Issue #9A | Research Office | West Virginia University

Main Announcement and Newsletter

January Speaker: Prof. Robert K. Cunningham, University of Pittsburgh

Date: 10 a.m., January 30, 2025

Title: Pitt AI Activities: Rethinking Education, Operations, and Research

Abstract

Recent Artificial Intelligence (AI) breakthroughs have the potential to enable substantial changes to higher education, operations, and research. The University of Pittsburgh has been actively wrestling with the challenges and opportunities offered by AI. This presentation will highlight some of those activities, focusing on those activities that are working well.

Prof. Cunningham is the Vice Chancellor for Research Infrastructure at the University of Pittsburgh and is responsible for the strategic leadership of the University’s research infrastructure and directs special initiatives. He focuses on the effective operation, financial stability, and future growth opportunities of Pitt research platforms. Cunningham has broad experience across STEM, cyber science, physical science, and neuroscience, as well as leading enterprise-scale teams of faculty and staff. His research has explored machine learning, digital image processing, computer intrusion detection, systems security and privacy, and software engineering, with applications to satellites and constellations. Cunningham has patented technology, presented and published widely, and chaired the IEEE Cybersecurity Initiative.

February Speaker: Prof. Scott P. Simkins

Department of Economics
North Carolina A&T State University

Title: Beyond Cheating: Designing Courses That Position Generative AI as a Partner to Human Thinking

As generative AI reshapes higher education and the workplace, faculty need concrete strategies for helping students use these tools to enhance-not replace-their thinking. This interactive session introduces a practical course-design framework grounded in Dee Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning and demonstrates how generative AI can support deeper disciplinary learning, improved performance, and stronger real-world skills in your courses. Drawing on examples from my own economics courses, I will share how intentionally structured assignments and scaffolds can help students use AI as a complement to human judgment, analytical reasoning, and creativity. Grounded in recent work by Julie Schell (UT-Austin), the session also introduces the idea of “fusion skills,” the blended human–AI capabilities that produce what Schell describes as emergent capacities: outcomes neither humans nor AI achieve alone. Participants will explore how these fusion skills can be cultivated through course design, faculty development, and reflective student practice.

Over the past two years, AI has shifted from a peripheral topic to a daily presence in our classrooms, research, and institutional life. While national conversations often focus on rapid adoption, recent faculty reports point to a more complex reality-one that includes opportunity, uncertainty, and important questions about teaching, learning, and academic values.

In this newsletter, alongside our regular AI updates, I’m sharing a brief summary of one such report as an invitation to start a campus-wide conversation. Rather than drawing quick conclusions, the goal is to listen: to understand how AI is being experienced across WVU and where additional guidance, resources, or support may be most needed.

To that end, I’ve created a short, anonymous feedback form to gather perspectives from faculty, students, and administrators. Its value depends on participation, so I encourage you not only to share your thoughts, but also to pass it along to colleagues and students who may want to contribute.

Responses will be synthesized into a summary report to be shared with this group in March.

👉 Complete the anonymous AI feedback form

Newsletter #9A

January 2026

WVU News

Please send email to alromero@mail.wvu.edu if you want something included in the next newsletter.

News of AI Around the World—Recent Highlights

Anthropic Launches “Cowork”: The First Mainstream Desktop Agent

Claude Cowork Announcement

Anthropic has introduced Cowork, a research preview that brings the power of their coding tool, Claude Code, to a general audience. Cowork is an agent that can autonomously read, edit, and organize files while operating within a secure sandbox.