AI Innovation Lab

Learn, Explore, and Build with AI

The AI Innovation Lab is a place where Moravian students from any major can learn about AI, test ideas, and build tools for real problems with support from mentors and technical staff. No coding experience is needed, and there’s no application required to use the space.

You can come to the Lab with a project idea, a question, or just curiosity about what AI can and can’t do. Not every visit has to end with a build. Some students come to make something. Others come to explore what’s possible. Both belong here.

At Moravian, the goal is not just to use AI well. It’s to use AI for good. That means asking responsible questions from the start:

Whose data is involved?
What could go wrong?
Who is responsible for fixing it?

Lab projects may come from students, faculty, Moravian departments, Bethlehem nonprofits, or Lehigh Valley organizations with real problems to solve.

To get started, reach out to Dr. Jenifer Norton, Executive Director of Emerging Technologies, at nortonj@moravian.edu.

Real-World AI Projects for Any Major

The Lab helps you move from a real problem to a working tool people can use. You can come in to explore an idea, learn more about AI, or build something with support from mentors and technical staff. Projects could include:

A nursing student building a tool for clinical workflows
A history major building a research assistant for an archive
An education student building a tool for World Heritage sites
A student from any major exploring an idea before deciding what to build

The Six-Step Process

For students who are ready to build, every project starts the same way: understand the problem before choosing a tool. From there, students follow a six-step process to build, test, document, and present something useful.

Reach out to Dr. Norton with an idea, or with curiosity about what's possible.
Scope it with a mentor before building anything
Build the simplest version that solves it.
Test it with the person who asked for it.
Document it so they can use it without you.
Present what you built.

What You’ll Gain

You’ll leave the Lab with real experience, real examples of your work, and a clearer sense of how to use AI in your field. You’ll also gain:

A completed project for your portfolio before graduation.
Direct experience working with a real partner, not a simulated client.
Proof that you can build something real, regardless of your starting point with code.
Experience leading and collaborating on cross-disciplinary teams.
Practice connecting technical work to a real-world problem, not just developing technical depth alone.

What Sets Moravian’s AI Lab Apart

Moravian University’s AI Innovation Lab is a physical space for students to focus on project-based practice. It’s not a degree program. It’s a place where you can develop practical experience using AI in thoughtful, useful ways—adding a real-world skill to your resumé.

What makes the Lab different:

No application or prerequisites required
Designed for real-world use and built around real problems
Open to students from any major
Built for students without a technical background
Open to students who want to learn about AI, even if they do not have a project yet
Responsible and ethical AI practices built into every project
Connected to Moravian, Bethlehem, the Lehigh Valley, and regional partners

Dr. Norton's own Fair Shot Grants tool is one model for the kind of work the Lab supports. The tool checks a nonprofit’s eligibility against open federal grant opportunities and flags which ones may be worth pursuing before a short application window closes. It was built for a real problem, with real users, and is clear about what it does and does not know. Student projects in the Lab are held to the same standard.

Ready to start?

Reach out to Dr. Jen Norton at nortonj@moravian.edu.

The Lab is not a course and does not grant credit directly. Credit for Lab-connected work may be available through a student’s home department or course, when relevant.