Announcing the 2025 Educator Accelerator Fellows: Advancing AI Education Across Mississippi

[Jackson MS, Jan 29 2025] — The Mississippi AI Collaborative (MSAIC) is thrilled to announce the selection of 11 educators for the 2024-25 Educator AI Accelerator Fellowship. This fellowship is designed to equip Mississippi’s educators with the skills, knowledge, and advocacy tools needed to lead in fostering responsible and effective AI education across the state.

As artificial intelligence continues to shape industries, education must evolve to prepare students for the future. Recognizing this need, MSAIC is committed to empowering educators with in-depth professional learning, ensuring they are well-positioned to integrate AI into classrooms, afterschool programs, and higher education settings.

The AI Educator Accelerator Fellowship Highlights

Empowering Educators:

Fostering educator leadership in AI education is central to the Accelerator Fellowship. MSAIC is a collaboration of key Mississippi education organizations, including The Bean Path, Jackson State University, the Mississippi Chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association, and Mississippi Coding Academies. As the sole North American recipient of the 2023 Generative AI grant from data.org, MSAIC is at the forefront of AI workforce development, preparing Mississippi’s educators and students to lead in the AI revolution.

Expanding Educator Capacity:

The Accelerator Fellowship supports educators in developing AI-focused professional learning experiences for their colleagues statewide. Through hands-on training, mentorship, and collaboration, fellows will design and deliver AI workshops to equip other educators with essential AI literacy, ensuring students across Mississippi gain access to cutting-edge AI education.

Why Educators?

"Empowering educators is key to making AI education accessible and meaningful for all Mississippians. When we equip educators with AI knowledge and skills, we are not just preparing students for the workforce—we are creating opportunities for communities to thrive in the digital age," says Bob Busek, MSAIC Co-Founder and CEO of Mississippi Coding Academies.

Meet the 2024-2025 AI Educator Accelerator Fellows

The selected fellows represent a diverse group of educators from across Mississippi, bringing expertise from various educational backgrounds. They are passionate about leveraging AI to transform learning environments and prepare students for the future.

2024-2025 AI Educator Accelerator Fellows:

  • Kimberley McDaniel

  • Sara Platt

  • Rebekah Satcher

  • Kambria Jones

  • James Robinson

  • Melissa Pigot

  • Crawford Grabowski

  • Valerie Russell

  • Maya Berry

  • Whitney Wells

  • Natessia Jackson

Join the Movement

The Mississippi AI Collaborative invites educators, policymakers, and community members to join this initiative in shaping the future of AI education. By supporting educators in their AI journey, we contribute to a more equitable, tech-savvy Mississippi.

For more information about the Educator AI Lab and the Accelerator Fellowship Program, visit mississippiai.org.

Media Contact:
Krystal Chatman
Co-Founder, Mississippi AI Collaborative
📧 mississippi@csteachers.org

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