The 𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 (𝐑𝐀𝐃) 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 recently hosted its inaugural Research Symposium on 3/24/26 – an amazing event that has sparked much interest in collaborative research with AI as a matchmaking catalyst.
Prof. Stephen Burley, Director of RAD, whose expansive vision for fostering AI research Rutgers University–New Brunswick and beyond made this event possible. Rutgers’ Chancellor Francine Conway opened the day with remarks infusing enthusiasm and energy into the audience. The Chancellor, Vice Provost and Vice Chancellor for Research Wendie Cohick, Rutgers Research & the office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs (EVPAA) provided event support. They had two inspiring keynote addresses, Prof. Dimitris N. Metaxas, Distinguished Professor, spearheaded with an impressive presentation of his CV research. Prof. Sharon Xiaolei Huang, Distinguished Professor Penn State University, provided inspiring insights into the dynamics of education.
Professor Samuel had the privilege of facilitating a panel discussion on ‘Accelerating Collaborative Multidisciplinary Research’ in the context of AI, and agentic AI. Recollecting highlights:
- Prof. Åsa Rennermalm highlighted how AI can bridge gaps between diverse data sources combining high-frequency point data with spatial satellite imagery.
- Prof. Jaideep Vaidya highlighted how AI is enabling large-scale, multimodal analysis and breaking silos across disciplines, while stressing the importance of explainability and trust in AI-driven systems.
- Prof. Piyushimita (Vonu) Thakuriah spoke about cities evolving into adaptive, AI-driven systems – the key challenge is integrating AI with social, behavioral, and economic knowledge.
- Prof. Matthew Stone emphasized that LLMs can transform research workflows enhancing knowledge synthesis & raised important concerns around anthropomorphism & the growing tendency to over-trust AI systems.
- Prof. Adam Gormley stated the potential of AI-powered automated labs to capture both successful and failed experiments unlocking reproducibility and reducing duplicated effort in scientific research.
In the afternoon panel, Prof. Vaidya, Rutgers Business School, led a fascinating discussion with industry leaders: Karthik Narasimhan, Senior Business Development Manager for Genomics & Life Sciences at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Stephanie Poll– Managing Director at Deloitte, Toacca Rutherford – Head of Knowledge Management for Machine Learning and Intelligence Operations JPMorganChase and Maryanna Shahid – Vice President and Head of Technology for Data, Analytics, and Intelligent Automation Johnson & Johnson.