Vanderbilt University Student Life Center
March 5th – 6th
Come with an Idea. Leave with a solution.
March 5th, Morning Sessions
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8:00
Breakfast
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Provost Raver
8:30 Main Ballroom
Welcome from the Provost
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Jesse Spencer-Smith, Chief Data Scientist and Associate Dean for College of Connected Computing
9:00 Main Ballroom
The World Changed: AI Overview
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9:30
Break
Coffee and Networking.
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DSI DS Team: Jesse Spencer-Smith, Dr. Charreau Bell
9:45 Main Ballroom
The New Age of Models
Reasoning Models: DeepSeek R1, OpenAI o3, and Beyond
Jesse Spencer-Smith
Giving generative AI models the explicit ability to generate text for the sole purpose of reasoning through a problem before requiring them to respond powerfully multiplies their abilities. Previous benchmarks for AGI have been exceeded using inference-time compute, and have allowed us to create powerful agents to assist us in some of our most demanding analytical tasks.
Agents and Actions: A Shift from Text to Tasks
Charreau Bell
Some AI agents follow a script. Others figure things out for themselves. What is the difference? And what exactly makes something an AI agent in the first place? This session explores AI agents and their different flavors, from simple task runners to more autonomous systems that determine their own next steps. We’ll look at how agents relate to large language models, use tools, and adapt their behavior based on context. Along the way, we’ll explore familiar AI systems that already use these capabilities in the real world. You’ll walk away with a clearer picture of how AI agents operate, and a new way to think about solving problems with AI.
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VALIANT: Dr. Yuankai Huo & Dr. Steven Wernke
9:45 Board of Trust
Two Lenses, One Discovery
Bridging Engineering and the Arts & Sciences in Large Archaeological Survey.
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VAILL: Panel
9:45 Meeting room 1/2
Code and Compliance
Decoding Emerging AI Governance Frameworks
Ed Powell Senior Associate and Head of AI Development and Strategy specializing in intellectual property litigation across AI, semiconductors, and software technologies. Duke Law graduate with experience representing clients before district courts and the US Supreme Court in complex technological cases.
Ryan McKenney Director of Government Relations and General Counsel of Compliance at Quantinuum. Certified Privacy Professional with expertise in quantum computing governance. Adjunct Professor at Loyola and Vanderbilt Law Schools teaching technology law and AI. Chairs the Quantum Economic Development Consortium's Legal Committee.
Michelle Grajales Head of Responsible AI at HCA Healthcare, leading ethical AI implementation in healthcare settings. Specializes in balancing innovation with patient safety, regulatory compliance, and responsible data use in a highly regulated industry.
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AdvancedED
9:45 Meeting room 3
AI in Teaching, Session 1: Evolving Perceptions and Applications of AI in Education
In this session, participants will explore the evolution of AI and its uses in higher education. We will consider how faculty perceptions of AI have changed over time, focusing on both limitations and concerns as well as current opportunities for personalized learning, automated assistance and research.
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10:45
Break
Coffee and Networking.
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DSI DS Team: Jesse Spencer-Smith
11:00 Main Ballroom
Accelerating Research in Academia and Industry with Reasoning Agents
PhD-level analyses completed in an hour. Novel approaches developed in a day in areas ranging from astrophysics to medicine, law, linguistics, computer science, physics and others. These capabilities are no mere accident. OpenAI and others have been training models on reasoning tasks.
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VALIANT: Dr. Catie Chang & Dr. Victoria Morgan
11:00 Board of Trust
Epilepsy
Connections Between Neuroimaging Methods and Clinical Research.
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DSI DS Team: Abigail Petulante
11:00 Meeting room 1/2
Seeing is Generating: How AI Understands and Creates Images
In this workshop, we’ll discuss the fundamentals of AI image generation, focusing on how diffusion models learn to create stunning visuals from random noise. We'll break down the key ideas behind these models, some of their most interesting use cases, and where they're headed next. We'll also touch on AI systems that combine vision and language, allowing models to not just generate images but understand them too. Whether you're curious about how AI 'imagines' or where the future of generative image models is going, this session will offer a clear look at the technology shaping visual AI.
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AdvancED
11:00 Meeting room 3
AI in Teaching, Session 2: Leveraging AI to Build Interactive and Personalized Courses
Bring your laptop to this interactive session where participants will engage in hands-on experiences using Amplify to enhance various aspects of teaching and learning. The session will include assignment and activity design, theme extraction, study support, identifying knowledge gaps, research facilitation and lesson plan development.
March 5th, Afternoon Sessions
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Theodore Perl, Augustus Boetcher, William White IV, Olivia Lockwood, Vanderbilt Students
12:00 Main Ballroom
Imagine: The United Nations first AI-driven film (Student UN AI Film)
The United Nations first AI-driven film, made in collaboration with the G20 Global Land Initiative and UNCCD.
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Cameron Pattison
1:00 Main Ball Room
LLM Source Analysis
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Stephen Chong
1:20 Main Ballroom
Shifting Attention to You: Personalized Brain-Inspired AI Models
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Yang (Albert) Hu
1:40 Main Ballroom
Multimodal Cognitive Training
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LIVE
1:00 Board of Trust
Learning Innovation Incubator, Session 1
ChatBots and Intelligent Agents for Learning.
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ACCRE: Michael McAllister and Dr. Brandon Soubasis
1:00 Meeting room 3
Intro to ACCRE
Intro to ACCRE, a series of talks followed by Q&A / Discussion.
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2:00
Break
Coffee and Networking.
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VUIT: Max Lieb
2:15 Main Ballroom
AI Safety
AI Cybersecurity Briefing from the VUIT team.
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LIVE
2:15 Board of Trust
Learning Innovation Incubator, Session 2
AI Learning Innovation Demos, a brief lightning overview followed by demos stationed around the room.
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DSI DS Team: Prof. Charreau Bell
2:15 Meeting room 1/2
AI Agents: Step by Step: Learn, Build, and Deploy
Ever wondered what makes AI agents tick beyond just the language model? In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore the building blocks of AI applications and learn how they work together to create intelligent systems that can actually get things done. Using a visual data flow builder, we'll explore the role of LLMs, tools, prompts, and other components in AI system design. Whether you're a student, researcher, or industry professional, you’ll gain a strong understanding of AI system architecture and composition, empowering you to create your own AI solution that meets your specific needs. No programming skills needed - bring your curiosity and leave with a practical, working AI agent that you can put to use immediately.
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ACCRE: Dr. Brandon Soubasis
2:15 Meeting room 3
Intro to Slurm
An introduction to Slurm.
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3:15
Break
Coffee and Networking
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Ben Hunt, CEO of EpsilonTheory, Vanderbilt Alum,
3:30 Main Ballroom
Keynote: Reading the Rhyme of History: Using Generative AI to Identify the Semantic Signatures of Primary Texts
The rhyme of history is found in the vibes, motifs and thematic expressions that connect human cultures across time and space. All of these touchy-feely, un-scientific words like vibes and rhymes and motifs and thematic expressions are actually part of the hard science of semantics — the exploration of meaning in information and communication. Generative AI and foundational AI models are expressions of semantic theory, and we can use these linguistic operating systems to measure the semantic world as clearly as microscopes and spectrometers measure the physical world. Just as there is a unique signature to every chemical element in the physical world, so is there a unique signature to every embedded linguistic pattern of meaning in the semantic world, and treating unstructured data in this way has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the social sciences and the humanities.
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Vanderbilt Students and Researchers
4:45 Main Ballroom
AI Showcase
Join past AI Showcase winners, handpicked Data Science projects, and new innovators for an evening of demonstrations and networking. In partnership with Owen's Convoy conference, see the best of Vanderbilt's AI innovation in action.
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VAILL
5:00 Board of Trust
W + AI: Women in AI
A networking session sponsored by VAILL.
March 6th, Morning Sessions
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8:00 Main Ballroom
Breakfast
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Prof. Jules White, Computer Science
8:30 Main Ballroom
Amplify
Agents are for Everyone with Amplify AI
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Center for Applied AI in Protein Dynamics, Prof. Hassane Mchaourab, Dr. Stephani Wankowicz, Dr. Carlos Oliver
8:30 Board of Trust
AI in Protein Science: From Structure prediction to Drug Discovery
Our session will describe how the AI revolution is reshaping protein science from elucidating their structures and mechanisms, to how mutations cause diseases and culminating in a new paradigm of drug discovery.
This session will feature new faculty members of the center that will describe their research in these fields.
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Paul Kramer, Political Science
8:30 Meeting room 1/2
AI for Nonprofits: Practical Applications & Strategies
A collaboration between the Center for Nonprofit Management and 180 Degrees Consulting here at Vanderbilt. Designed to equip nonprofit leaders with essential AI skills, these sessions on the morning of March 6th will provide practical insights into leveraging AI for organizational efficiency and impact. Each 45-minute session will include a 20-25 minute interactive presentation followed by Q&A and transition time. The workshops will cover foundational AI concepts, grant writing enhancements using AI tools, automation of repetitive administrative tasks, and AI-driven strategies for donor engagement and outreach.
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AdvancedED
8:30 Meeting room 3
AI in Teaching, Session 3: Understanding Student Perspectives of AI, Panel Discussion with Vanderbilt Students
In this facilitated panel discussion, Vanderbilt students with varying levels of AI experience will share their experiences and challenges with integrating AI in education.
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Myranda Shirk, Senior Data Scientist
9:00 Main Ballroom
Energy Consumption of AI models
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9:30
Break
Coffee and Networking.
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DSI DS Team: Abigail Petulante
9:45 Main Ballroom
Small Models, Powerful Solutions
As AI technologies expand, some models keep getting smaller. In this session, we'll explore the evolution towards smaller, more efficient models, discussing some of the core techniques used to reduce model size as well as the capabilities and limitations of these compact models. In doing so, we’ll investigate with some real-world examples that highlight when these models match or outperform their larger counterparts, and where they may still be lacking.
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Center for Applied AI in Protein Dynamics, Prof. Hassane Mchaourab, Dr. Benjamin Brown, Dr. Derek Claxton
9:45 Board of Trust
AI in Protein Science: From Structure prediction to Drug Discovery
Our session will describe how the AI revolution is reshaping protein science from elucidating their structures and mechanisms, to how mutations cause diseases and culminating in a new paradigm of drug discovery.
This session will feature new faculty members of the center that will describe their research in these fields.
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Paul Kramer, Political Science
9:45 Meeting room 1/2
AI for Nonprofits: A look into how AI is shaping the world of nonprofits
A collaboration between the Center for Nonprofit Management and 180 Degrees Consulting here at Vanderbilt. Designed to equip nonprofit leaders with essential AI skills, these sessions on the morning of March 6th will provide practical insights into leveraging AI for organizational efficiency and impact. Each 45-minute session will include a 20-25 minute interactive presentation followed by Q&A and transition time. The workshops will cover foundational AI concepts, grant writing enhancements using AI tools, automation of repetitive administrative tasks, and AI-driven strategies for donor engagement and outreach.
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AdvancedED
9:45 Meeting room 3
AI in Teaching, Session 4: Crafting an AI Policy for Your Classroom
What are acceptable student uses of AI in the classroom? In this interactive session, participants will explore a range of considerations and explore beneficial ways to incorporate students into the creation of an AI classroom policy.
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Cambridge Computing
10:15 Main Ballroom
Large Scale Compute
Modern Infrastructure for AI workloads at scale - Similarities and Differences with traditional HPC Infrastructure
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10:45
Break
Coffee and Networking.
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Alicia Moniz, Microsoft
11:00 Main Ballroom
Embracing Responsible AI
Tools and Best Practices for Embracing Responsible AI.
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DSI DS Team: Umang Chaudhry
11:00 Board of Trust
Hands-On End-to-End Training of AI Models
This workshop provides a comprehensive introduction to AI model training and fine-tuning, covering key concepts such as when to train, how different training approaches work, and strategies for optimizing performance. We will also explore multi-GPU setups and hardware considerations for scaling large language model (LLM) training. The session includes hands-on exercises, guiding participants through end-to-end model training with Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning (PEFT) techniques to enhance efficiency and adaptability in real-world AI applications.
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Paul Kramer, Political Science
11:00 Meeting room 1/2
AI for Nonprofits: A look into how AI is shaping the world of nonprofits
A collaboration between the Center for Nonprofit Management and 180 Degrees Consulting here at Vanderbilt. Designed to equip nonprofit leaders with essential AI skills, these sessions on the morning of March 6th will provide practical insights into leveraging AI for organizational efficiency and impact. Each 45-minute session will include a 20-25 minute interactive presentation followed by Q&A and transition time. The workshops will cover foundational AI concepts, grant writing enhancements using AI tools, automation of repetitive administrative tasks, and AI-driven strategies for donor engagement and outreach.
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VAIL
11:00 Meeting room 3
VAILL in Action: Designing AI Instruction
A session/workshop covering VAILL’s approach to teaching with and about AI tools in a traditional education setting.
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DSI DS Team, Sarah Burris
11:30 Main Ballroom
AI Ethics Pedagogy & Practice: Cases from the Classroom
What is AI ethics, why is it important, and how should we teach and learn about it? In this talk, we will explore these questions by looking at recent work from the National Science Foundation EngageAI Institute. From designing for AI rights to building an AI Compass for evaluating educational AI, there are many ways—and many reasons—to practice and teach AI ethics.
March 6th, Afternoon Sessions
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Dr. Hernán Londoño, Chief Technology and Innovation Strategist at Lenovo, and Hether Danforth, VP US Academic at Microsoft
12:00 Main Ballroom
Lunch: Industry Fireside Chat
The session presents a unique opportunity to delve into the intersection of technology, education, and workforce development.
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Sowmya Kannon, IBM
1:00 Main Ballroom
Education in AI for social good/GenAI and Student Developers
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DSI DS Team: Umang Chaudhry
1:00 Board of Trust
Practical Secure AI: Running and Training Local Models
In this workshop, we will explore best practices for using AI while handling sensitive data, following Vanderbilt’s cybersecurity standards. We'll discuss different types of sensitive data, secure AI workflows, and the trade-offs between local vs. cloud-based AI deployment. Participants will also learn strategies for running AI models locally, securely training models, and ensuring compliance with data protection guidelines. This session is ideal for those looking to leverage AI in high-security environments while maintaining privacy and integrity.
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Lenovo, Hernan Londono, Chief Technology and Innovation Strategist
1:00 Meeting room 3
Student Opportunities with Lenovo
Lenovo presents opportunities available to students.
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Sanjeev Kumar Marimekala, IBM
1:30 Main Ballroom
AskSRE watsonx Assistant
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2:00
Break
Coffee and Networking
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Curtis Northcutt, CEO Cleanlab, Dr. Charreau Bell, Senior Data Scientist, Director of DS Minor at Vanderbilt
2:15 Main Ballroom
Fireside Chat with Experts
RAG is becoming a hot-topic, join us for a fireside chat on Modern Rag with two expert panelists.
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DSI DS Team: Abigail Petulante
2:15 Board of Trust
Reinforcement Learning: The Key to Efficient Reasoning
Explore the fundamentals of reinforcement learning (RL) and its pivotal role in training large language models (LLMs) to perform complex reasoning tasks efficiently. We'll delve into the core principles of RL, examining how it enables models to learn and self-improve through feedback mechanisms. A focal point of our discussion will be the groundbreaking advancements exemplified by models like DeepSeek's R1, which leverage pure reinforcement learning to achieve remarkable reasoning capabilities with reduced computational resources.
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IBM: Leah Jones, Academic Advisor and Program Manager
2:15 Meeting room 1/2
IBM SkillsBuild
LIVE Demo – Reskilling and Upskilling in AI – Platform access, registration, and getting started with taking a course today.
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3:15
Break
Coffee and Networking
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Matt Estes, Vanderbilt University, Learning Innovation and Impact
3:30 Main Ballroom
People, Culture, and Belonging: AI-Driven Application Development
Explore the future of AI-driven app development in this interactive session designed for computer scientists, UX/UI developers, and anyone eager to bring innovative ideas to life. We’ll dive into how AI-powered tools like Replit can accelerate rapid prototyping, transforming concepts into functional demos with high-quality UI and working features. This session will showcase how AI assists with code generation, debugging, and user experience design, enabling faster iteration and refinement. Through live demos and expert insights, you’ll learn practical techniques to streamline the development process, from idea to proof of concept. Whether you’re refining an existing project or starting from scratch, this session will equip you with the skills to leverage AI for more efficient and impactful app development.
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DSI DS Team
3:30 Board of Trust
AI-Assisted Grant Writing
AI-assisted grant writing best practices and use cases for individuals at all levels of proficiency.