Women encouraged to pursue careers in AI test and evaluation during Virginia Tech National Security Institute workshop
Virginia Tech experts provided valuable mentoring support to Jennifer Maaskant regarding her academic journey during an artificial intelligence workshop.
“As someone planning to do a master's program in a niche field, this has been an invaluable opportunity to learn how to work in a research team and to start thinking in a more research-oriented way,” said Maaskant, an undergraduate cybersecurity major from the University of North Georgia. “Virginia Tech has provided incredible mentors who have helped to answer my questions about graduate school, and I'm excited to work with my incredible team on this research project throughout the semester.”
Maaskant was one of 10 undergraduate students to attend the first Graduate Research in Artificial Intelligence Test and Evaluation (GRAITE) Women Workshop at the Virginia Tech Research Center — Arlington. Funded by a gift from Google’s exploreCSR program, the event was organized by Erin Lanus, Stephanie Travis, and Danielle Kauffman of the Virginia Tech National Security Institute.
“Artificial Intelligence [AI] is inherently interdisciplinary, combining techniques from computer science, statistics, and psychology among others,” said Lanus, research assistant professor in the institute’s Intelligent Systems Division and affiliate faculty in the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. “AI is also increasingly used in consequential systems with the potential to impact everyone, and these systems do not always operate safely or fairly. Test and evaluation of AI is our primary mechanism for gaining justified confidence that these systems work correctly, and diversity of thought and background is necessary for ensuring that all perspectives are represented within the testing community.”
The exploreCSR program seeks to encourage students to pursue computing research careers, particularly within historically marginalized groups. The workshop focused on introducing undergraduate students from Norwich University and the University of North Georgia, which are senior military colleges that do not offer Ph.D. programs in computer science, to the emerging field of AI test and evaluation via presentations from government partners and providing an overview of how to conduct research in computer science. Virginia Tech is also designated as a senior military college.
Guest speakers at the workshop included Kristen Alexander, chief learning and artificial intelligence officer in the Office of the Director, Opperational Test and Evaluation, and Anna Rubinstein, chief of responsible artificial intelligence for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, who highlighted federal job opportunities in AI test and evaluation in the greater Washington, D.C., metro area.
In addition, Virginia Tech National Security Institute graduate research assistant Sakshi Mhatre led an interactive tutorial on the impact of data bias on facial recognition via machine learning, and Kurt Luther, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and the Department of History, shared guidance on applying to graduate school.
“We hope that the students are aware of the many job opportunities for them in AI test and evaluation, particularly in the Washington, D.C., area and how a graduate degree can prepare them to contribute to this area of research,” Kauffman said.
To continue collaboration, students will formulate research questions from their experience at the workshop to pursue during the spring semester and share their findings at Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus in April.
