TxGAP Regional PD Session

Abstract:
Generative AI (GenAI) is an extremely powerful technology that enables vast achievements in automation, which were previously thought to be impossible. But despite these powerful capabilities, there are many obstacles that have made it difficult to operationalize this technology for practical use-cases. This presentation will look at some of the inherent technical challenges of GenAI implementations, and strategies that can be employed in order to make this technology more useable for real-world applications.

Bio:
Justin “Hutch” Hutchens is an Innovation Principal at Trace3, and a leading voice in the fields of cybersecurity, risk management, and artificial intelligence. He is the author of “The Language of Deception: Weaponizing Next Generation AI”, a book focused on the adversarial risks of emerging AI technology. He is a co-host of Cyber Cognition, a podcast focused on the future of technology and its impacts on society. Hutch is a veteran of the United States Air Force, holds a master’s degree in information systems, and is an award-winning speaker who routinely presents at universities, conferences, and summits around the world.

LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/justinhutchens

Abstract:
As data analytics evolves from descriptive to predictive and prescriptive capabilities, the landscape of graduate education faces unprecedented transformation. This session explores how advanced analytics is revolutionizing research methodologies and creating new fields of study across disciplines. Learn how these powerful analytical tools are reshaping traditional academic programs, influencing the skills employers demand, and creating new career trajectories for graduate degree holders. Gain insights into how these developments will influence the future of graduate education and career opportunities across academic disciplines.

Bio:
Dr. Je’Anna Lanza-Abbott holds the Spec’s Charitable Foundation Endowed Professorship in Social Responsibility at the University of Houston. She has a joint appointment with the Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership and the C.T. Bauer College of Business. She is also a Professor at the University of Houston Law Center and Texas A&M Mays College of Business. She teaches business law, conflict management, negotiations, and digital strategy. She has also developed and taught multiple analytics and data science courses. She has advance degrees from the University of Houston, Texas A&M University, University of Chicago, Wharton, and Harvard University.  

LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/jeannaabbott

Bio: Dr. Alexander Byrd was appointed Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in July 2020 at Rice University. In that role, Byrd provides high-level strategic leadership for diversity initiatives and coordinates offices across the campus to help create one point of responsibility for all programs and efforts around diversity. 

Byrd also is an associate professor of history. His area of expertise is Afro America, especially black life in the Atlantic world and the Jim Crow South. His study of free and forced transatlantic black migration in the period of the American Revolution is entitled Captives & Voyagers. The work follows the two largest streams of free and forced transoceanic black migration across the eighteenth-century British Atlantic world: enslaved black migration to Jamaica and free black migration to Sierra Leone. The book is propelled by the premise that it is possible to gain new purchase on the history of eighteenth-century transatlantic migration by examining free and forced migration together, and by paying careful attention to the social consequences of the actual processes of emigration. Captives and Voyagers was awarded the 2009 Wesley-Logan Prize in African diaspora history (jointly sponsored by the American Historical Association and the Association for the Study of African American Life & History).