DSI hosts AI Revolutions Symposium
The Data Science Institute would like to thank all of the attendees and speakers that made our AI Revolutions Symposium this week a great event for the Vanderbilt community. The two-day event showcased the latest developments and impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) in research and academia.
The DSI’s Chief Data Scientist, Jesse Spencer-Smith, opened the symposium Monday with three virtual workshops: Understanding AI Models; Making ChatGPT Work for Your Research, Teaching, or Personal Projects with Prompt Engineering; and finally a ChatGPT Prompt Engineering Clinic. Each one of the virtual workshops are posted to a playlist on our YouTube page for anyone who couldn’t make the workshops.
Tuesday’s day-long, hybrid event featured a range of speakers, including professors, researchers, and students, who shared their insights on the ways in which AI is changing the landscape of their respective fields.
The morning session focused on AI in research, with talks by Yaa Kumah-Crystal and John Yang. Kumah-Crystal, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, discussed the use of large language models in uncovering personality traits. Yang, an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, presented his research on a deep learning model that can identify chirality, a property that is crucial to understanding the behavior of certain molecules.
The morning panel featured Gregor Neuert, Roza Bayrak, and Yaa Kumah-Crystal. Neuert, an Associate Professor in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Biomedical Engineering, and Pharmacology, discussed the impact of AI on his research. Bayrak, a PhD student in the Neuroimaging & Brain Dynamics Lab, presented her work on functional and anatomical connectivity of the brain using machine learning and dynamic systems. Kumah-Crystal shared her insights on the use of AI in healthcare.
During the lunch session, a panel discussed the societal impact of AI. Daniel Moyer, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science, presented his research on machine learning applied to medical imaging. Frank Tong, a Centennial Professor of Psychology and Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, discussed his ongoing work using deep convolutional neural networks to understand the neural basis of human visual processing. Ole Molvig, an Assistant Professor of History and Communications of Science and Technology, spoke about his exploration of the possibilities of generative models. Michael Bess, a Chancellor’s Professor of History and Professor of Communication of Science and Technology and European Studies, presented his book “Planet in Peril: Humanity’s Four Greatest Challenges and How We Can Overcome Them.”
In the afternoon talks, Markus Eberl, an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, discussed the fast adoption of cutting-edge ML and AI capabilities in his research on archaeological studies. Jesse Spencer-Smith, Chief Data Scientist at the Data Science Institute, presented his work on data science for social good and the digital divide.
The final panel session focused on the impact of AI on academia, featuring Jules White, Alex Christensen, and Charreau Bell. White, an Associate Dean for Strategic Learning Programs and Associate Professor of Computer Science, discussed the potential for AI in academia and presented his work on a prompt pattern catalog to enhance prompt engineering with ChatGPT. Christensen, an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development, shared her research on the use of large language models to uncover personality traits. Bell, a Senior Data Scientist and Director of the Data Science Minor, discussed her work with students and her extensive knowledge of deep learning tools and frameworks.
The late afternoon talk session featured Doug Schmidt, the Associate Provost for Research Development and Technologies and Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, who discussed the application of ChatGPT to computer science courses at Vanderbilt. Jules White also presented his work on prompt patterns.
The AI Revolutions Symposium provided an insightful overview of the latest developments and impacts of AI in research and academia. You can view each of the talks from our speakers and panels on our YouTube page. We hope those who were unable to attend can watch our speakers demonstrate the vast potential of AI to transform our understanding of complex systems and improve our lives in various domains, from healthcare to social justice.