on issues such as accessibility, privacy, and bias.
“By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, ‘Habitable Worlds’ will empower LMU students and faculty members to critically engage with real-world AI challenges while shaping the future of policy and technology,” said LMU Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas Poon. “Rooted in LMU’s mission to promote justice and ethical inquiry, this project will prepare the next generation of scholars, policymakers, and technologists to navigate the evolving landscape of AI while ensuring that emerging technologies serve the needs of all communities.”
The initiative will encourage partnerships with disability rights organizations, advocacy groups, and the tech industry. Faculty members and students will work in tandem with LMU’s Bioethics Institute and The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy & Innovation, founded by former Democratic congressman, disability rights icon and LMU alumnus Hon. Tony Coelho ’64.
“Habitable Worlds” fellows will be announced in the coming months, and the first symposium is expected to take place in fall 2025.
The Mellon Foundation earlier this year announced $14 million in funding to 30 colleges and universities around the country to develop humanities-grounded research and curricular projects. The grants are the result of the Mellon Higher Learning Program’s second open call, inviting institutions to submit proposals for three categories of research and curricular projects in October 2023. It generated more than 470 submissions from 260 institutions.
More information is available here.
