UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State AI (artificial intelligence) Hub has announced preliminary plans for Penn State AI Week, April 1-5, with events and activities held at the University's campuses and also virtually.
“We’re eager to get as much participation as possible for the first-ever Penn State AI Week so we’re planning relevant sessions that are accessible to students, staff, and faculty across all Penn State campuses, both in-person and virtually,” said Penn State AI Hub Director David Hunter. “Planning is still in the early stages so there’s an opportunity for more individuals and entities to get involved in organizing an activity or event.”
Preliminary events that will be part of AI Week include corporate-sponsored events and a poster session at University Park for AI research, which may host program officers from funding agencies. According to Vasant Honavar, director of Penn State’s Center for Artificial Intelligence Foundations and Scientific Applications (CENSAI), this event will allow "Penn State faculty and students to showcase the AI research being done at Penn State and learn about major AI initiatives and funding opportunities representatives of federal agencies like the U.S. National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.”
Each of the four AI centers at Penn State — CENSAI; the Center for Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Industry (AIMI); the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI); and the Center for AI Foundations and Engineering Systems (CAFE) — is involved in planning, with specific details forthcoming. For instance, CAFE Director Vijaykrishnan Narayanan noted that award presentations for various AI achievements will be timed to coincide with AI Week.
“Events like AI Week present a perfect opportunity for our students and faculty to engage with industry, which has many benefits,” he added.
Additionally, virtual conversation sessions are planned around relevant topics in AI and AI in education, such as career planning, ethics, teaching tactics and academic integrity. According to Hunter, the goal is to schedule one conversation session per day during the week with topics selected using input from faculty and students.
“I've used AI in an Earth science class I've taught to try and have students embrace AI as a useful tool as opposed to a tool for plagiarism," said Nicholas Truncale, a mathematics lecturer at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, providing an example. "I am also interested in how AI can advance data science and predictive analytics.”
Plans are also in the works to build on the success of last April’s hackathon at Penn State Harrisburg by expanding the event to other campuses and adding a "March Madness" element that incorporates multiple rounds of competition and culminates during AI Week. In addition, all campuses will have the opportunity to participate in an "AI Fools’ Day" event that challenges contestants with various tasks, such as distinguishing human-generated content from content that is AI-generated.
“We are still adding events and activities and will begin to finalize details through February and March. We hope that ultimately the AI Week schedule offers something for everyone in the Penn State community. Stay tuned to ai.psu.edu for more information as it becomes available,” Hunter said.
Anyone at Penn State with interest or expertise in AI who would like to get involved in planning AI Week should email David Hunter, director of the Penn State AI Hub at aihub@psu.edu.