Chancellor's Pre-Game: Colorado

Curt Bright Author

09/10/2024 Added

6 Plays

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Chancellor Bennett and Dean of the College of Engineering discuss AI.

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[00:00:00.000]welcome back. countdown to kickoff the Huskers ready to play under the lights tonight against the
[00:00:06.540]colorado buffaloes and hope to avenge the loss last year out in boulder and delighted to be
[00:00:11.060]joined as we are each and every week by the chancellor from the University of Nebraska
[00:00:14.840]Lincoln Rodney Bennett night games memorial stadium i know you experienced one last year
[00:00:18.980]they're special oh my gosh it's going to be fun tonight i'm just here to tell you we are so
[00:00:23.580]excited to be back in historic memorial stadium we're excited to be playing a night game we're
[00:00:30.340]excited to have colorado here we're excited to have a big victory tonight it's a special night
[00:00:36.400]and a special time for the university and we just could not be more excited we want everybody to
[00:00:40.820]have a good time here tonight you brought another guest with you this week and that is the dean from
[00:00:45.360]the College of Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lance Perez lance always great
[00:00:49.460]to see you thanks for jumping in here with us great to be here greg always be great to be at
[00:00:53.280]a husker
[00:00:53.560]again very good well and and i just want to say greg we didn't bring just any dean
[00:00:57.700]we brought the dean lance perez who is without question one of the most dynamic
[00:01:05.180]deans across the country uh period but especially in the in engineering so we're very happy to have
[00:01:12.120]the dean on our campus leading our efforts in that very important college and certainly to have him
[00:01:18.080]on the broadcast with us tonight going to talk about artificial intelligence it's something
[00:01:22.420]chancellor that we hear a lot about and i'm going to talk about artificial intelligence
[00:01:23.540]a lot about but UNL faculty researchers they've been exploring ai for a really long time yeah we
[00:01:30.040]have we've been in this space for a while and certainly the dean will have an opportunity to
[00:01:33.880]sort of unpack it a little bit more during uh during his talk with you but i thought what i
[00:01:39.400]might do is just spend about 30 seconds just trying to make sure that our listeners really
[00:01:45.360]have an understanding of what ai is from a very very very high level 30 000 foot view a lot of
[00:01:52.420]times in the academy
[00:01:53.460]we sort of talk about these terms and concepts but we don't always explain them in a way
[00:01:58.600]that makes it applicable to just the way that most of us live our lives
[00:02:03.220]so i think for our listeners when you think about ai or in artificial intelligence i really want
[00:02:10.320]them to think about it from the standpoint of it being a set of technologies that enable your
[00:02:16.540]computer to perform a variety of advanced functions to include being
[00:02:23.380]able to see and understand uh and translate spoken and written language the ability to
[00:02:31.180]analyze data the ability to make recommendations really a lot of the things that we use in our
[00:02:37.820]everyday lives are the result of artificial intelligence or ai and i don't see any uh any
[00:02:45.560]decline uh in sort of our use of artificial intelligence our faculty have engaged more than
[00:02:53.300]1200 of our students in more than 100 sections of ai related classes and we've been in this space
[00:03:03.240]in earnest over for the last five years or more through our engineering faculty and so we're just
[00:03:10.400]excited about what we have done our contributions to the field both in the classroom in the
[00:03:17.620]literature in our research laboratories and the way that we are consulted on a number of
[00:03:23.220]projects to make sure that we understand the technology and that we're providing some guidance
[00:03:28.560]and sort of leeway in terms of the responsibility that we have for using this technology and how
[00:03:36.280]other people are able to use it as part of their daily lives. Dean Perez as we alluded to that
[00:03:41.700]the college has done a lot of work in this space for some time can you kind of take us back through
[00:03:47.200]the history of the college of engineering and their work with this particular area? You bet
[00:03:53.140]and in fact our history with artificial intelligence actually goes back to the mid 80s
[00:03:59.880]when we first started teaching courses in neural networks which are the foundation actually of much
[00:04:05.480]of the AI technology that's being discussed and used today and you know that's one of the
[00:04:11.980]research university is that our faculty are on the cutting edge of fields and they very quickly
[00:04:17.870]take that cutting edge knowledge and put it into our undergraduate curricula and so ai became more
[00:04:24.030]formal in the mid 90s when we first started teaching our introduction to artificial intelligence class
[00:04:30.270]and then in the subsequent years we've just continued to evolve that we teach courses now
[00:04:37.530]on machine learning, on natural language processing, on all sorts of app data science.
[00:04:43.290]So we have a long history with AI that both in the teaching and research space.
[00:04:48.430]This has to be an emerging field and a pretty good opportunities for jobs for students going forward, I would think.
[00:04:55.310]Yeah, it really has exploded from a job opportunity perspective.
[00:04:59.150]And I think that's really one of the most significant developments in AI in the last five years
[00:05:03.870]is that as industry, as computational tools have caught up, industry is starting to adopt it
[00:05:09.650]and they need workforce that is educated in it across almost every discipline at the university.
[00:05:15.630]And we as a college and a university are trying to meet that workforce need.
[00:05:19.610]Do you have some examples of some recent grads that maybe have kind of made a career out of this in this field?
[00:05:25.450]Oh, we do.
[00:05:26.870]Our graduates in computing are all over the country, you know, working for companies in Nebraska.
[00:05:33.430]So there are some prominent companies in Nebraska that are using AI to advance their businesses.
[00:05:38.690]I'm not at liberty to talk about that.
[00:05:40.910]And then, of course, if you think about the big players in AI, like Facebook or Amazon,
[00:05:46.550]we have graduates that are working at companies like that as well.
[00:05:50.030]Shifting gears a bit, I understand, Lance, that the faculty have been quite active in AI research.
[00:05:55.250]Can you share some of the highlights from some of that?
[00:05:57.410]Yeah, so we're doing research across many aspects of AI.
[00:06:01.430]Probably one of the most exciting examples.
[00:06:03.430]We're doing is in the field of robotics and drones, where we have a group of faculty in the Nimbus lab who are looking at swarm technology and coordinated drone work.
[00:06:13.010]And there's a big AI component to that.
[00:06:15.150]And that's actually influencing our educational programs as well, as we plan on rolling out an undergraduate degree in robotics next fall.
[00:06:23.610]And that will have a big AI component.
[00:06:25.850]We're also looking at AI and big data applications, how to mine data to find answers that, you know,
[00:06:33.410]really human beings aren't well situated to find.
[00:06:35.830]And this leads to things like new drugs for treating various medical conditions.
[00:06:42.090]It can lead to new chemicals.
[00:06:44.730]It can lead to new algorithms for finding solutions in data.
[00:06:50.470]So it's a big emphasis for us.
[00:06:53.910]We'll continue to expand our collaborations with the College of Information Science and Technology at UNO to offer expanded educational opportunities
[00:07:02.590]and to build that relationship.
[00:07:03.390]research profile that the state needs.
[00:07:05.090]Well, this is exciting and again shows how UNL and the College of Engineering are at the forefront of another innovative thing
[00:07:11.550]that you can't turn on a newscaster, pick up a business read or trade magazine and not hear about AI.
[00:07:16.430]Always exciting.
[00:07:17.230]I love these updates every week.
[00:07:18.710]It really is.
[00:07:19.450]And Greg, one thing I'd like to just add for our listeners, you know, there's so many things to be proud of across the state of Nebraska.
[00:07:25.910]But the work that's being done at the state's land grant and flagship university is so,
[00:07:33.370]so significant and so transformative in the way that we live our lives.
[00:07:38.430]And I think that Nebraskans, I know they are and have been for a long time,
[00:07:42.790]are very proud of the ways in which we are approaching this work and the responsibility that we have to do the work the correct way in an ethical way.
[00:07:53.630]And that sort of demonstrates our position as a leading research institution,
[00:07:59.650]not just across the region in the country,
[00:08:01.970]but literally around the world.
[00:08:03.750]Fantastic.
[00:08:04.670]Enjoy the game tonight.
[00:08:05.950]Okay.
[00:08:06.330]Maybe,
[00:08:06.510]maybe I'll see you in the elevator after a while.
[00:08:08.250]I have big smiles on our face.
[00:08:09.550]Don't tell everything,
[00:08:10.370]you know,
[00:08:10.810]Lance,
[00:08:12.210]always good to see you.
[00:08:13.770]Have a great semester.
[00:08:14.550]Great to see you,
[00:08:15.350]Greg.
[00:08:15.530]Thank you.
[00:08:15.970]Lance Perez,
[00:08:16.510]who is the,
[00:08:17.090]the Dean of the College of Engineering here at UNL.
[00:08:20.170]We've got more pregame coming up.
[00:08:21.350]Matt Coney's back with the Big Ten Blitz next.

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Chancellor's Pre-Game: Colorado

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