UC Clermont's Valentine Johns expands student support through AI

He noticed a gap in student support: the ability to reach students whose schedules didn’t align with traditional service hours. Whether limited by location, time zone or busy schedules, some students were unable to access resources such as tutoring, personalized guidance and opportunities for critical thinking and engagement. Through Johns’ work, students can now access these resources on demand.

His work resulted in the development of a network of AI-powered learning agents designed to support students through various stages of their academic journeys. These agents include Bearcats Study Pal, which uses Socratic questioning to guide users through the learning process; Bearcats Genius, which provides foundational explanations; and Bearcats Test Prepper, which helps students prepare for assessments.

Bearcats Study Pal received the Cloudforce Frontier Award for Best Agent. Additionally, Johns received an outstanding presentation award at UC’s 9th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference for his work on personalized BearcatGPT AI agents.

Johns embodies the University of Cincinnati’s commitment to thoughtful and responsible AI use. Inspired by a need to better serve students, his work demonstrates how AI can expand access to academic support while keeping student success at the center. His philosophy is simple: meaningful innovation begins by taking thoughtful action today, even as the future of AI continues to evolve.

Learn more about Dr. John’s commitment to supporting students through AI.

Featured photo at top of UC Clermont campus. Photo/UC Clermont.