As AI tools become increasingly influential in academia, Cornell researchers need ways to evaluate what these tools can do, understand their limitations and develop reliable approaches for applying them thoughtfully, effectively, and responsibly.
The new Communities of Practice for AI-enabled Research (CoPAIR) program, co-sponsored by the Cornell AI Initiative and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR), gives researchers access to emerging AI tools, hands-on training and collaborative communities where they can share best practices, develop disciplinary norms for appropriate AI use and non-use, and evaluate new tools for research.
The program is designed for researchers at any stage of AI experience, from those exploring it for the first time to those already building it into their workflows. By bringing domain experts around common AI challenges and opportunities and connecting them with tools, training, and collaborative support, the CoPAIR program reflects Cornell's commitment to enabling a community-driven approach to responsible AI use.
"Every researcher and every research field are somewhere different on their AI journey, facing their own AI frontiers, crises, and unknowns," said Natalie Bazarova, associate vice provost for research and lead of the research pillar for the Cornell AI Initiative. "As we confront them, we need open platforms for research communities to come together to collectively shape the path forward. The CoPAIR program offers one such platform to critically examine our shared research commitments and standards, learn new techniques and tools, and advance scientific methods and reproducible workflows."
CoPAIR is built on two pillars: Research Pod CoPAIR and Core-Center CoPAIR.
Research Pod CoPAIR: researchers learning together
Research Pod CoPAIRs are small, self-formed groups of domain-based researchers who come together to explore questions and practices around AI use in their shared field. Guided by Cornell's coordinated "AI in the disciplines" framework, each pod is a collaborative space to test relevant tools and methods, explore where and how AI can be used effectively, and build practical knowledge.
"AI brings opportunities and challenges to nearly every discipline," said Thorsten Joachims, vice provost for AI strategy. "Meeting the moment depends on researchers who understand AI in relation to the practices of their fields. CoPAIR gives them the space, the support and a collaborative platform to develop norms and best practices for their scholarship."
Core-Center CoPAIR: shared hubs for AI expertise
In the second pillar, Core-Center CoPAIRs are research communities anchored within existing Cornell centers, institutes, and shared research infrastructure. Building on their established networks for collaboration and community building, Core-Center CoPAIRs serve as AI research hubs that offer domain-specific AI expertise, training, and resource sharing.
The first Core-Center CoPAIR pilot is led by the Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC), a hub for Cornell's biotechnology and life sciences community. The approximately eight-week fall 2026 pilot focuses on four areas of life sciences research: genomics, including transcriptomics, epigenomics and metagenomics; proteomics and metabolomics; imaging; and structural biology.
While the pillars differ in structure, both are designed to develop norms and best practices for AI-enabled research and share what they learn with the broader Cornell research community. Through experimentation, collaboration, and evaluation of emerging tools, CoPAIRs develop and disseminate practical guidance, use cases, templates, and best practices for the responsible use and non-use of AI. They also curate shared repositories of AI agent skills and research applications and help researchers integrate general-purpose and specialized AI for Science tools into their work.
Researchers interested in forming a Research Pod CoPAIR or joining the Core-Center CoPAIR pilot can learn more and apply at the Cornell AI Initiative website. The application deadline for Research Pod CoPAIR is December 4.
