Pellissippi State’s top faculty, staff members named for 2004-05

‘Artificial Intelligence’ added to computer science courses

“CSIT 2490” sounds like the title of a science fiction film, but it’s not.

CSIT 2490 is Pellissippi State’s first class dealing with artificial intelligence.

Students are advised, however, that the course is not a discussion of the Steven Spielberg film. Instead, the class promises to prepare students for the dawning of a new “age of spiritual machines,” a reference to the title of one of the course texts.

Robotics, neural networks and evolutionary hardware will be covered in an Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, a class to be offered when the second semester of the 2005-06 academic year starts in January.

David Brown, an assistant professor of Computer Science and Information Technology, says artificial intelligence is no longer simply science fiction—Steven Spielberg’s 2001 film “AI: Artificial Intelligence” notwithstanding.

“Industrial and manufacturing operations already use a wide variety of robotics systems,” said Brown, who will teach the course. “Today’s computer programmers will likely become the neural network technicians of the future.”

They will be more in demand because of advances taking place in computer systems hardware and software design and research, he said.

Artificial Intelligence, a Special Topics in Information Technology course, will consist of 15 weeks of evening instruction that cover such subjects as knowledge representation, natural language processing, machine learning and the future of AI.

The timing for such a course seems right, Brown says, based on steps the College already has taken—such as introducing a degree program in high performance computer technology—and other revolutionary advances in the computer science field.

“We have already introduced small programmable robots into our Introduction to Computer Science course, and it is obvious that the interest is there,” Brown said.

“We recently bought a larger, high-speed robot that can connect wirelessly to our network. It includes an onboard camera, speakers and a variety of sensors,” he said. “We are currently discussing how we can use it in computer science courses and within the Geographic Information Systems curriculum.”

Brown thinks the artificial intelligence course will appeal to technicians and researchers in the community, and he encourages participation by companies now using robotics and/or neural networks. He also plans to explore ways in which researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory might become involved.

Meanwhile, the brave new world of “thinking” computers is close at hand, Brown says.

“In the not too distant future, computers will begin to surpass humans in all areas that we currently perceive as requiring ‘intelligence,’” Brown said. “During this time, our relationship to computers will change radically.

“We will begin to see computers as collaborators and eventually as intelligent entities like ourselves. Our students will stand at the forefront when this new ‘age of spiritual machines’ dawns. It is an interesting time to be alive.”

"Inside Pellissippi" is a bi-monthly electronic publication produced by the Community Relations Office for the faculty and staff of Pellissippi State Technical Community College, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, P.O. Box 22990, Knoxville, Tennessee 37933-0990. All suggestions and comments should be sent to Julia Wood (jwood@pstcc.edu).

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