The University of Louisiana at Lafayette received nearly $2.1 million from the Louisiana Department of Health to support two projects designed to strengthen health care in rural Louisiana. According to this news release from the school, university faculty, students, and researchers will be playing roles in both workforce development and technology. The funding was awarded through the Louisiana Rural Health Transformation Program, a statewide initiative focused on improving health care access, quality and long-term sustainability in rural communities. The program addresses challenges ranging from shortages of rural nursing and health professionals to technology and infrastructure needs.

UL Lafayette’s College of Nursing & Health Sciences received nearly $1.6 million, while the university’s Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence received $498,723. Although the grants will support separate projects, both connect the university’s academic and research resources with health care needs beyond campus. The larger portion of the funding will support UL Lafayette’s efforts to prepare more registered nurses for work in rural areas.

According to Dr. Lisa Broussard, dean of the College of Nursing & Health Sciences, the grant will support academic programs as well as services for faculty and students. It will also help the university build partnerships with rural health care facilities where nursing students can complete clinical experiences and gain firsthand exposure to providing care in rural communities.

The funding will also support workforce development initiatives and efforts to increase enrollment and retention in the university’s prelicensure nursing program. Broussard explained that UL Lafayette already prepares a substantial share of registered nurses who enter the workforce in the region and across Louisiana. The new initiative extends that role by placing additional emphasis on preparing nurses to practice in rural communities.

That connection between nursing education and clinical experience is especially important to workforce preparation and rural nursing and healthcare. Nursing programs combine classroom instruction and simulation with supervised clinical training, allowing students to apply what they learn while working with patients and health professionals. Expanding partnerships with rural facilities can also expose future nurses to the particular staffing, access and resource challenges faced by smaller communities. UL Lafayette’s second project will approach rural health care from a different direction: helping clinics make better use of data.

Researchers with the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence are developing an AI-powered geographic information system that will organize and analyze information about health needs across Louisiana. The project also involves the university’s Louisiana Center for Health Innovation and its planned National Science Foundation Accessible Healthcare through AI-Augmented Decisions Center.

Dr. Raju Gottumukkala, director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence, explained that rural clinics often must gather information from numerous state and federal datasets when applying for funding. Providers may need to demonstrate gaps in local services, compare their communities with other parts of Louisiana and document where new investments are needed. For clinics with limited staffing, assembling that information manually can require substantial time and resources.

The project also illustrates a broader application of artificial intelligence in higher education research. Rather than relying on AI alone, Gottumukkala emphasized the importance of combining the technology with reliable data, human-centered design, independent validation and feedback from the people who will ultimately use the system. They are part of a much larger statewide effort. Louisiana’s Rural Health Transformation Program is supported by more than $208 million in federal funding for its first budget year and includes investments in workforce development, technology, infrastructure, telehealth and new approaches to delivering care.

For UL Lafayette, the nearly $2.1 million award also demonstrates how universities can contribute to rural health beyond traditional classroom instruction. Nursing education can help expand the pipeline of trained professionals, while interdisciplinary research in artificial intelligence, health care and data science can give existing providers new ways to understand the communities they serve.

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