Practical Applications
Hands-on prototyping for AI-powered dashboards, storytelling tools, serious games and co-creation apps.
For the Workforce
UCF upskills professionals through sector-specific certifications in cutting-edge AI tools and responsible AI practices.
Responsible AI
Developing projects that follow UCF’s guidelines for ethical, accessible AI use.
From AI curiosity to community impact.
Mission-driven professionals and organizations know AI can help — but without accessible pathways, trusted roadmaps or staffing capacity, the gap between knowledge and action keeps growing.
Based in UCF’s School of Public Administration, the Applied AI Innovation Initiative pairs faculty expertise and student creativity with community-defined problems — building AI tools that are practical, ethical, accessible and sustainable beyond the pilot. The initiative’s core projects represent $1.2 million in funding for workforce development, applied research and educational programming.
I always like to think of AI as a thought partner and ask how it can help elevate ideas, not create them. That’s why it’s so important for the public and nonprofit sectors to leverage this technology.
AI support built to serve people.
The initiative focuses on three areas where responsible AI can meaningfully strengthen day-to-day work — without losing sight of mission, equity or accessibility.
Cross-Sector Collaboration
For nonprofits and mission-driven teamsBuild AI capacity that fits your sector’s landscape, goals and culture.
- Understand your sector’s unique landscape, and tailor AI training to your organization’s goals and culture.
- Use AI to strengthen financial planning and reporting while prototyping practical tools for outreach, training and program evaluation.
- Learn AI workflows and vibe coding that help small teams do more with limited resources.
Education
For educators, students and instructional designersCreate better learning experiences with ethical AI support.
- Explore AI-supported storytelling, serious games and instructional design.
- Design interventions that improve learning and engagement for technological adaptation.
- Prepare students and educators to use AI responsibly and effectively.
Applied Research
For researchers and public administratorsBring research to life with AI as a partner in inquiry and impact.
- Partner with interdisciplinary researchers on civic and behavioral challenges while translating policy, data and community feedback into accessible insights
- Use AI to enhance planning, collaboration and interdisciplinary inquiry across the full research process with a human-centered approach
- Bring findings to life through strategic storytelling and AI tools built for impact beyond publication
- Co-create solutions alongside communities using Participatory Action Research (PAR) principles and methods
Four pillars move ideas into action.
The Applied AI Innovation Initiative organizes its work around four pillars — student engagement, strategic partnerships, community-driven research-based products and an innovative, responsible approach to AI.
Student-powered innovation
Students gain applied experience using responsible AI tools to design, prototype and evaluate educational and behavioral interventions — from apps and dashboards to serious games.
Strategic partnerships
The initiative connects UCF faculty, students and partner organizations — locally and globally — to share practical AI methods and build capacity across sectors.
Community-driven research
End users and stakeholders are involved in every phase of the work so AI products and trainings reflect real community needs — not assumptions.
Responsible AI use
Creative Lab projects apply AI to storytelling, serious games, training and intervention design with attention to ethics, accessibility and adoption.
The brains behind the work.
The Applied AI Innovation Initiative team builds on interdisciplinary collaboration with the greater UCF community, bridging areas of expertise to drive innovative, research-grounded programming.
Maritza Concha, Ph.D.
Initiative Lead · Associate Lecturer, School of Public Administration
Concha leads the Applied AI Innovation Initiative and teaches public administration, policy analysis and program evaluation at UCF. She has 20 years of experience as a program evaluator for local nonprofits and human services, with an emphasized interest in service partnerships and artificial intelligence for organizational transformation.
Rasha Mannaa, MNM & MPA
Public Affairs Doctoral Student · Initiative Co-Lead
Mannaa brings dual graduate training in nonprofit management and public administration to the team’s work building responsible, applied AI tools alongside community partners. She is responsible for coordinating programs focused on AI and cybersecurity and conducts research in public affairs through UCF.
Ketty Dones, MNM & MPA
Community AI Strategist
Dones provides support for the Financial Management Course for Nonprofit Professionals while championing responsible AI use in public and nonprofit sector practice. Her professional experience includes providing technical assistance to nonprofits, developing organizational bylaws and enhancing fundraising strategies to strengthen long-term sustainability.
Affiliated Faculty
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Doug Goodman, Ph.D.
Professor, UCF School of Public Administration -
Shashank Sonkar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Computer Science & UCF Institute of Artificial Intelligence
See how applied AI becomes a practical community tool.
From AI-driven financial management games for nonprofit leaders to participatory storytelling and organizational capacity-building, these examples show AI helping mission-driven teams strengthen the work they already do.
AI for nonprofit financial decisions
CHO!CES demonstrates how AI-informed, game-based learning can help nonprofit leaders practice financial management decisions in a low-risk environment.
Community research and AI storytelling
Participatory research and AI-driven storytelling help communities communicate needs, experiences and outcomes in their own voice.
Applied AI for stronger organizations
Initiative lead Maritza Concha, Ph.D., explains how AI is most useful when it helps organizations strengthen their mission-driven work.
A practical path from challenge to prototype.
UCF can help your organization identify responsible AI opportunities, build useful prototypes and evaluate whether those tools actually improve outcomes — not just look impressive.
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Discover
Define the community need, audience, workflow and responsible-use considerations.
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Design
Co-create an intervention, training, AI workflow or prototype with stakeholders.
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Prototype
Use interactive, hands-on methods to test AI tools, storytelling, serious games and operational support.
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Evaluate
Measure usefulness, accessibility, ethics, adoption barriers and community impact.
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Scale
Document the playbook so partners can sustain the work beyond the pilot.
What changes when AI is used responsibly for the public good.
AI doesn’t replace human judgment — it sharpens it. When thoughtfully integrated, AI removes friction and helps mission-driven teams focus on critical thinking, relationships and human-centered decisions. The goal? Collaboration with a capable partner that strengthens the organization.
Stronger Nonprofit Services
The initiative supports small nonprofit teams in integrating AI across core management functions, from grant writing, program evaluation and storytelling to communication and financial training. All the while, teams are building foundational AI literacy in prompting and ethics while prototyping tools like chatbots, workflows, vibe coding apps and dashboards — no technical background required.
Better Learning Experiences
AI is used to design educational and behavioral interventions, instructional content, serious games and storytelling experiences that meet learners where they are — with human oversight at every step.
Smarter Public Administration
Public administrators get AI-assisted approaches to planning, evaluation and community communication, plus interdisciplinary research partnerships rooted in UCF’s School of Public Administration.
Responsible AI Adoption
Projects follow UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning guidelines for ethical AI use, and emphasize human oversight, accessibility, privacy, bias review and stakeholder input throughout.
Ready to put AI to work for the public good?
Invite UCF’s Applied AI Innovation Initiative to explore a training, prototype, research partnership or community-facing AI project for your organization.
Common questions from community partners.
Do partners need technical AI expertise?
No. The initiative is designed to help organizations identify practical AI opportunities, learn responsible workflows and prototype tools that match their capacity. Student fellows have built apps, websites, dashboards, chatbots and serious games for nonprofit partners without prior technical backgrounds.
What kinds of projects fit this initiative?
Strong fits include:
- Nonprofit management topics such as grant writing, financial management and public communication.
- Course design for workforce development across sectors.
- Evaluation of federal, state and local grant programs.
- Serious games, community storytelling, and educational or behavioral interventions co-designed with AI.
What certifications and courses does the initiative offer?
The initiative offers an online continuing education/workforce certification course in AI for Nonprofits. Students can also enroll in the AI for the Workplace undergraduate course (PAD 3931) or the Applications of AI in the Nonprofit and Public Sector graduate course (PAD 5095).
How does the initiative approach responsible AI?
Projects follow UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning guidelines and emphasize human oversight, stakeholder input, accessibility checks, privacy considerations, bias review and clear documentation about when AI should — and should not — be used.
Who leads the Applied AI Innovation Initiative?
The initiative is led by Maritza Concha, Ph.D., associate lecturer in UCF’s School of Public Administration, with co-lead Rasha Mannaa, MNM & MPA, and Community AI Strategist Ketty Dones, MNM & MPA. Affiliated faculty include Doug Goodman, Ph.D. and Shashank Sonkar, Ph.D. See Meet the Experts above for full bios.
How can a nonprofit start working with UCF on AI?
Complete the request form to scope a training, prototype, research collaboration or community-facing AI project. The initiative welcomes partners across Florida and beyond.
How does this connect to UCF’s broader AI work?
The Applied AI Innovation Initiative is one of several efforts under UCF’s growing AI ecosystem, which includes the university-wide Institute of Artificial Intelligence (IAI) uniting more than two dozen faculty across colleges in foundational and applied AI.
Artificial Intelligence News
Citations & Sources
Statements about the UCF Applied AI Innovation Initiative, its faculty, student work and related UCF AI efforts are sourced from the following UCF and affiliated publications.
- UCF College of Community Innovation and Education. Maritza Concha, Ph.D. — Associate Lecturer, School of Public Administration. https://ccie.ucf.edu/person/maritza-concha/
- UCF News. Hendrix, D. (Dec. 8, 2025). First-Generation UCF Grad Leverages AI to Boost Nonprofits’ Impact. https://www.ucf.edu/news/…
- UCF School of Public Administration. Research and Partnerships — Applied AI Innovation Initiative. https://ccie.ucf.edu/public-administration/
- UCF Institute of Artificial Intelligence (IAI). A university-wide initiative uniting AI faculty across colleges in foundational and applied AI, healthcare, finance and mathematics. https://ai.ucf.edu/
- UCF Institute of Artificial Intelligence. (Nov. 5, 2025). UCF Unveils Two New AI Special Topics Courses for Spring 2026 — including PAD 3931: AI for the Workplace. https://ai.ucf.edu/…
- UCF. Artificial Intelligence at UCF — institutional overview of AI programs, research and the Institute of Artificial Intelligence. https://www.ucf.edu/artificial-intelligence/
- UCF Center for Distributed Learning. Guidelines on responsible and ethical use of generative AI applications in teaching and learning. https://cdl.ucf.edu/
- UCF Applied AI Innovation Initiative on YouTube: CHO!CES financial management game (9H0gRKO2qNk); community storytelling with AI (1PfbOBBM7AM); Maritza Concha on applied AI (ny5cSpi_2Uc).
Transforming Our Lives Through AI Research
From making medicine more accessible to building more sustainable cities, AI impacts nearly every aspect of our lives, and UCF’s faculty, students and alumni are at the heart of it.
