Campuswide event on March 3 will focus on building stronger research communities through artificial intelligence
Published: Feb 25, 2026 12:55 PM
By Joe McAdory
Aubria, an AI-generated presenter created by three computer science and software engineering students, will serve as the event's keynote speaker.
Who is using artificial intelligence (AI) for research purposes? Where do collaboration opportunities exist? What resources are available to support new projects?
Those questions will be addressed during the AI@AU Initiative/Team Science Series special event, “Building Research Communities in AI,” on Tuesday, March 3, from 1–5 p.m. in the Melton Student Center ballroom. Click here to register.
“AI has become an integral part of our research,” said Gerry Dozier, technical lead of the AI@AU Initiative and director of the Auburn University Center for Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Engineering. “Faculty need to be made aware of opportunities how they can take the next step with this tool to enhance production or build ideas with interdisciplinary teams around emerging ideas. Strong research communities don’t happen by accident. They form when people with complementary expertise find each other, align with meaningful problems and build momentum together. This series is about accelerating that process at Auburn.”
Hosted by the university’s AI@AU Initiative and Team Science, an initiative born from the Office of Proposal Services and Faculty Support, participants will engage through poster sessions, digital slide presentations, lightning talks and round-table group discussions. A keynote address will anchor the afternoon, delivered not by a traditional speaker, but by an AI-generated human-like presenter, “Aubria.”
Aubria was developed by three students from the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering: doctoral student Jahidul Arafat, Bhuvaneshwari Bodakuntla, who is pursuing a master’s degree in data engineering, and Sawyer Womack, a sophomore pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
“The fact that our students built the keynote speaker says a great deal about where we are,” Dozier said. “They’re not just studying AI, they’re creating it, deploying it and demonstrating its capabilities in a public forum. That’s exactly the kind of hands-on innovation we want to cultivate.”
Team Science, launched by Associate Vice President for Research Jennifer Kerpelman in 2024, is a collaborative research approach that connects experts from different disciplines to address complex problems. AI@AU, launched in 2022, supports university-wide artificial intelligence research infrastructure, faculty development and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
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