# MIT interns spend summer building AI and data projects with Oklahoma tribal nations

> MIT reports 10 undergraduates joined its Code.Tulsa program, working with the Muscogee and Cherokee nations and local nonprofits on AI and data projects, including the Muscogee Nation's first PRAMS maternal health survey.

- **Topic**: Society
- **Published**: 2026-09-26T21:38:42.513Z
- **Canonical URL**: https://highsignal.sh/stories/mit-interns-spend-summer-building-ai-and-data-projects-with-oklahoma-tribal-b8d0e16c

## Why It Matters

A concrete case of applied AI and data work being shaped by community needs and data-sovereignty concerns rather than purely technical goals — and of a student-originated program, now in its second year, aimed at STEM access for rural Native students.

## Key Findings & Analysis

### What happened

> MIT AI News reports 10 MIT undergraduates took part in the PKG Center for Social Impact's 2026 Code.Tulsa program, now in its second year, living at the University of Tulsa for the summer and interning with the Muscogee and Cherokee nations and local nonprofits Black Tech Street and Urban Coders Guild on AI, data science, and other technical projects, funded by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

### The Muscogee Nation project

> Mechanical engineering student Daphne Wang and AI and decision making major Lucy Sun supported development of the Muscogee Nation's first Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey, which aims to capture maternal health data specific to Muscogee women. MIT AI News reports the work involved literature reviews, dataset analysis, and drafting survey questions, while accounting for data sovereignty and Muscogee governance structures. Their supervisor, epidemiologist Breanna McNaughton-Long, said they were instrumental and completed work faster than the team could have otherwise.

### Program origins and goals

> MIT AI News reports Code.Tulsa was proposed by sophomore Jack Carson, an electrical engineering and computer science student from Tulsa and a Cherokee Nation member, who saw that rural Native students were unlikely to have access to STEM education. He proposed a weeklong STEM camp for members of federally recognized tribes at the University of Tulsa, with Code.Tulsa interns as instructors. PKG Center director Alison Badgett said the aim is to help students pair an engineer's problem-solving approach with a humanist lens on social challenges.

### Student takeaways

> Wang said the summer was a 180-degree change of pace from MIT and that at MIT there are fewer opportunities to work with communities or consider the cultural and historical dimensions of technical work. Electrical engineering and computing major Chenise Harper, who interned with the Urban Coders Guild, said she previously disliked history but learned why it is useful for making social change and now feels more confident she can have an impact. The PKG Center's Vippy Yee complements the internships with education from local leaders on the historical and cultural significance of tech-based development in the Tulsa region.

## Primary Sources & Citations

- [MIT students gain a humanist lens on technical innovation in Tulsa, Oklahoma](https://news.mit.edu/2026/mit-students-gain-humanist-lens-technical-innovation-tulsa-oklahoma-0925) — *MIT AI News* (Primary source)

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