The Conduit — Water Institute AI Assistant
The Conduit is a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) AI assistant built specifically for the UF Water Institute. It helps users explore faculty expertise, research areas, programs, events, and other Institute resources through a conversational interface.
What data does it use?
The Conduit draws on a curated knowledge base that includes:
- Faculty expertise profiles and departmental affiliations
- Research productivity metrics (publications, citations, h-index) sourced from Dimensions.ai
- Water Institute program and facility information
- Recent news and events from the Water Institute community
How does it work?
When you ask a question, The Conduit searches its knowledge base for relevant information and generates a response grounded in that data. It does not browse the open internet or invent information — responses are based only on what exists in the knowledge base.
When presenting researchers in a particular area, results are ordered by a research impact score derived from publication and citation metrics. This provides an objective, data-driven basis for highlighting faculty expertise.
What are its limitations?
- The knowledge base is updated periodically and may not reflect the very latest changes
- It only covers topics related to the UF Water Institute
- It may not have information on every faculty member or research project
Questions or feedback?
If you notice any issues or have suggestions, please submit feedback through our short form.