Rowan University announced the appointment of Nidhal C. Bouaynaya, Ph.D, the director of Rowan’s New Machine & Artificial Intelligence VR Center, MAVRC, to a brand new position on Feb. 5: Associate Vice President for Artificial Intelligence.

Bouaynaya, an electrical and computer engineering professor at the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering, has been conducting research on AI along with big data analytics, machine learning, and mathematical optimization. Her Ph.D, master’s, and undergrad students alike are all working on different projects in AI as well.

“We’re going to integrate artificial intelligence not only in research and development and in STEM education, but really all across the curriculum. Not only in STEM, but in healthcare, in social sciences, in humanities, and also in student success and in our administration, whether it’s research administration, HR, finance, etc. It’s a big vision where we’re going to integrate AI in every operation and business of the university,” said Bouaynaya.

Despite AI still being greatly researched and identified, the usefulness and purpose of the technology are constantly being tested as the world learns more about it. Bouaynaya is hopeful of the potential benefits that can come along with integrating AI into Rowan in a responsible way, with proper guidelines for such a powerful tool that only continues to grow in power.

“These worries are there, and they are our best practices for institutions and universities to deal with them. And these models are also becoming better and better. There is no way, in a sense, of escaping AI because of these issues. Before, there were no calculators, so those who learned logarithms did it by hand. And then calculators came, and there was not a big issue,” said Bouaynaya. “We adapted, so AI is going to be a similar technology that we will have to adapt to because otherwise we will be really behind. We need to see AI as a partner rather than a shortcut.”

Bouaynaya has been a part of Rowan since September 2013, where her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), among other agencies. She was approached for this position last Spring by Provost Anthony Lowman, though it’s only more recently become official.

Both the Provost as well as the Rowan University President, Dr. Ali A. Houshmand, felt that Bouaynaya was a natural choice to lead the position. Bouaynaya hopes that Rowan, as an institution, will soon become a leader in AI education and research, both regionally and nationally.

“It is the fastest moving technology out there. Every day, there is something new. There is a new release, a new technology, there is a better way of training these models. I’m excited to see where this technology will lead us,” said Bouaynaya. “It’s going to disrupt the way we do many things, but if we follow it and if we start integrating it right into education, then its impact will be more transformative and positive rather than completely disruptive.”

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