Presidential seed grant backs our robot-powered SEL collaboration

Last updated on Oct 30, 2025 1 min read

Our cross-college Iowa State team is featured in the 2025 Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grant announcement for pioneering the use of robots and virtual reality to support social-emotional learning.

Faculty collaborators E.J. Bahng (School of Education), Bowen Weng (Computer Science), and Jundi Liu (Industrial Engineering) will combine immersive storytelling, VR, and human-robot engagement to help young learners practice empathy, collaboration, and other SEL skills. The story highlights how robots serve as cultural tools that spark curiosity and deepen emotional connections—validating our vision for human-centered robotics in informal education spaces.

Jundi Liu
Jundi Liu
Assistant Professor

I’m an Assistant Professor in IMSE and HCI at ISU. My research interests include Interactive Reinforcement Learning, Human Behavior Modeling, Human-vehicle Interaction and Human-robot Interaction.