Author: AWS Public Sector Blog Team

During AWS re:Invent 2024, an Innovation Session presented by Worldwide Public Sector Vice President Dave Levy illustrated how AWS empowers customers to innovate and tackle critical challenges faster and more efficiently using cloud technology and generative artificial intelligence (AI). Take a few minutes to read this post and learn more about the transformative initiatives, inspiring customer stories, and technological developments that help AWS public sector customers improve life on Earth.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has been at the forefront of business innovation for over 140 years. Recently, Wharton found an opportunity to use generative AI to enhance their students’ learning experience. With support from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Wharton will roll out a virtual teaching assistant (TA) in the autumn of 2024, powered by generative AI, to answer students’ specific course-related questions in real time.

In critical moments when every second counts, justice and public safety (JPS) agencies need technology solutions that are secure, reliable, and fast. To power these essential solutions—and move agencies to the cloud securely, compliantly, and fast—CentralSquare exclusively builds on AWS infrastructure.

In 2019, Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) began looking for a better way to meet the needs of its digital-native student population—specifically, a seamless way to connect students with on-campus resources. Seeking to create a personalized mobile app experience, Penn State partnered with Modo Labs, an educational technology company (EdTech) offering a no-code app-building platform powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The result of this collaboration was Penn State Go, an all-in-one platform that quickly connects students to vital resources and services.

Leaders in higher education recognize that generative artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cloud computing, and other advanced technologies are rapidly changing how education and research happen on campus. Whether through data-driven administrative decision-making, generative AI infrastructure for research, or enhanced learning tools for the classroom, higher education institutions are developing and applying technology in innovative and helpful ways. Some of these examples will be shared at the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference from October 21-24 in San Antonio.

Where will the next pandemic-causing virus come from? The answer to this pressing question is locked away in the immense diversity of DNA carried around by life on Earth. A research team located at the Institut Pasteur, a Paris-based leading international research organization, plans to break into that vault of knowledge with IndexThePlanet. Read this post to learn more about the project, which aims to index the DNA of all living organisms, identify previously unknown viruses species, and create a DNA search engine.

The COVID-19 pandemic took a heavy toll on students’ mental health and well-being. In fact, a staggering 87 percent of public schools reported that the pandemic had negatively impacted their students’ social-emotional development during the 2021–2022 school year. These effects have lingered long past the pandemic, and students’ social-emotional well-being remains a primary concern of administrators, teachers, and parents. To address this ongoing crisis, The Happy Sad Company was founded. Collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS), they strategically planned, scaled, and launched an app to help teachers, parents, and students gain a better understanding of how things are going.

Amazon has launched the Amazon Trusted AI Challenge, a global university competition to drive secure innovation in generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) technology. This year’s challenge focuses on responsible AI and specifically on large language model (LLM) coding security.

Kim Majerus, vice president of global education and US state and local government for worldwide public sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS), led the keynote address at the AWS IMAGINE conference for education, state, and local leaders. Majerus shared how AWS customers are innovating for their communities with the cloud and announced new public sector initiatives from AWS. Two special guests joined Majerus on stage to share how a culture of innovation is transforming the student and citizen experience at their organizations. Read this post for some of the highlights from the AWS IMAGINE conference keynote.

As a teacher with the KIPP charter school network in Houston, Texas, Dave Wakefield knew there had to be a better way for educators to gain insightful feedback on their instruction. Traditionally, educators who wanted feedback on their teaching either had to have someone visit their classroom or film themselves and then send that video to a mentor or peer for review. In 2013, Wakefield founded education technology (EdTech) company Sibme as a way to use technology, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), to help educators access quicker and more reliable feedback.