In 2024, four multidisciplinary research teams received seed funding from the Johns Hopkins Data Science and AI Institute and the Office of the Dean at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences to pursue research using data science and AI to address a broad range of societal and humanitarian challenges. The seed funding program began in 2023 with the intent to broaden the deployment of AI to every corner of the university, with a concentration in the humanities, arts, and physical and social sciences.
“This year’s winners again reflect the great breadth of AI-aided research underway across the whole Hopkins diaspora. They are clear beacons of the power of AI to aid analysis and broaden scope to a previously unattainable degree, which is shown in its best light when coupled to human creativity and critical thinking,” says Paulette Clancy, the Data Science and AI Institute’s director of research for discovery and inquiry.
Anqi “Angie” Liu, an assistant professor of computer science, and Lingxin Hao, the Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor in Public Policy, are using their seed grant to pursue research on the sociological foundations of learning with AI. Focused on exploring the social and behavioral impacts of using AI in a learning setting, this interdisciplinary project involves faculty from the Departments of Computer Science and Sociology and the School of Education.
“We provide a sociological, behavioral, ethical, and computational perspective to this question,” Liu says. “We need to study AI in education carefully so that we can redesign algorithmic and interactive interfaces to ensure that AI benefits students’ learning.”
The team’s findings will inform the design of AI tools that facilitate student learning and provide a deeper understanding of how teaching and pedagogy should evolve as AI’s role in education grows.
“When using ChatGPT for learning purposes, one should take charge of active learning,” says Hao. “Without knowing what you need to learn and breaking down a complex problem in steps, ChatGPT can hurt learning outcomes.”
Liu and Hao presented their research at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Association for Computing Machinery’s Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society, which took place October 20–22 in Madrid, Spain.
Another seed grant project is being led by Michael Harrower, a professor of archaeology in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, and Tom Lippincott, an associate research professor in the Department of Computer Science.
Archaeology provides the cross-cultural perspective and time depth needed to understand the long-term trajectories of human societies, explains Lippincott, adding that archaeological sites and artifacts are rapidly disappearing.
The team’s research applies computer vision and deep learning to archeology—specifically to identify, document, and interpret archaeological remains in Afar, Ethiopia.
“These innovations not only preserve irreplaceable evidence, but also transform how we study and visualize humanity’s shared history,” says Harrower.
The funding has allowed Harrower and Lippincott to foster collaboration between students and scholars across Archeology and Computer Science that would otherwise have been unlikely to take place.
Harrower says that the field of digital archaeological discovery is rapidly evolving.
“This work exemplifies how data science and archaeology together can deepen our understanding of the human experience while safeguarding its material legacy,” he says.
Learn more about the Data Science and AI Institute’s Seed Grant Program here.