Provost IMPACT Award trains UK community and beyond to be informed consumers of AI, machine learning
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 30, 2024) — The Institutional Multidisciplinary Paradigm to Accelerate Collaboration and Transformation (IMPACT) Awards were launched in 2023 to champion the necessary and groundbreaking work done by University of Kentucky faculty and other campus community members.
The inaugural IMPACT Awards total more than $600,000 — with a particular emphasis on proposals that are transdisciplinary, innovative and aligned with some aspect of The UK-PURPOSE, the UK Strategic Plan.
In 2024, IMPACT will continue to fund projects similarly aimed at supporting the university to continue leading in teaching, research, service and care.
This spring, UKNow is highlighting the 2023 IMPACT Award projects and the faculty who are leading them. Today, we learn more about the project titled “UK Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Hub.” This project aims to transform the educational and research capacity of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) at UK with the creation of a centralized hub to connect consumers, users and developers of AI/ML. The project places a strong emphasis on research, undergraduate education and cross-campus collaboration.
The project is led by Katherine Thompson, Ph.D., associate professor in the Dr. Bing Zhang Department of Statistics, in partnership with faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Gatton College of Business and Economics, and the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering.
UKNow caught up with the research team to learn more about the project. You can read more in the Q&A session below.
UKNow: How has the IMPACT award inspired innovation at UK with your research?
The IMPACT award has inspired us to think about our research in a broader UK context. With the AI/ML Hub, there are opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary AI/ML research, to form new collaborations that might not have been so obvious before, and to contribute to AI/ML literacy here on campus.
UKNow: What positive impact will your research have on Kentucky and beyond?
Given the prevalence of AI systems in society, it is entirely likely that the operator of any given system does not have an extensive familiarity with how the system works. Our research seeks to bridge the current gap between AI systems and humans by better enabling humans to understand AI systems while also building AI systems that can better understand humans. This often results in systems that are "instructable" in that humans can train them with little frustration involved. One of our goals is to train our UK community and beyond to be informed consumers of AI/ML results.
UKNow: How did you decide on this particular topic or research area?
Exploring AI/ML was fueled by our academic curiosity, as AI/ML has made multiple dramatic advancements in the 21st century, including the ability to solve more complicated modeling problems. While serving as invaluable tools for researchers, they also bring difficulties from both technical and application aspects. To overcome the challenges, we promote the collaboration of researchers from various disciplines, synergizing their different domain-specific expertise. Inspired by the diverse research backgrounds of our ML/AI Hub members, we were motivated to delve into the interdisciplinary nature of AI/ML, spanning statistics, computer science and domain-specific applications (e.g., Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures), driving our commitment to advancing methodological progress in the field.
UKNow: What comes next for your research?
In 2023, the AI/ML Hub launch received an overwhelmingly positive response. The AI/ML Symposium grew into two events due to registration volume, so we hope to grow this event into an annual high-impact AI/ML Symposium that includes an immersive, non-technical workshop for UK community members to build AI/ML literacy. In addition, we will grow our transdisciplinary collaborative network by connecting researchers across all fields, providing new real-world data training opportunities for UK students.
Learn more at https://stat.as.uky.edu/ai-ml-hub.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.