Year in Review 20 25
2025 Yearin Review
January
DataPrivacyDay atASUfeatures ArizonaTri-U collaboration
Bridgingeducation andindustry:Zoom AISparkChallenge spotlightsstudent innovation
March
7thannualSmartRegionSummit gathered300industryleadersin downtownPhoenix;centersaround AIanddigitaltwins
ASUamongthefirstuniversitiesto deploySalesforce'snewAIagent: MeetParky
LaunchofSeason4oftheawardwinningYouTubeseriesCarpool ConvoswithASU
ExplorethetriumphsdeliveredbyEnterprise Technologyassociatesacross2025,whose effortsreaffirmandadvanceourmissionto transformworking,learningandcollaboration fortheASUcommunityandbeyond
February
ASUstudents craftandcodeon newvideogame makingplatform.
Mentorship propelsASU engineer’s journeyfrom studenttostaff MeetTorey Takahashi
April
ASUUXSparkChallengewith TLNandASUPocket
ASUtechleadershipat ASU+GSV2025.
BroadbandStoryMapearns globalspotlight.
May
Launchedseason1of VoicesofInnovation featuringASUCIO, LevGonick
ASUDeputyCIOKyle Bowenappointedto Arizona’sfirstAI steeringcommittee
ASUEmpower2025 digsdeepintothe intersectionof humanityand technology
June
Launchofthe‘2074 Guide’tohelpeducation leadersnavigatethe next50years
DigitalNavigatorsplay importantrolein communityadvocacy.
ASUandQSImpACT launchsustainability challengeforstudents globally
July
Designsessionsurfacesinstructor strategyonAIlearningassistance
TLNUnconferenceinColorado
CultureConnectionslaunched, engaging420+participantstobuilda thriving,connectedculture.
August
LaunchtheAI Scholarsprogram
ASUfacultyand technologists collaborateonsix newdesign principlesforAI
CreateAIBuilder isavailableforall facultyandstaff
ExperienceCenter getsallnewAI upgradesaheadof newschoolyear
September
Engage2025:Onthecutting-edgeAI oftodayandtomorrow
AIDayatASU:AshowcaseofAI innovationsatscale
ArizonaStateUniversityexpandsits partnershipwithOpenAItolaunch ChatGPTEdu
October
AIDayatASU:Strategy andImpactsetthestage atAgenticAIandthe StudentExperience.
ASUstudentspitch cybersecuritysolutions atCyber360Spark Challenge
ASUamongthefirstto receiveNVIDIA’s newestAI supercomputer
November
Datatellsthestory:450ASU communitymembersattendthe9th annualDataConference
VoicesofInnovation,Season2drops
December
SpecialepisodeofCarpoolConvosfeaturing SylviaAcevedoandKimberlyClark. Givingbackcampaign
HolidayParty,ASUUnitedWaycampaign
Students at Next Lab work to bring AI to all
ASUNextLabstudents aimtobridgethegap betweenexcluded communitiesand emergingtechnologies overdigitaladvancements, usingEdgeAI Byfocusing on“theedge,”ofeducation access,theinitiative bridgesthedigitaldivide betweentech-limited communitiesand technological advancements The students,Thestudents, AnanyaBhargaviKodali, HrushikeshPandit,Hithesh RaiPurushothamaand SahilGarg,havebeen runningEdgeAI prototypesondifferent devices,whichdon’t requireinternet connectivity,useminimal power,andevenfitinthe palmoftheirhands
ASU students create data science AI tutors
TheAIAcceleratedSpa Challengewasaweekvirtualhackathonheldo Zoom Inpartnershipw NVIDIA,studentswere tocreatetheirownAItu systemusingmachinel models,largelanguage (LLMs),andotherdata tools.Theirtutoringsys wouldprimarilyfocuso guidingtheiruserhowt acceleratedatascience projects,primarilycode PythonandbuiltonASU supercomputer,gavest theuniqueopportunity experimentwithscaling machinelearningworkf
Meet AI student innovators Sam and Faith
ASUinternationalstudentsSamuel NinsiimaandAbangFaithTimohare bridgingthegapbetweenAIinacademia andtheAIindustry.Astheypreparefor graduation,bothSamandFaithplanon continuingtheirpursuitsofethicaland accessibleAIsolutions
AI at ASU
ASU grad students showcase human creativity in AI
Insteadofcrammingforafinalexam,ASU graduatestudentsinDCI691:HumanCreativityin AIpresentedthecustomGPTstheydevelopedin anend-of-semestershowcase Fromlanguage learnerstomoodreaderstohistoricalvirtual classrooms,thesestudentshavespentthe springsemesterexploringtheintersection betweencreativityandadvancedtechnology
2025 Highlights
ASU faculty and technologists collaborate on six new design principles for AI
Aheadofthefall2025semester,theASUFaculty EthicsCommitteeforAITechnologypublicly releasedDesignPrinciplesforBeneficialand ResponsibleAI,asetofsixguidingprinciplesthat aremeanttoevolvealongsidethetechnology
ASU students lead in AI development for local police department
Comingsoon,thepolice departmentinChandlerwillhave anall-newtrafficreportingweb portal,thankstoacollaboration withASU’sArtificialIntelligence CloudInnovationCenter(AI-CIC), poweredbyAWS.Teammembers frombothASUandAWSwork togetherattheAI-CIC,andASU studentsplayedacentralrolein thedesignanddevelopment
ASU and OpenAI expand collaboration, scaling AI to advance student success, research and innovation ArizonaStateUniversityannouncedanexpansion ofitscollaborationwithOpenAI,bringingChatGPT EduwithGPT-5toeverystudent,facultymember, researcherandstaffmemberatnocost.
ASU among the first to receive NVIDIA’s newest AI supercomputer ASUhasreceivednotone,buttwooftheworld’s smallestAIsupercomputers,theNVIDIADGXSpark Specifically,twoteamsatASUhavereceivedthe NVIDIADGXSparkaspartoftheearlyrelease
Scalingintelligence: CreateAIandASU’s agenticfuture
Agentic AI at ASU
At Arizona State University, the future of education is being built by those who lead with curiosity and purpose.
What’s the next frontier?
Agentic AI — where humans create, guide, and oversee systems designed to collaborate, take initiative, and help achieve meaningful outcomes
Powered by CreateAI, the backbone of ASU’s AI innovation ecosystem, the university is leading the next era of intelligent, human-centered technology in higher education. ASU’s vision for agentic AI is deeply connected to its broader mission: using innovation to enhance learning and expand opportunity at scale.
Across teaching, research, and operations, agentic AI enables systems that collaborate with people tutoring students, analyzing data, supporting research, and automating routine processes — all while maintaining transparency, ethical oversight, and institutional control.
“Agentic AI is about extending human capability,” explained Elizabeth Reilley, Executive Director of AI Acceleration.
“It’s not about machines thinking for us, but about empowering people to accomplish more through systems that act on human goals.”
Built by ASU for ASU, CreateAI provides the foundation for this transformation. One key differentiator is the university’s ability to create a secure, modelagnostic environment grounded in ethical and responsible innovation. Built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), this vendor-agnostic platform empowers CreateAI agents to connect and collaborate seamlessly across systems
With Agent-to-Agent (A2A) communication, powered by MCP, CreateAI unites diverse technologies into a truly interoperable network
Building Medical Cases with Agentic Precision
At ASU Health, faculty are using CreateAI’s agentic framework to rapidly develop detailed, multilayered medical case studies. One recent example focuses on adolescent asthma, following Ben, a 15-year-old navigating both medical and social challenges that affect his health. Multiple AI agents collaborate to craft the narrative, integrate patient data, verify accuracy, and refine details before faculty review. The case explores ethical and social factors like consent for minors, medication costs, and stigma around inhaler use. By combining AI-driven creation with faculty expertise, ASU is transforming case development from weeks of work into hours while enriching student learning.
Smarter Assessments through the Learning Engineering Institute
The Learning Engineering Institute is leveraging CreateAI to build adaptive quizzes that assess how students think Multiple AI agents analyze content, generate questions, evaluate cognitive load, and design optimal distractors an evidence-based approach to testing that advances both learning and research. These tools demonstrate how CreateAI’s agentic design can turn educational theory into scalable, datainformed practice.
Enabling extraordinary learning experiences.
ASU students are sparking new ideas
ASUSparkChallengesare fast-paced,technologydrivencompetitionsfor studentsthatturncreativity intoaction,invitingSunDevils toimagineandprototypereal solutionsforemerging industryandcommunity needs,allwhilelearningfrom expertsandeducatorsinthe field
HostedbyEnterprise TechnologyAffairs,Spark Challengesserveasan additionallearning opportunityacrosstheASU landscapebyprovidinga uniquearenafor collaboration,inspiration,and real-worldskill-building,all culminatinginprizesthat celebrateingenuityand technicalexploration.
Overthepastyear,over400 studentsparticipatedinover 10SparkChallenges,varying fromcybersecuritytogame design
Learn
ASU Digital Backpack gets all new AI toolset
The ASU Digital Backpack is equipped with everything students need to get through their classes, dive into their research and power their creativity and productivity. Alongside the essentials, every Sun Devil gets access to AI tools including ChatGPT Edu, Google Gemini for Education, Copilot Chat, and Adobe Express
Meet the students behind ASU’s AI Scholars program
Through the university’s AI Scholar Program, ASU students showcase their curiosity and ambition at the intersection of technology and human potential. This semester, we met two first-time students Annie Andersen and Solika Sokhan who are demonstrating their resolve to embed AI into their future
AdvancingAI
ASU students pitch cybersecurity solutions at Cyber360 Spark Challenge
From phishing defense to smart IoT security and incident reporting, ASU students kicked off Cybersecurity Awareness Month with a 24-hour Spark Challenge focused on cybersecurity, pitching solutions for real-world problems and showcasing student innovation for industry-leading partners.
Commun buildinginCreateAIBuilder
Learning innovations
Next Lab allows a glimpse into the future for ASU Prep students
ASU Prep students enrolled in the Emerging Technology Internship program attend ASU Next Lab workshop to learn about futures thinking and signals of change.
Advancing AI
Working with AI as a partner, not just a tool
ASU assistant teaching professor
Allison Lester is encouraging students to use AI as a partner, rather than just as another tool
These students are building custom GPTs to elevate ideas, role-play stakeholder meetings and analyze survey responses.
High school hackers rethink waste management at ASU Spark Challenge
The OpenAI and Student Success Spark Challenge engaged students across disciplines to design solutions to address sustainability, improve the future of education and enhance society.
Work
Empowering purposeful work and innovation.
Teaming up to support digital transformation
IncollaborationwithASU's BusinessandFinance,teams fromASUEnterprise Technologysupportedthe university'stransitionto Workday,theall-in-one finance,humanresources andpayrollsystem And behindeverynewtechnology integrationisateamof talentedindividualswho createhuman-drivenimpact
Fromengineering’sfocuson dataconversion,integrations andremediationtopeople operationstraininghundreds ofuniversityemployees acrossbothacademicand staff,therealimpactistold throughthestoriesofthose drivingchange.
Crosscollaborationwith engineering,dataand analysisandpeopleopsto supporttheenterprise transformationtoWorkday.
Work
Innovative education
Experience Center gets all new AI upgrades ahead of new school year
From tech-informed to techinnovation, the ASU Experience Center has seen significant progress in just one year of AIdriven initiatives. The integration of Copilot-NiCE a platform for various customer-servicefocused AI tools into specialist interactions is prioritizing positive experiences between specialists and community members
CreateAI Builder is now available for all ASU faculty and staff - built by ASU, for ASU The custom builder platform allows users to create and share their own custom AI tools at scale. Housed inside ASU's environment, CreateAI Builder keeps security at the forefront.
Agentic AI
ASU among the first universities to deploy Salesforce's new AI agent
For over a decade, ASU has been working with Salesforce to support Sun Devil services This year, ASU was one of the first universities piloting Agentforce, Salesforce’s newest AI tool, to bring agentic AI experiences across campus operational teams. Parky, a 24/7 customer engagement agent, is paving the way for more AI-driven support across ASU.
Advancing AI
Growth mindset, north stars and
advancing the human impact of technology.
In early August, ASU Enterprise Technology unveiled its nine latest strategic priorities, covering everything from student and learner success to advancing AI across the enterprise.
Thrive
Building community, culture and connection.
Over600educationand industryleadersfrom22 countriesaroundtheworld convenedinTempefora three dayeventexploring hownext generationAI transformshigher education,studentagency andworkforcereadiness. Theeventoffered interactiveworkshopsand sessions,alongside
inspiringkeynotesdelivered by ASUpresidentMichael Crow,Instituteforthe Futureexecutivedirector MarinaGorbis,Salesforce chiefdigitalevangelistVala Afsharandmore
Theeventwasalsomarked byseveralmajor announcements,including newASUpartnerships,the
winneroftheinaugural 2025Humanitarian Awardandlaunchof XboxGameCampto Phoenix.Theclosing messageofthe conferencewasclear: thiscommunityiswellon itswaytonavigatingthe eraofagenticAI,but successdependson doingittogether.
Thrive
Advancing AI
ASU-led project brings internet connection to thousands in Arizona Community engagement
Heading into its fourth year, the Maricopa County Broadband Initiative is the country’s largest university-led project to improve digital access The project, approved by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 2022, tackles a modern-day crisis digital inequity.
Upskilling program helps bridge education employment pathways for students
The ASU Arista Upskilling Program welcomed 10 ASU students to its second cohort, focused on providing networking skills across wired and wireless infrastructure. The program demonstrates the university’s commitment of working with industry leaders to provide opportunities that bridge education and employment.
ASU grad students showcase human creativity in AI
Instead of cramming for a final exam, these ASU graduate students presented custom GPTs they developed in an end-of-semester showcase. From language learners to mood readers, these students spent the spring semester exploring the intersection between creativity and advanced technology.
Author Kashmir Hill, cybersecurity experts from across the state’s triuniversity and students gathered to discuss best practices and answer questions about the importance of staying safe online.
100 Year EdTech Project’s Design Summit
190 education leaders, students, program directors, faculty and others gathered at ASU to discuss the biggest challenges and opportunities in education, while also exploring potenital solutions
Smart Region Summit explores the role of AI and the future of the city
Over 300 participants gathered to explore possibilities and solutions at the intersection of AI, urban planning and digital equity at the 2025 Smart Region Summit.
“ Aswelookaheadtothe futureoflearning,the challengeisn’tscaling moresystems;it’s designingconnected, intelligentexperiences thatsupportevery learner’spath."
LevGonick CHIEFINFORMATIONOFFICER
Enterprise Technology connects a global community of students, faculty, staff and innovators by enabling humancentered digital experiences that elevate the future of education, discovery and societal advancement.
The commitment to deliver an exceptional human-centered technology experience is underscored by strategic priorities and objectives that guide our teams' collaborative work in support of ASU Enterprises
The Creative and Communications team produces this issue of Year in Review within ASU’s Enterprise Technology department, and reflects the collaborative work of writers, editors, designers and strategists who shape the stories and visuals shared here.
HYDEGROAT, GRAPHICDESIGN
JOYCELYNMUÑOZ, EDITORIAL
ALISHAMENDEZ, SENIORCOMMUNICATION SPECIALIST
STEPHANIEKING, EDITORIAL TABBSMOSIER, MULTIMEDIAARTIST
SOPHIEJONES, SENIORCOMMUNICATION
ANNIEDAVIS, DIRECTOR
CORINNABUSCIGLIOKAMILLI, DIRECTOR
TINAMILLER, EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR
