Designing IMSA's Al Future: Student Director of the IMSA Center for Artificial Intelligence

The IMSA Center for Artificial Intelligence housed in A148, realizes Theme 1 of IMSA's vision 2033 10-year plan: "Build curricular and lab space capacity on the Aurora campus to support the growth and experimentation of artificial intelligence and its applications." In conjunction with the Al team leads (Ethics, Research, Entrepreneurship, & Curricular Connections), computer science faculty, the IN2 Innovation Center, IMSA's Outreach and Public Affairs & Development Offices, and the expanded Al internship program, the Student Director led and collaborated on campus-wide initiatives to engage students with the Al Center's Mission. The Center expanded the Al Bytes community programming to include more diverse topics led by faculty, increased student involvement, invited presenters from Nvidia, CIBC, and Avantor, and held weekly (as opposed to biweekly) sessions. The Al Center was showcased at the Illinois Association of Gifted Children and the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools Conferences (NCSSS) and was nominated as a Top 3 finalist for the NCSSS Top Student Program. Next Steps for the Center's initiatives include: expanding student programs, increasing engagement with the Faculty Advisory Committee, developing Al Ethics policy for the Parent/Student Handbook, and identifying new locations for the growth of the Center.