ISP Retreat May 6 2016 Agenda Where we

ISP Retreat May 6, 2016

Agenda • Where we are • Should we stay or should we go? – Reasons for and against (rather than votes) • Where we want to be • Next steps / timeline

Introductions

Intelligent Systems Program (from website) • A multidisciplinary graduate program at the University of Pittsburgh dedicated to applied artificial intelligence • Research – AI & Law Group – NLP & Info. Retrieval Group – Educational Technology Group – Machine Learning Group – Biomedical Informatics Group

2015 -2016 Snapshot • Students • Faculty • Director – Reminder! 2 year shared term ends this August • • Tracks Courses/Curriculum Physical Resources Financial Resources

Students • 24 students (23 Ph. D / 1 MS) – 11 advised by CS or ISchool faculty – 10 advised by DBMI faculty – 3 advised by Law School faculty

Faculty • 14 current advisors – Only 6 have primary CS or ISchool appointments • Different group of voting faculty • Total ISP faculty is even larger, with primary appointments in – – – Arts and Sciences Education Engineering Information Sciences Law Medicine – Business, Public Health (in the past)

Director • Currently Litman/Wiebe (A&S) • Other directors since 2001 – Greg Cooper (Med School) – Bruce Buchanan (A&S / Med School) • Prior to 2001? – Kevin Ashley? (Law School) – Alan Lesgold / Rich Thomason (A&S – pysch/philosphy) –?

Tracks • General Track • Biomedical Informatics Track • Differing curriculum and admissions

Courses / Curriculum • ISSP 2020/2030 • Courses that are cross-listed with ISP • Courses that aren’t even cross-listed – CS – INFSCI – BIOSTAT – BIOINF – STAT

Physical Resources • Current – Staff office – Student bullpen – 4 person meeting room – Visitor office (usually empty so at risk) – Work-study ½ office (currently empty so at risk) – Supply / microwave / etc. room • Former – Faculty meeting room – Director’s office (never used) • Lacking – Seminar room of our own

Financial Resources from A&S • Staff – Salary for ½ of Michele • shared with Computer Science – No salary for use of Computer Science’s tech staff • Students – 5 academic year fellowships • 2 must be used for recruiting – Opportunity to apply for Mellon Fellowships • In recent years we have been awarded 2 – Formerly: opportunity to request 1 emergency TA • Director – 1 month summer salary and 1 course buyout each year • Operating budget – Supplies, equipment, food, travel $, speakers, work-study

Non-Guaranteed Financial Resources • Grant RDF (e. g. , from DBMI)

Editorial Comment • We have too many of some resources and not enough of others

Agenda • Where we are • Should we stay or should we go? – Reasons for and against (rather than votes) • Where we want to be • Next steps / timeline

Reflection (Group Participation) • Why do you (re-)apply for ISP secondary appointment? • In what roles have you been involved in ISP? • What about ISP has met your expectations? • What barriers prevent your greater participation?

What I Know • There is a lot of misunderstanding about what ISP is and how it works • People are speaking for ISP who have no authority (maybe due to somewhat of a codirector gap in November/December) • Became aware of these problems as a result of last faculty meeting, and have tried to rectify

What I Know • From A&S (Cooper and Knapp) – They are not kicking us out – They would pay a non A&S faculty director – AI is hot and they have suggestions for new connections • From New School (Larsen and Znati) – They would be happy (perhaps expected? ) to have us – Potential to move physically if not administratively • From Both – ISP should first figure out goals about where it wants to be intellectually etc. , then decide which path can best achieve these goals

Guesses about a Move • ISP-specific financial resources would be directly transferred to new school

Main Reason I’ve Heard to Move • ISP student/faculty center of mass will be in the new school • After CS moves, no ISP faculty will be left in A&S • After CS moves, faculty interest would appear to have greater affinity with new school • Reality: It depends on how and when you count – The majority of this year’s faculty advisors and current students are NOT in CS/Ischool – There was larger involvement from faculty in other A&S departments in the past

Other Reasons I’ve Heard to Move • Faculty and students would be less physically dispersed • Adminstrative and technical staff are currently shared with CS, and CS is moving • Good to get involved at the start to have impact • Your reasons here

Reasons I’ve Heard to Stay in A&S • Financial, e. g. , we will lose Mellon Fellowships • We don’t know what we would be moving into, and there is no deadline so why rush • Your reasons here

Negotiation Ideas for both options? • • • Dedicated seminar room More/different student funding methods More staff Teaching line? Your reasons here

Agenda • Where we are • Should we stay or should we go? – Reasons for and against (rather than votes) • Where we want to be • Next steps / timeline

Ideas from one extreme to another • ISP disappears because it is a historical relic • ISP stays the same either in A&S or new unit • ISP is still a grad program, but we make changes • ISP becomes a full-fledged department with primary appointments (and undergrads? )

Where We Want to Be • • Research Teaching Community Other

Research • Engage new faculty and new schools – What is our scope? • Use ISP funds to seed collaboration etc. – Ideas? • Align with Chancellor’s agenda

Teaching • New tracks? – Educational technology – Cognitive science – Digital humanities – Computational social science – Argumentation – How “technical” would those courses need to be? • Computational thinking

Community • ISP-internal • External – Increasing local presence of major AI players in industry

Other • Influence Dean search

Agenda • Where we are • Should we stay or should we go? – Reasons for and against (rather than votes) • Where we want to be • Next steps / timeline