By Blythe Steelman, ‘16
Public Information Director
Watt Family Innovation Center
Artificial intelligence is the topic at the core of the second year of the Watt Family Innovation Center’s Faculty Fellows program. Twenty Fellows across the University have been accepted for the new cohort, including five who will continue a project started in the program’s inaugural year.
The Fellows will work in small teams or individually to pursue projects throughout the academic year. Most will focus on a specific issue: How can we use artificial intelligence to improve teaching and learning in all academic disciplines?
“The Fellows program brings faculty from diverse disciplines together to work on projects designed to advance academic excellence – in teaching, learning and research – in support of the ClemsonForward strategic plan,” said Barbara Speziale, associate director at the Watt Center and professor of biological sciences.
Fellows met for the first time during a one-day orientation on Friday, Aug. 16. During this meeting, Fellows learned about the program and were introduced to the basics of artificial intelligence by Watt Research Associate Hudson Smith.
“Using artificial intelligence techniques, researchers can amplify their domain expertise to study huge image and text data sets, make more informed decisions and identify previously unknown relationships,” Smith said. “From poultry to politics, there’s a surprising diversity of researchers using AI techniques at Clemson University. I’m excited to see Clemson grow in this area, and I’m excited for the opportunity to help enable the Watt Faculty Fellows to successfully apply AI to the problems of teaching and learning.”
The Fellows will meet monthly to develop proposals and implement their projects. Each team will present their final project in late spring 2020.
The following is a list of faculty selected for the 2019-2020 Watt Faculty Fellows program:
Sabarish Babu
Assistant Professor, School of Computing
College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences
Joshua Catalano
Lecturer, History and Geography
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities
Tracy Fasolino
Associate Professor, Nursing
College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
Jeff Fine
Associate Professor, Political Science
College of Business
Lucian Ghita
Lecturer, English
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities
Danielle Herro
Associate Professor, Digital Media and Learning
College of Education
Michael Kleiss
Associate Professor, Architecture
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities
Matthew Macauley
Associate Professor, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
College of Science
Nathan McNeese
Assistant Professor, Human-Centered Computing
College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences
Nancy Meehan
Associate Professor, Nursing
College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
Ryan Mullins
Associate Professor, Marketing
College of Business
Chad Navis
Associate Professor, Management
College of Business
Winifred Newman
Endowed Chair, Architecture
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities
Jennifer Ogle
Associate Professor, Civil Engineering
College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences
Johannes Schmidt
Associate Professor, Languages – German, Honors
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities
Travers Scott
Associate Professor, Communication
College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
Marissa Shuffler Porter
Assistant Professor, Psychology
College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
Christa Smith
Associate Professor, History & Geography
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities
Scott Swain
Associate Professor, Marketing
College of Business
Erica Walker
Assistant Professor, Graphic Communications
College of Business
