As part of the Penn AI initiative, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) has established the Penn AI Council, a group of five faculty crossing an array of disciplines who will lead the effort to map and strengthen Penn’s AI community. The Council is a major step in implementing In Principle and Practice, the University’s strategic framework positioning Penn as an engaged, forward-thinking institution. Data is one of the great challenges outlined through In Principle and Practice and impacts nearly every aspect of society.
The council includes Marylyn Ritchie, the Edward Rose, M.D. and Elizabeth Kirk Rose, M.D. Professor and vice dean of artificial intelligence and computing at the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM); René Vidal, the Rachleff University Professor, with joint appointments in PSOM and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS); Eric Bradlow, vice dean of AI and analytics at the Wharton School; Bhuvnesh Jain, Annenberg Professor of Physics and Astronomy and co-director of the Penn Data Driven Discovery Initiative in the School of Arts & Sciences; and Duncan Watts, Stevens University Professor and Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor in SEAS, the Annenberg School for Communication, and Wharton.
In addition to strengthening Penn’s AI community, the Penn AI Council will act as strategic advisors to University leadership, coordinate cross-school research opportunities, support new AI and data scientists, and lead the planning for and implementation of the Penn Advanced Research Computing Center, which will provide a central platform for high-performance computational and data-driven research across campus. The Council will eventually be complemented by a larger Advisory Committee to support the evolution of Penn’s AI ecosystem, comprised of faculty representing a wide range of disciplines and all 12 schools.
“I am extremely grateful for the commitments my colleagues have made in terms of their time, their leadership, and their strategic perspectives,” says Senior Vice Provost for Research Dawn Bonnell. “As we look forward in the face of a rapidly changing landscape, with impact across almost all of our academic endeavors, we are positioned to enable our community to define the frontiers of AI-related research and education.”
The Council began, informally, in September 2023 as a faculty working group. Shortly after, the group initiated the development of the newly launched Penn AI website, a resource and tool intended to build community and foster collaborations at Penn by showcasing University-wide research, sharing events, and spotlighting insights from Penn community members. The AI Council was formalized over the summer.
“When the working group came together, part of what they were looking at wasn’t just infrastructure needs, but also programmatic needs to build intellectual community around data science and, effectively, artificial intelligence,” explains Michael Borda, associate vice provost for research, noting that data science has advanced from being fundamental to a few areas of research to being “just fundamental to research.” “The [starting point] was to create a central landing space where people could see what’s happening now.”
Borda describes the members of the AI Council as working really well together, passionate, and “good Penn citizens” who see the project as bigger than their own schools or research.
Ritchie, a member of the Council, says her role came as a natural extension of work she was already doing in PSOM to build partnerships and collaborations around campus.
“It’s important for our campus that we’re collaborating and finding ways to synergize and have the whole be greater than the sum of the individual parts,” says Ritchie. “People in different schools working on AI in particular, they maybe don’t realize someone in another school is working on AI in a very similar area but with a slightly different lens in how they perceive and view the data and questions, and by bringing those two together they do much more innovative and exciting work than either do independently.
“I’m very excited about building bridges across campus.”
Looking ahead, the Council will continue to develop the Penn AI website, create future events and programming in partnership with schools and organizations around campus, hire support staff, and advise leadership on how Penn can spend its time and efforts in AI to make the most meaningful, relevant impact with Penn’s unique sets of expertise.
Ritchie echoes Borda’s sentiments about working for greater good and leading on the great challenges of our time.
“The group has been really great about coming up with ideas and working together in ways that might not be optimal for one of our individual labs, but it’s the right thing for the collective to move it forward,” she says. “That takes a special type of leadership to be able to do: You make decisions and prioritize based on what’s good for the group rather than one individual, and this group of leaders is really good at that and has made it a pleasure to work with them.”
Anyone who wishes to engage, says Ritchie, can reach out to OVPR or individual members of the AI Council.
