This summer school event is a yearly event that holds significant importance, as it is aimed at promoting AI applications in smart health, specifically in Arkansas and West Virginia. It is managed by two principal investigators, Dr. Nitin Agarwal in Arkansas and Dr. Donald Adjeroh in West Virginia, and it is funded by a $4 million NSF grant which was approved in 2018. This annual event gathers early career researchers, including undergraduates and graduates, from around the world. It unites not only computer scientists but also medical professionals from diverse specialties, advancing AI applications in smart health and healthcare research.
The fourth annual WVAR-CRESH Summer School event on AI was held from July 24th to July 26th, and it offered insights into ongoing research and encouraged attendees to consider applying to participating universities.
During the three-day program, participants were exposed to various lectures, and research presentations that featured keynote speakers renowned in health and AI were followed by tutorials covering various AI concepts and data-related topics. Notably, the event’s attendance has grown from approximately 100 virtual participants to over 250 this year, which was held as a hybrid format, with a peak of around 100 physically present attendees.
This program, situated at West Virginia University, saw several professors and participants from all over the world come together to study and discuss data mining, AI, health informatics, computer vision, and more.
Some cosmographers, Mainuddin Shaik, Manohar Koya, and Dr. Agarwal, were in attendance and taught on various topics. Dr. Agarwal taught on social media and network analyses, while Koya and Shaik taught on quantitative content analysis and AI used in analyzing bioinformatic or health data. Specifically, Koya and Shaik presented data on the European Echo Virus, and how social media analysis techniques were used to understand deeper insights for the virus, such as how topic modeling showed how it commonly occurs in children. Koya told us how this experience gave him “the privilege of teaching and learning about quantitative content analysis in social computing, covering topics such as toxicity, sentiment, morality, and topic modeling.” Koya specifically mentioned that he enjoyed “the honor of interacting with esteemed research professors like Dr. Donald Adjeroh, known for their expertise in AI, machine learning, and data mining.” He finished by saying he “enjoyed exploring the natural beauty of Morgantown.” Shaik also talked about the uniqueness of the event, saying, “The varied insights and backgrounds brought nuances to our discussions that I hadn’t considered before.” He continued, saying, “The collaborative environment at WVU was truly commendable, and listening to and participating in thought-provoking discussions with a spectrum of academia was both stimulating and kept me abreast with the latest trends and thoughts in academia.”Both Shaik and Koya expressed how grateful they were for Dr Agarwal’s acknowledging their skill sets and inviting them to this experience. A detailed overview of the 2023 summer school events can be found here.