Sam Fox School faculty, students participate in WashU AI Perspectives Week

Sam Fox School faculty and students will help shape WashU’s AI Perspectives Week through research presentations, a hands-on workshop, and a student showcase exploring the role of AI in creative practice. Co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Digital Intelligence & Innovation Accelerator, and the Office of the Provost, AI Perspectives Week includes more than 35 events campuswide.

Faculty research showcases will offer insight into how AI tools are used in creative practice — as a tool, collaborator, and focus of critique. Faculty will also share how the emerging AI infrastructure is shaping creative activities and discourse. Andrew Witt, the Kavita and Krishna Bharat Professor, and Tiffany Calvert, associate professor and chair of the MFA in Visual Art program will each discuss their research and creative work and its relationship with AI at the Sept. 18 showcase. Assistant Professor Bei Hu will present her research into haptic interface systems as part of the Digital Transformation Research Corps showcase on Sept. 17. Students in the MDes program will present their work using AI to develop tools and interfaces for research and creative practice at the student research showcase Sept. 25.

As part of the AI Curriculum Corps showcase Sept. 24, Senior Lecturer Josh Azzarella will speak about his involvement with the corps, which hosted more than 80 faculty members this past summer. Faculty, along with technologists and information scientists, integrated new resources and redesigned or created new modules, assignments, and courses that thoughtfully integrate or critically examine AI.

Senior Lecturer Matthew Allen will lead a Fox Friday workshop Sept. 25 using generative AI to create 3D-printed ornamental tiles. The workshops are free, low-stress opportunities for the WashU community to explore tools, resources, processes, and ideas.

Together, these events highlight the Sam Fox School’s broad engagement with AI across research, teaching, and making.

For more information about AI Perspectives Week, visit ai.washu.edu.