CDS Affiliate John Byers Selected to Lead AIDA and Advise the Provost on AI Strategy for BU
Effective November 1, Professor John Byers (CDS Affiliate and former Founding Faculty member) has been appointed as the executive director of Boston University’s Artificial Intelligence Development Accelerator for Academic and Administrative Excellence (AIDA) and AI advisor to the provost. AIDA is dedicated to equipping faculty, staff, and students with the knowledge, tools, and critical frameworks to navigate the evolving landscape of generative AI.
Excerpt from Boston University Office of the Provost:
In his role as executive director, Professor Byers will oversee the incorporation of generative AI into the University’s academic and administrative environment to elevate the educational and experiential excellence of our students, faculty, and staff. His role as AI advisor to the provost ensures that the Office of the Provost, in tandem with AIDA, helps schools and colleges prepare their graduates for a workforce that will need to be fluent in generative AI.
This role will serve as an important complement to BU’s multi-dimensional approach for advancing AI, which includes academic degree enhancements overseen by the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS); the use of AI for research in a variety of societal areas, driven by the Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering as well as CDS and several other research centers across the University; and the efforts of the Institute for Excellence in Teaching & Learning to support the use and discussion of AI in the classroom.
“AIDA is a key element of BU’s AI strategy,” said Azer Bestavros, Associate Provost for Computing & Data Sciences. “While CDS is all about ensuring the long-term preeminence of BU in a world where computing, data science, and AI are of paramount importance, AIDA is all about the short-term fast-tracking of BU’s critical embrace of AI in teaching, research, and operations.” Bestavros added that “John is the ideal person to lead AIDA. He was one of the first computer scientists to foresee and contribute to the incredible impact of data science on academia and industry. Not surprisingly, as one of CDS’s founding faculty members, he was instrumental in the conception of CDS as the cross-disciplinary unit it is today.”
Read more about Byers’ work with AIDA, including BU’s new AI course for undergraduates, here.