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Plus: The Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council offers Ecosystem Navigator office hours.
Virginia Tech’s new artificial intelligence minor is open to all students, to build AI skills and literacy they can apply to university work and, later, professional life. Applications for the minor will open in August for all undergraduates. Incoming students can add classes that don’t require prerequisites to their schedules beginning this month. Christine Julien, who heads Virginia Tech’s computer science department, says that today’s students will enter a workforce where AI will be almost omnipresent. “Our goal is to ensure Virginia Tech graduates understand how these technologies work, how to evaluate them critically, and how to apply them responsibly in their own fields,” Julien said. Julien led a group from across the university community to build a program that worked for more than just computer science students. The group looked to students’ needs to shape the program. “I’ve heard my administrative colleagues in the arts field frame it this way: Students need to worry less about losing their jobs to AI and worry more about losing their jobs to people who know how to use AI,” said Jeffrey Loeffert, director of the School of Performing Arts and a working musician. “This aligns with what I hear frequently from our industry partners. They hire prospective employees who have a high degree of AI literacy and an ability to adapt as the tools and technologies change.” The 18-credit-hour minor offers a technical foundation that includes programming, computational problem solving and artificial intelligence concepts in practice. Ethics courses are required and draw from computer science, philosophy and business. Interdisciplinary application modules offer curated pathways in the arts, social sciences and humanities. Classes include “AI, Creativity, and the Art of Being Human,” taught as an English class; “The Skeptic’s Guide to AI,” a philosophy course; “Algorithms and Society,” a computer science/science and technology studies offering; and “Data Governance, Privacy and Ethics,” taught in business information technology. Students may declare the minor through the College of Engineering beginning Aug. 3.
Looking to get into the region’s technology and life sciences marketplace? The Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council can help you get started. The organization, RBTC for short, is offering twice-monthly Ecosystem Nativator sessions, with office hours on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. The next virtual meetings are set for June 23, with an intro session you can access via the RBTC website. You’ll e-meet Jess Edwards, Innovation Studio director for the new RoVa Labs biotech incubator project. The Innovation Studio provides startups with advanced prototyping tools, mentorship and resources to help move from bench research breakthroughs to the marketplace.