The National Education Opportunity Network (NEON) recently named University of Notre Dame juniors Karita Nguyen and Emma Elizabeth Hudkins as recipients of Teaching Fellow Awards, recognizing their work with students at low-income (Title 1) high schools enrolled in Notre Dame’s Responsible and Ethical AI course.
The course has been made possible by a collaboration between a group of campus units, led by Notre Dame Learning’s Office of Digital Learning, and NEON, which partners with top universities to deliver actual college credit-bearing courses and supports to scholars in Title 1 high school classrooms across the nation.
Launched last fall, Responsible and Ethical AI was completed by approximately 180 students at 12 schools. Like all NEON courses, there was no cost to the students or their families to take it. Responsible and Ethical AI is scheduled to run again in fall 2026.
Central to the NEON model is the contributions of teaching fellows. These undergraduates, grad students, and alumni from partner colleges and universities across the country work with course instructors and onsite high school teachers to help guide enrolled students through the college coursework in live virtual sessions.
Notre Dame supported its Responsible and Ethical AI course with 14 teaching fellows drawn from the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society’s iTREDS (Interdisciplinary Training and Research in Ethical Data Science) Scholars Program, including Nguyen and Hudkins.
Nguyen, who is majoring in applied and computational mathematics and statistics (ACMS) with a minor in actuarial science, was one of 27 teaching fellows nationwide to win the Most Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award, honoring those who consistently go above and beyond in instruction, communication, teamwork, and overall excellence.
She was also a recipient of the Collaborative Excellence Award for exemplifying teamwork, reliability, openness, and strong communication within her teaching community. She helped facilitate the Notre Dame course at Van Nuys High School in Van Nuys, California.
Hudkins, an ACMS major with minors in data science and digital marketing, was among the teaching fellows who received the Rising Star Award, which recognizes a first-semester or early career teaching fellow who shows strong growth, enthusiasm, adaptability, and promise. She supported students at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C.
Notre Dame’s Valya Kuskova, the instructor for Responsible and Ethical AI, had high praise for all the iTREDS scholars who served as teaching fellows and Nguyen and Hudkins in particular.
“This course worked as well as it did because of the teaching fellows who showed up for students every day,” said Kuskova, a professor of the practice and associate director of the Lucy Family Institute. “Their award-winning work reflects what we care about most: helping high school students engage with AI while learning to think carefully, responsibly, and ethically about how these technologies shape the world around them.”
A two-year interdisciplinary program, iTREDS prepares undergraduates at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College to become leaders in ethical and socially responsible data science through a unique combination of research, teaching, and community engagement. The program is directed by Sugana Chawla, an associate professor of the practice and data science education program director at the Lucy Family Institute, who coordinated the involvement of the iTREDS scholars with Sonia Howell, director of the Office of Digital Learning.
“I truly appreciate Sonia for providing this fantastic opportunity to our iTREDS cohort,” Chawla said. “It is incredibly well-deserved and meaningful for our students. Thank you as well to the entire team for the hard work, collaboration, and support that made this possible.”
Originally published by Ted Fox at learning.nd.edu on February 23, 2026.