{"id":78361,"date":"2026-07-20T10:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T17:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78361"},"modified":"2026-07-21T13:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:28:13","slug":"trail-research-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/trail-research-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"How NAU researchers are tackling questions around AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Can\u00a0health coaching from an AI chatbot create a similar sense of connection as coaching from a human?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">A research project led by\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Buck Blankenship<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, associate teaching professor in the College of Education, and\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Natalie Papini<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences, is collaborating with\u00a0the Department of Health Sciences\u2019\u00a0UCAN program to train an AI chatbot to provide high-quality coaching to students.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The aim is to provide a new tool that will increase the number of students UCAN reaches and that will help students who may be more comfortable opening up to a bot than a human coach.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cUltimately, we hope this work will inform how AI can responsibly complement, not replace, human-centered health coaching, while also improving access to supportive wellness services for students across NAU,\u201d Papini said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This is one of four projects funded this year by NAU\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.nau.edu\/trail-research-25\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">TRAIL program<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, which provides small grants to study the potential uses of generative AI in research. Professors in\u00a0seven\u00a0colleges\u00a0a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/trail-grants-2026\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">lso received funding\u00a0to\u00a0develop creative ways\u00a0use\u00a0GenAI in their classrooms<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/provost\/academic-operations\/iaaai\/iaaai-trail\/\"><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\"> Learn more about TRAIL and past projects.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The recipients\u00a0of the research grants\u00a0are:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Buck Blankenship<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Natalie Papini<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0College of Education and College of Health and Human Services:\u00a0Do Chatbots Elicit the Same Pathways to Change? A Biophysiological Comparison of Human and AI Health Coaching<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Jeb Helms<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0College of\u00a0Health\u00a0and Human Services:\u00a0Scaling AI-Powered Pain Communication Training Across Physical Therapy Programs: A Multisite Pilot Study<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Lan Zhang<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0Steve Sanghi College of Engineering:\u00a0Perceiving the Invisible: User Awareness of Malicious Tool Behavior in AI Agent Environments<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"4\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Robert Goodman<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Chad Woodruff<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0College of Social and Behavioral Sciences:\u00a0A Bidirectional Bridge Between Agentic AI and Existing Neuroscience Infrastructure<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Chatting with an AI coach<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The AI chatbot that Blankenship and Papini are building will be trained\u00a0to conduct\u00a0UCAN motivational interviewing approach and with the same materials\u00a0currently\u00a0used to train human coaches. Right now, UCAN serves between 250 and 300 students\u00a0each academic year, and the chatbot can expand that reach, particularly to students\u00a0in\u00a0statewide campuses or online.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Students will\u00a0participate\u00a0in coaching sessions with this chatbot, and the researchers will measure stress, emotional\u00a0regulation\u00a0and physiological responses like heart rate variability and galvanic skin response.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cStudents will not be expected to share anything beyond what they feel comfortable discussing, and the chatbot is intended to function as a supportive coaching tool rather than a replacement for mental health care or clinical services,\u201d Blankenship said. \u201cThe study is focused on understanding how students experience these interactions compared to traditional peer health coaching.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">They will start recruiting students to\u00a0participate\u00a0in the fall semester.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Can you tell when an AI agent is misleading you?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Zhang\u2019s project examines whether people can detect adversarial behavior from an AI agent when that behavior is subtle. Scenarios will include an AI agent appearing to be helpful and functional while injecting misinformation, manipulating summaries and\u00a0sources\u00a0or seeking sensitive information from users.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Participants in\u00a0her\u00a0study will act as academic paper reviewers. A \u201chelpful\u201d AI agent will introduce misleading or manipulated\u00a0information\u00a0into the review process, and Zhang\u2019s team will analyze whether users recognized these anomalies and responded appropriately.\u00a0They\u2019ll\u00a0also\u00a0look\u00a0at participants\u2019 familiarity with AI.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cOne major research goal is understanding how users assign responsibility when something goes wrong\u2014whether they blame the AI agent, the external tool or themselves,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cLonger term, we hope this work can inform safer AI agent design, improve transparency mechanisms for tool-augmented AI systems and contribute to future research on trust, security and human-AI collaboration.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This research will fill a gap in\u00a0the\u00a0field\u00a0by\u00a0looking at the threat of subtle malicious behavior, which Zhang believes is more concerning than obvious failures or hallucinations.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThis project aims to better understand the human side of AI security\u2014specifically how trust, expertise and interaction design influence a user\u2019s ability to detect manipulation in realistic AI-assisted workflows,\u201d\u00a0she said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">About 50 participants, including students and faculty members, will be recruited for the study, which takes place in the fall.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Top image: Generated by MS Copilot with this prompt: I need a horizontal image (1000 by 700 pixels) that illustrates the use of AI in training mental health coaches. It needs to be accessible, so no small text, and make sure the color contrast is accessible. Please focus on people and images, not text. I do not want the people to look like actual images of people, so more of a graphic style. It was my second attempt; the first I was not specific enough and it created its own UCAN logo and then refused to forget the pieces I told it to forget, so I started over.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-56007\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png\" alt=\"Northern Arizona University Logo\" width=\"106\" height=\"75\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-768x546.png 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-600x426.png 600w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514.png 905w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 106px) 100vw, 106px\" \/><\/a>Heidi Toth | NAU Communications<br \/>\n(928) 523-8737 | <a href=\"mailto:heidi.toth@nau.edu\">heidi.toth@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/trail-research-2026\/\">Can\u00a0health coaching from an AI chatbot create a similar sense of connection as coaching from a human?\u00a0 A research project led by\u00a0Buck Blankenship, associate teaching professor in the College of Education, and\u00a0Natalie Papini, assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences, is collaborating with\u00a0the Department of Health Sciences\u2019\u00a0UCAN program to train an AI chatbot to&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2797,"featured_media":78362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2797"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78361"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78373,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78361\/revisions\/78373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}