Members of the First FTP Cohort Return for Year 2 at Georgia Tech (2023)
The Summer 2023 AI4OPT Faculty Training Program was led by Charles Pierre, an associate professor of mathematics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Clark Atlanta University and a member of the AI4OPT Undergraduate Education Team. Pierre and his team spent a few weeks in July with the first cohort at the AI4OPT headquarters, participating in formal presentations by AI4OPT members and guests, engaging in Q&A sessions, conducting workshops, and more:
- Week 1: began with a presentation by AI4OPT Postdoctoral Fellow, Rosemarie Santa González, it also featured a duo talk from AI4OPT Project Manager, Kevin Delmeijer, and Ph.D. student, Chungjae Lee, who delivered an engaging presentation.
- Week 2: The cohort heard from Bistra Dilkina, the leader of the AI4OPT Optimization Solvers Team from the University of Southern California. Additionally, Lizanne DeStefano, the distinguished AI4OPT Quality Control Board Leader, led a focused cohort during this week. This week also saw the participation of Postdoc Mathieu Tanneau and several students from his AI for Energy group, who shared an array of fascinating projects and research with the cohort.
- Week 3: On July 28th, the FTP had a productive meeting with the AI4OPT Student Leadership Council, offering an excellent opportunity for interaction and collaboration. On the following day, the group attended a portion of the institute's NSF annual review, providing a look into the program's progress and impact.
In Person Visit Highlights:
2022 Visit
- Start of the program
- Followed two courses + course design
- Seminars by AI4OPT speakers
2023 Visit
- Followed ML II + course design
- Seminars by AI4OPT speakers
- Started grant and research collaborations
Professor Michael Butros, teaching at Victor Valley College since 2000, joined the AI4OPT Faculty Training Program in 2022. The three-year program, including courses in AI, data science, and course design, brought together faculty from HBCUs and MSIs from all over the US. Butros, finds the program valuable. He plans to pursue Georgia Tech's Online Master of Science in Analytics (OMS Analytics) and introduce data science research to VVC undergraduates. He believes such programs offer crucial resources to expose students to the latest technology in fields like AI, engineering, pre-med, and computer science.
Selected Achievements
- Michael facilitated Ruben Vegas and Brian Huie, VVC students, for summer 2023 research with AI4OPT at Georgia Tech. They collaborated with Dan Molzahn, an AI4OPT co-leader and an assistant professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, focusing on electric power systems.
Farzana Hussain, an associate professor and chair of mathematics at Huston-Tillotson University, has 25+ years of teaching experience in the United States and Bangladesh. Specializing in Numerical Mathematics, Farzana's expertise spans subjects such as Calculus, Geometry, Differential Equations, and Statistics. She has a strong command of programming languages, including ForTran and C++, enhancing her teaching and research abilities. Read more about Farzana in the this AI4OPT Newsletter.
