Artificial intelligence seemingly is on the way to taking over every aspect of our lives – so why not allow it to take over a day on a college campus?
On March 26, NJIT will do just that, dedicating an entire day to AI by repurposing all classes for a campus-wide exploration.
The exploration will span interactive learning, talks, demonstrations and activities to highlight the growing role played by AI in education, work and daily life.
University officials say the school will repurpose all classes so every student, faculty member, instructor and staff colleague can participate.
“AI is changing how we teach, how we conduct research, and how our graduates enter the world,” Provost John Pelesko said. “That affects every discipline and every person on this campus, and we think it’s important enough to dedicate an entire day to it.
“AI Exploration Day is our community coming together to make sense of what’s happening, to ask hard questions, and to figure out how we respond.”
Here’s how the day will work.
Throughout the day, a variety of panels, discussions, hands-on workshops and student showcases will explore diverse AI applications. NJIT experts, student innovators and invited guest speakers will highlight the latest techniques for harnessing the power of AI, as well as the risks and unintended consequences it can create, suggesting how we can anticipate and address ethical and environmental concerns, face novel challenges and navigate an AI-assisted future.
Ethan Mollick, an associate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and co-director of the Wharton Generative AI Labs, will offer a keynote. Mollick is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI,” and was named one of TIME Magazine’s “Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence.”
Throughout the day, participants will explore NJIT’s “Living Lab,” a collection of interactive, research-driven demonstrations that bring emerging AI applications to life — from AI-guided robots and intelligent spatial computing to wildlife conservation interfaces, autonomous rocketry, motion capture for the performing arts, and real-time cybersecurity tools.
Dozens of faculty- and staff-led sessions will delve into cutting-edge research across disciplines. Topics include solar weather prediction, materials discovery, AI-enabled biomedicine, cyber-physical systems, cryptocurrency analytics, AI in construction, ethical reasoning in computing, LLM-driven writing and pedagogy, prompt engineering, fairness and bias in hiring algorithms, architectural design in the age of AI, STEM education transformation, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems, and existential and humanistic dimensions of AI.
The afternoon student showcase will highlight an extensive range of undergraduate and graduate research projects, including work in robotics, sustainable energy systems, health care diagnostics, sensors and imaging, autonomous systems, financial technologies, computational physics, human-AI collaboration, assistive technologies and new models for human-computer interaction. This breadth reflects NJIT’s growing strength in student-driven innovation across all colleges.
The event concludes with a panel featuring experts from tech and industry sectors examining AI’s impact on business, infrastructure, workforce demands and civic life, moderated by David Bader, distinguished professor and director of NJIT’s Institute for Data Science.
That NJIT is taking the lead on this is not a surprise. Last fall, the school became the first in N.J. to offer a Bachelor of Science in Business with Artificial Intelligence. The school recently joined with Verizon to launch no-cost AI and cybersecurity training. And, in January, it hosted 700 middle school and high school STEM students.
These are just part of the reason why NJIT is rising in the college rankings.
