As one of the US Navy’s first female fighter pilots and an engineer, Mary “Missy” Cummings is used to breaking down barriers and solving problems. So when the opportunity to develop a new interdisciplinary program in artificial intelligence (AI) at George Mason University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science presented itself, she didn’t hesitate.
Cummings wants to increase public and workforce understanding of AI and its limitations.
For example, self-driving cars have proven to be much more difficult to launch safely than originally thought. Prior to joining Mason, Cummings served as a senior safety advisor with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. She said that experience sparked her interest in a new AI design and deployment program.
“I believe we have a national security crisis within the Department of Transportation, the Department of Defense and many other government agencies,” Cummings said. “We have a real problem of technical illiteracy. It’s not that people can’t understand AI. It’s that people just aren’t educated on how AI is built or its limitations.
Cummings encountered issues with technological illiteracy earlier in her career while serving on the Defense Innovation Board.
“I saw the problem then, and now that I’m in the Department of Transport, it has doubled my concern about people’s limited understanding of AI,” she said.
Cummings wants industry and government employees to know how to ask the right questions about performance weaknesses and know where to invest taxpayers’ money.
She said she is concerned that the United States has an effective workforce to understand, manage, acquire, evaluate and test AI. She wants people to learn the right way for humans and AI to work together, as well as what’s really achievable and what’s just hype.
“I think traditional academia struggles to embrace new areas, like a degree program in AI design and deployment. Older schools with more entrenched traditions struggle to embrace a new thinking,” she said. “I don’t think Mason is like that. .
“Missy’s knowledge and experience with AI is going to be a phenomenal asset to Mason,” Ball said. “Her ability to bridge the fields of computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering and leverage each other’s strengths to improve our understanding of AI will be a game-changer. We are thrilled that she has decided to work with us.
Cummings is offering a new AI curriculum that will target engineering students as well as those in politics, law and public health. “To navigate the world of AI, students also need soft skills in politics, and maybe even ethics,” Cummings said.
His faculty appointment covers three departments: computer science, mechanical engineering, and electrical and computer engineering. She will also be the First American Bank Endowed Chair and Director of the Center for Robotics, Autonomous Systems, and Translational AI. Cummings’ scientific work will include opportunities to work with Fuse at faculty and Mason Square partners. Fuse will launch in 2024. Learn more.