SFU Vancouver Lunch 'n' Learn

About the Lunch 'n' Learn:

Date: Tuesday, December 3
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Location: Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., room 2270

This is an in-person event with lunch provided.

In response to the AI revolution, Simon Fraser University (SFU) is charting a path for the responsible integration of artificial intelligence within education, research, and society. This university-wide strategy aims to reshape research, learning and teaching, and university operations, all while supporting SFU’s mission to benefit students, faculty, staff, and the wider community.

To spearhead this initiative, SFU established an AI Strategy Committee in summer 2024. This committee is tasked with exploring AI’s potential and impact on SFU in four key areas/pillars: Learning and Teaching, Research, Operations/Administration, and External Engagement.

AI Strategy Core Committee Members:

• Chair: Dugan O’Neil, Vice President of Research & Innovation
• Learning and Teaching: Paul Kingsbury, Associate Vice President, Learning and Teaching, pro tem
• Research: Steve DiPaola, Professor, School of Interactive Arts & Technology, and Parmit Chilana, Associate Professor, School of Computing Science and Co-director, Visual and Interactive Computing Institute (VINCI)
• Operations/Administration: Brian Stewart, Chief Information Officer, IT Services
• Partnerships/External Engagement: Seychelle Cushing, Executive Director, SFU’s Partnerships Hub, and Aftab Erfan, Executive Director, SFU Centre for Dialogue
• Additional members: Mark Jordan, Library representative, Fred Popwich, Big Data Hub representative and Fabiana Rassier, Director, Special Initiatives.
  

Guiding Principles for the AI Strategy:

• AI-based tools are just that—tools. Learning how to use these new tools to be a leading research university, advancing an inclusive and sustainable future, should be our priority.
• Learning how to use AI-based tools requires understanding of how these tools pose challenges, opportunities, and questions.
• AI-based tools are changing (and improving) rapidly. An agile and coordinated approach is needed to effectively integrate these tools into our work.
• There are risks associated (e.g., academic integrity, privacy and security, intellectual property rights, reliability, inequities). Understanding and using the tools ourselves will help us manage those risks.
  

At this Lunch 'n' Learn, a leader from each of the 4 pillars will share their insights on how their respective areas will contribute to the university-wide AI strategy. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A.