Artificial Intelligence at Skidmore College

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There are a number of opportunities to study artificial intelligence and related topics across the curriculum at Skidmore. This site contains information about AI-related courses, faculty, students and alums.

Latest News

Fall 2024 Professor Wenlu Du will be joining the Computer Science Department as an Assistant Professor. Professor Du recently completed her Ph.D. at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Her dissertation focuses on reinforcement learning in transportation systems.
Fall 2024 Professor Esma Wali will be joining the Computer Science Department as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Professor Wali recently completed her Ph.D. at Clarkson University. Her research focuses on bias in natural language processing.
Fall 2024 CS 331 Computer Vision will be offered by Professor Mike Eckamnn as an official course for the first time. It was previously offered as a Topics in Computer Science course. The course includes a detailed discussion of using convolutional neural networks for applications in computer vision.
Spring 2024 Skidmore AI Club held its inaugural meeting.
Spring 2024 CS 376 Deep Learning will be offered by Professor Tom O'Connell.
Spring 2024 Research Methods 2: Neural Computation will be offered by Professor Pablo Gomez in the Psychology Department.
Spring 2024 A 1-credit Honors Forum course Knowing Earth w/ Big Data & AI will be offered by Professor Nurcan Atalan Helicke from the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program. "This class will examine how big data and artificial intelligence (AI) help record and track global biodiversity, and conserve the Earth."
Fall 2023 Skidmore's Office of First Year Experience sponsored a faculty panel, Klara and the Sun: A Skidmore Perspective. We discussed the Class of 2027's summer reading: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. The panel was moderated by Natalie Taylor and included Peter Murray (Philosophy), Tom O'Connell (Computer Science), Mason Stokes (English), Sarah Sweeney (Art), and Erica Wojcik (Psychology).
Fall 2023 CS 316 Foundations of Machine Learning was offered officially for the first time by Professor Tom O'Connell from the Computer Science Department. A pilot version of the course was offered as an Advanced Topics in Computer Science course in Fall 2021. Students will develop some of the mathamatical skills necessary for advanced study of machine learning. The course will also include a weekly 2-hour lab for students to implement several machine learning techniques.
Fall 2023 A new section of EN 105, Writing with AI, was offered by Professor Mason Stokes of the English Department. Students will "write with/without/against/around ChatGPT, trying to discover whether this new technology is a threat or an opportunity."
Fall 2023 ID 351 Langauge and Thought was offered as an interdisciplinary advanced topics course, co-taught by Professor Peter Murray from the Philosophy Department and Professor Erica Wojcik from the Psychology Department.
Summer 2023 The summer reading for Skidmore's Class of 2027 was Klara and the Sun , a story about an "Artificial Friend" by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Summer 2023 Tom O'Connell led a discussion of AI for alumni as part of Skidmore's Cocktails and Conversations series.
Spring 2023 Abigail Svetlik published an opinion piece on ChatGPT in The Skidmore News.
Spring 2023 IL 204 Artificial Self was offered for the first time in Spring 2023 by Professor Jessica Sullivan from the Psychology Department. Here is a video of Professor Sullivan answering questions about AI.

Fall 2022 IL 305 Robotics was offered for the first time in Fall 2022 by Professor Evan Halstead from the Physics Department. Students designed and built self-driving robots, a robotic arm, a small quadruped, a robot that draws designs on eggs, and a ping pong ball launcher.

AI Related Courses

Computer Science

Interdisciplinary

Philosophy

Honors Forum

English

Neuroscience

Psychology

First Year Seminars

Faculty

Faculty Member Department Courses Taught/Research Projects
Wenlu Du Computer Science Reinforcement learning in transportation systems.
Tom O'Connell Computer Science Artificial Intelligence; Foundations of Machine Learning; Deep Learning; Can Machines Think?
Mike Eckmann Computer Science Computer Vision
David Read Computer Science Applied Data Science
Evan Halstead Physics Robotics
Peter Murray Philosophy Digital Life; Artificial Intelligence: Metaphysics of Mind and Ethical Issues; Language and Thought
Jessica Sullivan Psychology Artificial Self
Erica Wojcik Psychology Language and Thought
Pablo Gomez Psychology Research Methods 2: Neural Computation
Mason Stokes English Writing with AI
Sarah Sweeney Art My Deepfake Dad

Senior Theses in AI, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, and Data Science

Title Year Department Advisor
Multi-Object Detection and Tracking 2023 Computer Science Eckmann
The Role of Neural Style Transfer Learning in the Creation and Dissemination of NFTs 2023 Computer Science O'Connell
Utilizing Expression Recognition Technology to Improve Virtual Learning Environments 2021 Computer Science Read
Semantic Representation of Bayesian Networks 2020 Computer Science Read
Classifiers for Images Using Convolutional Neural Networks 2019 Computer Science Eckmann
Semantic Machine Learning 2019 Computer Science Read
Multimodal Gaussian Distributions for the Purpose of Acronym Disambiguation 2018 Computer Science Read
Determining Features of Recognizable Kinect® Gestures for Use in Virtual Reality 2016 Computer Science Eckmann
Towards Facial Recognition for Speakers at Skidmore Faculty Meetings 2015 Computer Science Eckmann
Identifying Company Logos: An Exploration in Image Classification 2013 Computer Science Eckmann
Least Significant Bit Embeddings: Implementation and Detection 2012 Computer Science Eckmann
Epidemiological Modeling with Agent Based Systems 2011 Computer Science O'Connell
Reinforcement Learning to Solve the Rubik's Cube® 2009 Computer Science O'Connell
Color Extensions to Pyramidal Lucas-Kanade Optical Flow 2009 Computer Science Eckmann
Reinforcement Learning for Dots and Boxes 2004 Computer Science O'Connell
Information and Deception in AI Poker 2003 Computer Science O'Connell

Alums with AI related careers

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Skidmore Major Graduate Degree/Cerificate Graduate School Employer
Computer Science and Math Ph.D. in Computer Science Brandeis University Machine Learning Research Scientist at Analog Devices
Computer Science and Math Ph.D. in Computer Science, Societal Computing Carnegie Mellon University Co-founder and CPO of Maestro AI
Math and Self Determined in Computational Neuroscience Ph.D. in Cognitive and Neural Systems Boston University Associate Professor of Computer Science, Colby College
Computer Science
(Physics minor)		 Robotics Software Engineer at Oceaneering
Computer Science and Economics Senior Machine Learning Engineer at League
Physics and Math
(Computer Science minor)		 M.S. in Imaging Science RIT Researcher at The Boston Dynamics AI Institute
Math and Economics Ph.D. in Computer Science University of Massachusetts, Boston Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska, Omaha
Computer Science M.S. in Artificial Intelligence Northeastern University
Computer Science
(Math minor)		 Graduate Certificate in Artificial Intelligence Stanford University Senior Software Engineer at YouTube
Computer Science M.S. in Computer Science
(specialty in AI/ML) 		Fordham University Software Engineer III at Google
Computer Science and Business M.S. in Data Science New York University Data Scientist at Morgan Stanley
Computer Science and Math M.S. in Computer Science University of Colorado at Boulder Software Engineer at Google with specialty in Machine Learning
Math and English Ph.D. in Writing Studies (Technical and Scientific Writing) University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Co-founder and CTO of Rotational Labs
Computer Science and Dance M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications New York University Senior Director of Interaction Design at WPP.
Math and Economics
(Computer Science minor)		 M.S. in Analytics Northwestern University Senior Data Scientist at Aetna

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