RSCA in Five: Faculty Short Talks on AI in the Classroom

As AI’s prevalence increases daily, SJSU faculty seek to incorporate it into the classroom in ethical, useful ways. Please join the Office of Research, Center for Faculty Excellence and Teaching Innovation (CFETI), and a selected panel of distinguished faculty as they discuss the implications of AI in the classroom and on SJSU students.

When: Friday, October 4, 2024, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Where: Student Union Meeting Room 2A/B
Format: One-hour program with lunch and networking thereafter

SJSU welcomes the following individuals who will be presenting their research.

Yingjie Liu (Opening Speaker)

Dr. Yingjie Liu is the Lead Instructional Designer at the Center for Faculty Excellence and Teaching Innovation. Holding a PhD in Cognition, Instruction, and Learning Technology, she has over a decade of experience in instructional design and educational technology, empowering faculty through innovative course development and technology integration. Dr. Liu leads various emerging technology initiatives, including the AI+XR Learning Institute and campus-wide AI initiatives, such as the "New Year, New Horizon: Using GenAI at Work" training program. Additionally, she is a PI/Co-PI on several NSF grant projects, which focus on leveraging emerging technologies to transform educational practices and significantly elevate learning outcomes. Dr. Liu was appointed to SJSU's AI Advisory Committee, where she contributes to the strategic integration, development, and ethical implementation of AI technologies to enhance SJSU’s competitive advantage and advance students’ career readiness in AI-related fields. Furthermore, she is a member of the California Education Learning Lab's AI Faculty-Innovators-in-Residence Strategy Team, collaboratively developing AI resources and programming to support teaching and learning across public higher education in California.

Research

Areas of Interest/Keywords

Artificial Intelligence in Education
Emerging Educational Technologies
Equity & Inclusion in Digital Learning
Online Course Design and Quality Assurance
Learning Analytics

John Delacruz

Talk Title: Generating Creativity: Embedding Gen AI in the Creative Workflow

John Delacruz is a passionate educator, an image-maker, and a paddleboarder with a love of the ocean and the environment. These interests drive his teaching, service, creative and research activities. A European native landing in California the summer of 2012, John's main gig is Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications and Professor of Advertising Creative at SJSU. As an Adobe Education Leader, Master Teacher and Creative Campus Fellow, John finds inspiration in innovative and creative forms. Creative and strategic thinking, ideation, and a propensity to push boundaries form the backbone of his curricula where students solve real world problems. Integrated solutions, advertising for good, and user experience are key areas of interest that drive the tasks he sets his students.
A graphic ﬁne artist, he works with photography and digital tools. His images reﬂect on the power of nature creating sense of place through color, shape and pattern. His work explores spaces - marine environments, coastal mountains, forests, desolate deserts and city streets.

Education

MA History of Art and Design, Manchester Metropolitan University

Research

Areas of Interest/Keywords

creative practice, creativity, experiential learning, high impact teaching practices, technology, ed tech, generative ai

Wencen Wu

Talk Title: AI in Robotics Education: Integrating Autonomy and Learning in the Classroom

Wencen Wu is an Associate Professor in the Computer Engineering Department at San Jose State University. Prior to joining SJSU in Fall 2018, she was an Assistant Professor in the ECSE department of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the dual-M.S. and B.S. from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Her research focuses on the integration of robotics, artificial intelligence, and control theory within the context of cyber-physical systems. She is particularly interested in the application of these disciplines to the development and enhancement of autonomous intelligent systems.

Areas of Interest/Keywords

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Systems and Control Theory

Recent Publications:

A. Selvia, A. Singh, and W. Wu, “Vehicular Traffic Flow Prediction via Decentralized Federated Meta-Learning”, in Prof. of 10th IEEE International Conference on Big Data Service and Applications, accepted,
2024.

D. Talwar, Thinh Lu, Divyam Sobti, and W. Wu, “Multi-robot Source Seeking in Spatial-temporal Varying Fields with Multiple Sources” In Prof. of 2024 9th International Conference on Automation, Control and Robotics Engineering (CACRE), pp. 101-105, 2024.

Z. Zhang, W. Wu, and F. Zhang, “Opinion-based Task Allocation Strategy for Mobile Sensor Networks”, in Proc. of 2024 American Control Conference (ACC 2024), 123 - 128, 2024.

Z. Zhang, S.T. Mayberry, W. Wu, and F. Zhang, "Distributed cooperative Kalman filter constrained by advection–diffusion equation for mobile sensor networks". Frontiers in Robotics and AI. 2023 Jun 7;10:1175418.

Melody Moh

Talk Title: AI in Computer Science Department: In Interdisciplinary Degree Programs, Classrooms, and Education Research

Melody Moh is a Professor and former Chair (Fall 2019 to Summer 2024) of the Dept. of Computer Science; she also serves as a core faculty in the Ed. D. Education Leadership Program. Her research interests include AI/ML applications, cybersecurity, and CS education. She has been the PI/co-PI of over $4M research and education grants, has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and consulted for various companies.

Lara Ervin-Kassab

Talk Title: A for Accessible, I for Inclusive: Technology's Potential for Ensuring Education for Everyone

The construction and composition of personal and professional identities of teachers shapes every classroom experience for students from preschool to post-graduate. Dr. Kassab is intrigued by how educators reflect upon and engage in developing their teaching selves in complex and changing contexts. She researches how educators learn from and with one another, focusing on the challenging areas of educational technology, classroom assessment, and fostering the growth of the whole person (social-emotional, cultural, sustaining, and empowering student learning). She believes social justice is the heart of education and advocates for equitable, inclusive, accessible, and student-centered learning as a life-long endeavor.

Education

Doctorate in Education, learning and instruction, technology focus. University of San Francisco
Master's in Anthropology, focus on education. CSU Fullerton
Bachelor's in History, Holy Names College, Oakland, CA

Research

Areas of Interest/Keywords

Teaching, learning, cognition, student-centered learning, performance assessment, technology

Jon Rawski

Talk Title: Language through the Algorithmic Lens

Jon Rawski teaches courses on general and computational linguistics at SJSU and generally studies the mathematics of human language and learning. His work spans linguistics, theoretical computer science, and cognitive science.

Education

PhD, Stony Brook University

Research

Areas of Interest/Keywords

learnability, algebra, grammars, language

Recent Publications:

Zhouyi Sun, Jon Rawski (2024). Tensor Product Representations of Regular Transductions. SCiL 2024.

Jon Rawski, Hossep Dolatian, Jeffrey Heinz, Eric Raimy (2023). Regular and Polyregular Theories of Reduplication. Glossa.