Building a Community of AI Enthusiasts

At the heart of Northwestern University is a spirit of collaboration. That statement greets anyone who visits ai.northwestern.edu, the online home for artificial intelligence at Northwestern (AI@NU). Researchers, faculty members, and students across campus are developing ways to use AI to impact science, engineering, and society as a whole, and AI@NU is an effort to bring that cutting-edge work together in one place.

Sergio Servantez was inspired by the mission of AI@NU. Servantez is a PhD candidate in computer science and a member of the C3 Lab, led by Kristian Hammond, director of Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) program. Servantez wanted to build off the work being done with AI@NU and create a group focused specifically on students interested in AI. That desire led him and Suman Bhandari, a fellow PhD candidate, to form the AI@NU Graduate Student Group this past winter.

"The AI@NU Graduate Student Group helps bring together AI enthusiasts from across Northwestern so we can share our research projects, collaborate on new research, and build a campus-wide AI student community," Servantez said.  

Servantez added that while other student organizations are focused on AI, most are confined to a single school or department. The hope is that the AI@NU Graduate Student Group can connect these different groups and individuals to help build interdisciplinary research teams and foster collaboration across Northwestern. To aid in that process, Servantez and Bhandari formed an organizational board made up of students from across the university.

The group is open to any student on campus, although only graduate students are allowed to serve on the board.

Servantez serves as president of the group, while Bhandari is vice president and treasurer.

Over the past two quarters, the group hosted a presentation series where students learned about other AI-related student organizations on campus. With students anticipating a return to full-time in-person learning in the fall, Servantez expects the group to increase its number and types of activities, including introducing new workshops and industry research presentations.  

"The group has about 90 registered members, but we hope to grow this number once we return to in-person activities," Servantez said. "Students can benefit from participating in the group by learning about ongoing AI research projects, networking with other AI focused students, and taking part in group activities."