Project Impetus
In the world of artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI modeling is a rapidly growing field with many career opportunities. Technologies in this area can be used to solve real-world problems that have a significant impact on people’s lives, including large language models (e.g., ChatGPT), self-driving vehicles, drug discovery, medical image diagnoses, and manufacturing, among others.
Unfortunately, this technology is usually developed by large corporations with huge hardware infrastructures, and many individuals, including universities, cannot afford such complex systems to train AI models.
To address this problem, Associate Professor of Computer Science in the Metropolitan College Reza Rawassizadeh received Shipley Center funding to purchase a desktop machine with two graphics processing units (GPU) that could handle the large data processing required for AI models.
We’re trying to democratize AI models by compressing them and fine-tuning them into smaller sizes that can be used by small and medium-sized enterprises, universities, and even personal use.
Pedagogical Strategies
The project aimed to integrate advanced AI technology into the classroom to give students hands-on experience with the technology.
To accomplish this goal, Rawassizadeh designed course exercises, assignments, and projects where students could use the technology to experiment with the algorithms and models they learn in class and deploy these complex models.
Project Impact
This project has directly impacted 60 students, providing them with hands-on experience in building and experimenting with AI on local machines and enhancing real-world application response times while maintaining privacy. Students built interesting AI models that ran locally on their machines and increased response times for real-world applications while maintaining their privacy.
Rawassizadeh’s work has received significantly improved course evaluations, with the first course receiving a rating of 4.98 out of 5 stars. Students reported feeling confident that there is infrastructure available for them to continue learning and creating new AI models.
The Generative AI course was at the cutting edge, incorporating state-of-the-art models in its course content. Most of the latest AI models rely on computation capacity;
hence, the GPU helped in both understanding finer details of algorithms and using the algorithms to hypothesize and build research projects.
Adoption and Sustainability
Metropolitan College now offers several AI modeling courses, including MET CS767 Advanced Machine Learning and Neural Networks and MET CS788 Generative AI. Rawassizadeh is developing new courses and aims to establish a concentration in machine learning and AI within computer science, supported by the advanced computer technology acquired through the grant.
Conferences, News & Publications
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Zhang, X., Kedri, K., & Rawassizadeh, R. (2024). Can LLMs substitute SQL? Comparing Resource Utilization of Querying LLMs versus Traditional Relational Databases. arXiv, doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.08727
Updated: November 19, 2025
About the Shipley Center Academic Innovation Fund
Founded in 2021 through the generosity of BU Trustee Emeritus Richard C. Shipley, the Shipley Center supports all faculty working to create innovations in teaching and learning – and across courses and programs that drive effective student engagement. The Shipley Center works in close collaboration with faculty to develop engaging learning experiences, informed by data and for the purpose of promoting innovation, equity and inclusion in higher education. We steward the effective use and deployment of the endowment fund, providing financial and in-kind support through the use of innovation education technology.
