Meet the Fellows
- Josh Averbeck | Professor, School of Communication and Media | Social Media Lab Director | Western Illinois University
- Project: NeighborBot: Artificial Intelligence and Community Economic Development
- Brandi Barnes | Research Scientist / Adjunct Lecturer | Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Project: Carnegie Classification Toolkit for IIN
- Hei-Chi Chan | Associate Professor of Mathematics | University of Illinois Springfield
- Project: Innovation Student Ambassador Program
- M. Diane Cox | Director of Professional Development | Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
- Project: IIN Conference FY26: Powering Illinois’ Future Together
- Ashley N. Frederick | Nursing Instructor | Western Illinois University
- Project: Lowering the Barrier to Patient Safety: A Practical Root Cause Analysis Toolkit for Frontline Leaders
- Sammer Saleh Jones | Director for Global Relations, Illinois International | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Project: U21 Partnership Metrics Survey and Toolkit
- Hui Li | Assistant Professor | Southern Illinois University Carbondale
- Project: From Bench to Practice: Advancing Translation of IIN-Funded Point-of-Care Diagnostics
- Xiaoli Li | Assistant Professor | Southern Illinois University Carbondale
- Project: Assessing University Students’ Readiness and Acceptance of Virtual Reality (VR) in Healthcare Education: A Multidisciplinary Pilot Study in Southern Illinois
- Yunchuan Liu | Assistant Professor | Governors State University
- Project: A comprehensive analysis and actionable recommendations to enhance the preparedness, planning, and mitigation strategies of IIN member universities regarding the energy and water impacts of data center
- Roy Magnuson | Director, Adaptive Edge Institute | Illinois State University
- Project: Your Move: Teaching AI-Assisted Problem Solving for Non-Technical Staff and Faculty
- Sinan Onal | Professor and Chair | Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
- Project: A Cross-IIN Faculty Development Initiative on AI-Enhanced, Competency-Based Teaching
- Anitha Saravanan | Assistant Professor | Northern Illinois University
- Project: Broadband for Better Health (B4BH) Playbook for Equitable Digital Health for Older Adults in Illinois
- Anna Smith | Associate Professor | Illinois State University
- Project: Sustaining Responsible Use of Emerging Technologies across the Illinois Innovation Network
- Kevin Tucker | Associate Professor of Chemistry | Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
- Project: IIN Conference 2026: Powering Illinois’ Future Together