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NORC at the University Chicago

Artificial Intelligence in Graduate STEM Education

A professor addresses a lecture hall of students. He's holding a laptop that is open to a screen titled "Deep Learning."
Examining the use of artificial intelligence in STEM graduate programs and its effect on fostering educational excellence and broadening impact
  • Client
    Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
  • Dates
    2024 – 2026

Problem

The extent to which artificial intelligence (AI) has been integrated into graduate STEM education and its impact are unclear.

Graduate schools are focusing on ways to implement AI in administrative and academic processes and student experiences. Understanding the AI landscape for graduate education is increasingly important to ensure excellence in all graduates. This study seeks to explore how the implementation of AI is impacting the graduate education system. Through this research, we hope to uncover ways in which AI can be leveraged to enhance graduate education and ensure that STEM students are better prepared for the future. 

With support provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Grant Number: G-2024-22540), NORC researchers are working with U.S. graduate schools to ensure that AI innovations will strengthen the entire enterprise, including efforts to broaden excellence in science technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and ultimately, participation in STEM careers.

Solution

NORC will survey STEM graduate school deans to produce a comprehensive portrait of AI policies, practices, and motivations.

NORC will survey deans who work at the top 300 STEM PhD-awarding universities to answer the following questions:

  1. What policies and processes are currently in place or being considered at the institutional level regarding the integration of AI into the management and practice of graduate education?
  2. What drives these policies and processes, and how do they expand excellence?
  3. What community-grounded guidelines can universities use to assess the impact of AI applications to increase success in STEM fields?

Following data collection, we will produce a white paper summarizing survey findings and host a convening with institutional leaders to review and engage with study results. 

Result

Our study will promote understanding of AI applications in graduate STEM programs and raise awareness of ways to ensure impartiality in AI implementation.

This study will produce a rigorous landscape analysis of current practices and motivations that are driving AI applications in graduate STEM education. In addition, NORC researchers will work with the graduate community toward creating community-based guidelines for evaluating applications of AI as they evolve. With Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s support, this research aims to significantly advance the understanding of ways that AI can enhance graduate education.

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