Engineering AI research

McKelvey will further invest in both AI research and the application of AI in research. This initiative will involve identifying and better integrating existing research initiatives at McKelvey in AI, including explicitly investigating methods of ensuring the fair and equitable application of AI in social and economic domains, advancing AI-related topics in optimization and manufacturing, and developing innovative best practices for utilizing AI to support engineering research activities. Efforts related to this initiative will position McKelvey as experts in implementing AI to solve domain-specific problems. We will advance the University’s strategic goal related to “digital transformation” by partnering across the campus in leveraging AI as a means — rather than an end — to support research growth.

Our Commitments

We will:

• Enhance our imaging science program to maximize the potential of AI in image generation, processing, and analysis and expand capabilities in emerging areas, including geospatial research.
• Develop facilities to enable testing hardware/software hybrid systems developed by the Center for Trustworthy AI in Cyberphysical Systems.
• Partner with Arts & Sciences, the Brown School and the Law School to advance new AI-related topics such as trustworthy AI, human-AI interaction, AI for scientific discovery, and the ethical and fair applications of AI in social contexts.
• Work with the Sam Fox School of Art & Design to explore the role of AI in design.
• Further our research activities related to AI, such as our work in the AI for Health Institute.

Why:

• McKelvey has considerable strengths in AI and computational modeling, including machine learning and trustworthy AI, human-computer interaction, data-driven research, and imaging science.
• The existing DCDS program has demonstrated strength in the development of AI methods in support of the social sciences.
• Much of the research — from developing new materials to designing new control principles — will be fundamentally altered by the application of AI methodologies. For McKelvey to remain at the leading edge of research in these domains, we must not only embrace AI in research but also develop new means of harnessing its power.