Principal Investigator Ashok K. Goel, Professor of Computer Science and Cognitive Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
	Co-PI Jennifer Hammock, Smithsonian Institute, in partnership with IBM Watson

Amount: $1 million over three years

Website: http://vera.cc.gatech.edu/ and Learn More About VERA

As the effects of environmental degradation and climate change grow, the need for research and education in biological diversity, ecological modeling and environmental sustainability becomes critical. This project brings together scientists from a dozen institutions in academia, government, and industry to translate big data into meaningful knowledge that supports research and education in environmental sustainability. The project will focus on the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), the world’s largest database of biological species, and other biodiversity data sources. Its goals are to make this data more accessible and usable by integrating artificial intelligence tools, modeling, and simulation.

Products

• Recent paper on the VERA project: Vera: Popularizing Science Through AI. 
• Download a one-pager about VERA
• View a 90-second video on VERA
• VERA for Modeling the Spread of Covid-19