Chancellor Challenge Update: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Cluster Hire

November 8, 2023

Dear Rutgers–New Brunswick Community,

The Chancellor Challenge, an initiative of our Academic Master Plan, invites members of our campus community to propose transformational, campus-wide, and interdisciplinary new initiatives that will strengthen our research capacity and help solve society’s grand challenges.

I am proud to announce our newest Chancellor Challenge project, the Cluster on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CDSAI), which will hire 11 new faculty members and create a cross-disciplinary scholarly community focused on the societal benefits and implications of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science. The search process for the four faculty cluster teams will begin this academic year and include:

• Transparency and Interpretability of AI: Three faculty hires in the School of Arts and Sciences. State-of-the-art AI programs are trained on massive amounts of data that can be nearly impossible to understand and explain, and their automated decisions are being incorporated throughout society. This group will meet the urgent need to study the principles and foundations of AI programs toward the development of AI systems that can be understood, explained, audited, and contested, and the establishment of a transparent and interpretable foundation for this new, transformative technology.
• Computational Social Science: Social Inequality and Democratic Participation: Four hires in the School of Communication and Information and SAS. Computational social science is an interdisciplinary field that applies computer science tools and techniques to analyze vast amounts of digital information in concert with social science theories and methods to understand complex systems and dynamic processes that affect individuals, groups, institutions, communities, and society. Advances in this field will lead to advances in understanding and addressing social inequalities and democratic participation.
• Data Science-Enabled Engineering: Two hires in the School of Engineering. This group will analyze the potential for artificial intelligence, data science, and machine learning to help engineers take on radical problems such as achieving near-zero waste, discovering materials with advanced characteristics, and fully automating large-scale factories that adapt to their dynamics as well as those of complex supply chains.
• AI for Climate and Biodiversity: Two hires in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and SAS. This group will explore the potential of AI in addressing climate change and biodiversity loss. Oceanic, land-based, and space-based sensor technology produces thousands of gigabytes of data on Earth systems, and the next challenge will be integrating these data sources to uncover new interdependencies, forecast and offset the impacts of extreme climate events, and provide real-time feedback on the impact of policy solutions.

The CDSAI—with new hires funded by the Chancellor Challenge, based on ideas submitted by our faculty and staff—will help Rutgers–New Brunswick become a national leader in applying these new technologies to the problems facing our world.

Previous Chancellor Challenge Awards

In March, I announced the four recipients of the Chancellor-Provost Challenge: Toward the Common Good and its first round of grants. You can find the current status of those initiatives and awards on the Chancellor Challenge website. Notably, two of the proposals led to the creation of our new Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute.

I am proud to congratulate the following faculty members on their outstanding work and Chancellor Challenge grants awards:

• Cyberinfrastructure for AI in Science & Engineering (CASS) led by Alyson Brooks, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, SAS; and Shantenu Jha, Professor of Computer Engineering, SoE
• Notice Nature: An Art-Science Collaboration In Support of Student Wellness led by Rebecca Cypess, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Music, Mason Gross School of the Arts; and Mary Nucci, Assistant Dean for Campus Engagement and Assistant Research Professor, SEBS
• Planning for a Future Full-Feature Net-Zero Wind Energy Test (WET) Center led by Onur Bilgen, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, SoE; and Josh Kohut, co-founder of the Center for Ocean Observing Leadership and Professor of Marine Science, SEBS
• Transforming Climate Change Scholarship at Rutgers–New Brunswick led by Julie Lockwood, Interim Director of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute and Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, SEBS; and Robin Leichenko, Associate Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Geography, SAS

I am grateful to our Office of the Vice Provost for Research, which convened the faculty and fostered their collaboration, evaluated the outstanding submissions, and administered the awards. Please watch for announcements regarding our next call for Chancellor Challenge proposals representing other pillars of the Academic Master Plan.

Sincerely,

Francine Conway, Ph.D.
Chancellor and Distinguished Professor
Rutgers University–New Brunswick