On the subject of data science and synthetic intelligence, Temple University’s Sunil Wattal makes a daring declare: You can find it irresistible. You could be skeptical. You could be apprehensive about it. But you can’t ignore it.
Wattal, affiliate dean of analysis and doctoral packages on the Fox School of Business, addressed the gang on the inaugural Data Science & AI @Temple Symposium final Thursday, March 12. The occasion introduced collectively greater than 150 school members and graduate college students from all 17 of Temple’s faculties and faculties for discussions about data science, AI, and how the rising applied sciences are shaping larger training and society.
The occasion was hosted by the Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence Network (DS-AI@temple), an interdisciplinary group of college working with data science and AI in partnership with Fox, Temple’s Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Institute for Business and Information Technology. The day featured panel discussions, lightning talks by which Temple school shared particulars about their analysis, networking alternatives and poster shows.
The symposium was simply step one in a broader and ongoing effort by DS-AI@temple to foster collaborations between Temple school.
“The idea was born a year ago to create a network connecting people from different schools, so we can share our resources, our knowledge, our workshops, present our work at seminars and build cross-school collaborations,” mentioned Konstantin Bauman, affiliate professor of administration and data techniques at Fox, and an organizer for DS-AI@temple.
Bauman and Rob Kulathinal, affiliate professor of biology on the College of Science and Technology, and a fellow DS-AI@temple organizer, inspired attendees to hitch DS-AI@temple and keep knowledgeable of programs, workshops, seminars, Temple-developed datasets and different alternatives for collaboration.
“We are all about shared governance. We are all about democratizing resources and processes and being able to meet with each other,” Kulathinal mentioned. “The next time you hit a problem or a roadblock in your work, we want you to realize you have colleagues who can help you at this great university.”
Throughout the symposium, audio system highlighted the wide-ranging impacts of data science and AI, as researchers in practically each discipline are starting to really feel the consequences of those applied sciences of their work. The first panel centered on Temple school and their elevated computing wants in a world the place data science and AI are closely built-in into analysis.
“Temple possesses remarkable breadth of AI activity and pockets of genuine excellence across disciplines ranging from cancer genomics to international cyber law to algorithmic music composition,” Wattal mentioned. “But the university faces critical gaps in computing infrastructure that must be addressed at the leadership level.”
Josh Gladden, vice chairman for analysis, mentioned a couple of of the ways in which Temple is working to assist its school computing wants.
“To stay on the cutting-edge of discovery, we need to be able to provide computing resources to a much broader set of disciplines,” he mentioned. “That’s something that we’re actively engaged with.”
Gladden referenced a Temple computing activity pressure centered on creating a central, high-performance computing facility that’s out there to each Temple scholar and researcher.
He additionally works with the Keystone AI and Quantum Factory, a statewide initiative comprising all seven of Pennsylvania’s R1 universities, to create a computing system that interacts with the databases of its member faculties. The initiative might result in collaborations between universities and trade companions.
“We want to attract innovative startup companies to Pennsylvania,” Gladden mentioned. “This is one of the things we can do to help support them and draw them in, and they make great partners for our scholars.”
During the lightning discuss classes, school representatives from every of Temple’s faculties and faculties mentioned how data science and AI are included of their work. Presenters highlighted areas the place the applied sciences have helped them make developments, in addition to areas the place they’ve created ache factors. Some researchers mentioned the datasets they’re constructing and invited school in attendance to discover alternatives for collaboration.
The last panel was centered completely on collaboration and the ways in which school can construct cross-school working teams, shared analysis packages, joint workshops and grant groups. Organizers hope the symposium will create lasting connections that result in impactful analysis sooner or later.
“In the age of AI, human connections become more important, not less,” Wattal mentioned. “We need events like this where you can walk up to someone and say, ‘Hey, I like your ideas. Let’s work together.’ That kind of spontaneous human connection is where some of the best research begins, and that is exactly what today is designed to create.”