AI is impacting our research, teaching, and our society. In this talk I will begin with technical research advancements in which I’ve had a part as co-PI of the NSF Intelligent CI with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE) AI Institute which has just completed its 4th year. The institute is focused on cyberinfrastructure for AI (CI4AI) and AI in cyberinfrastructure (CI4AI4CI). The cyberinfrastructure extends across the continuum of edgecloud-HPC and has focused on composed functionality across the continuum (i.e., AI pipelines). An aspect of particular interest to me is AI accountability, how information collected about AI/ML models and datasets in use can then determine future appropriate uses of models. The research questions we are investigating are carried out through our Patra Model Cards. I will then step back and reflect on the research and educational landscape in the US, touching on national developments including NAIRR, Genesis Mission, and the tech industry. While the relevance of academia is never in doubt, agility is of an essence for academic researchers/educators. Fortunately there are exciting developments holding promise for computer and information science research, and we should lean into our infinite curiosity to stay ahead, and keep our students ahead, of the curve.

Beth Plale is the Executive Director of the School of Computer and Data Sciences at the University of Oregon. Prior to coming to the University of Oregon, Plale was at Indiana University Bloomington where she held the Michael A and Laurie Burns McRobbie Bicentennial Chair in Computer engineering, spent two years as the Chair of the Dept of Intelligent Systems Engineering (IU ISE), and several years as the Executive Director of Pervasive Technology Institute (PTI). Plale is a computational and data scientist whose research interests are in computational and data infrastructure for AI, high performance computing, open science, provenance & reproducibility, and AI ethics and accountability. Plale is a co-PI of the US NSF Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure for Computation in the Environment (ICICLE) AI Institute. She served at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) 2017 -2022 as a Science Advisor in Open Science. She is a founder of the international Research Data Alliance (RDA) consortium, the Center of Excellence for Women and Technology (CEWIT) at Indiana University, and the HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC). Plale received the distinguished US Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career award and is a senior member of ACM and IEEE professional societies.