Researchers from all 17 schools and colleges gathered on Thursday, March 12, for a series of discussions about data science, AI, and the technologies’ growing impact on higher education and society.
The inaugural Data Science & AI @Temple Symposium featured panel discussions and lightning talks in which Temple faculty shared details about their research.
Photo by Ryan S. Brandenberg
On the topic of data science and artificial intelligence, Temple University’s Sunil Wattal makes a bold claim: You can love it. You can be skeptical. You can be worried about it. But you cannot ignore it.
Wattal, associate dean of research and doctoral programs at the Fox School of Business, addressed the crowd at the inaugural Data Science & AI @Temple Symposium last Thursday, March 12. The event brought together more than 150 faculty members and graduate students from all 17 of Temple’s schools and colleges for discussions about data science, AI, and how the emerging technologies are shaping higher education and society.
The event was hosted by the Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence Network (DS-AI@temple), an interdisciplinary group of faculty 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 in which Temple faculty shared details about their research, networking opportunities and poster presentations.
The symposium was just the first step in a broader and ongoing effort by DS-AI@temple to foster collaborations between Temple faculty.
“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,” said Konstantin Bauman, associate professor of management and information systems at Fox, and an organizer for DS-AI@temple.
Bauman and Rob Kulathinal, associate professor of biology at the College of Science and Technology, and a fellow DS-AI@temple organizer, encouraged attendees to join DS-AI@temple and stay informed of courses, workshops, seminars, Temple-developed datasets and other opportunities 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 said. “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, speakers highlighted the wide-ranging impacts of data science and AI, as researchers in nearly every field are beginning to feel the effects of these technologies in their work. The first panel focused on Temple faculty and their increased computing needs in a world where data science and AI are heavily integrated into research.
“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 said. “But the university faces critical gaps in computing infrastructure that must be addressed at the leadership level.”
Josh Gladden, vice president for research, discussed a few of the ways that Temple is working to support its faculty computing needs.
“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 said. “That’s something that we’re actively engaged with.”
Gladden referenced a Temple computing task force focused on developing a central, high-performance computing facility that is available to every Temple scholar and researcher.
He also 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 schools. The initiative could lead to collaborations between universities and industry partners.
“We want to attract innovative startup companies to Pennsylvania,” Gladden said. “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 talk sessions, faculty representatives from each of Temple’s schools and colleges discussed how data science and AI are incorporated in their work. Presenters highlighted areas where the technologies have helped them make advancements, as well as areas where they have created pain points. Some researchers discussed the datasets they’re building and invited faculty in attendance to explore opportunities for collaboration.
The final panel was focused entirely on collaboration and the ways that faculty can build cross-school working groups, shared research programs, joint workshops and grant teams. Organizers hope the symposium will create lasting connections that lead to impactful research in the future.
“In the age of AI, human connections become more important, not less,” Wattal said. “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.”