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October 14, 2026

Julia Kaufmann: Prompt Engineering Is the New Punctuation

Operational Risk Management for AI and Data Governance at First National Bank (FNB).

Part of Advice from the Board, a HAIL series where we ask advisory board members the three questions students care about most: what skills to build, how to stand out, and what to go try. Here’s what Julia had to say.

Julia’s main piece of skill advice applies to every major, from philosophy to art history: learn prompt engineering. She doesn’t see it as mystical or hard, just basic.

October 14, 2026

Michael Barber: Treat the Problem, Not the Symptom

Senior Director of Responsible AI at Highmark Health.

Part of Advice from the Board, a HAIL series where we ask advisory board members the three questions students care about most: what skills to build, how to stand out, and what to go try. Here’s what Michael had to say.

October 14, 2026

Bridget M. Fitzpatrick: Can You Explain It to a 10-Year-Old?

Senior Product Manager for Data Science at Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Part of Advice from the Board, a HAIL series where we ask advisory board members the three questions students care about most: what skills to build, how to stand out, and what to go try. Here’s what Bridget had to say.

September 14, 2026

AI hub recognizes graduate students for exploring responsible AI, data-science work principles

 A celebratory lunch held on Sept. 10 at Posvar Hall recognized this year’s HAIL Graduate Awardee Program, honoring individuals whose research, teaching and leadership aim to redefine artificial intelligence (AI) and data science through HAIL, the University’s Hub for AI and Data Science Leadership.  Continue reading »

September 14, 2026

AI forum highlights disruptions, apprehensions, energy demands of rapidly expanding field

When it comes to the rapid rise of artificial intelligence in society and academia, the more that many Pitt students, staff and faculty learn about how it functions — and its implications on knowledge, career fields and energy usage — the more concerns, apprehensions and questions they seem to have.

That was among the takeaways from “What Should I Do About AI: A Pitt Community Workshop on AI and Energy” forum on Sept. 2 in the William Penn Union Assembly Room. Continue reading »

Meredith L. Mavero
September 7, 2026

Meredith L. Mavero: Learn to Connect the Dots

Program Officer at Hillman Family Foundations.

Part of Advice from the Board, a HAIL series where we ask advisory board members the three questions students care about most: what skills to build, how to stand out, and what to go try. Here’s what Meredith had to say.

Sundeep Tangirala, Director of Data Science, F.N.B. Corporation
September 7, 2026

Sundeep Tangirala: It’s the Questions You Ask Back

Director of Data Science at First National Bank (FNB).

Part of Advice from the Board, a HAIL series where we ask advisory board members the three questions students care about most: what skills to build, how to stand out, and what to go try. Here’s what Sundeep had to say.

Emily Durning
September 7, 2026

EAAMO Reflections: Emily part 2 - Small Wins

By: Emily Durning

Emily Durning
September 7, 2026

EAAMO Reflections: Emily Durning

By: Emily Durning

Forum background graphic
August 26, 2026

University of Pittsburgh’s Hub for AI and Data Science Leadership Announces Expanded Leadership Team

The University of Pittsburgh’s Hub for AI and Data Science Leadership (HAIL) continues to advance its mission to support responsible, human-centered AI and data science through an expanded leadership structure. Michael Colaresi, currently Associate Vice Provost for Data Science, was appointed by Pitt’s provost as the inaugural director of the Hub for AI and Data Science Leadership (HAIL), a new initiative launched to coordinate and advance campus-wide efforts in AI and responsible data science, effective January 1 of this year.

Bridget Fitzpatrick  Manager of Data Science, DICK'S Sporting Goods
August 24, 2026

Bridget M. Fitzpatrick: Can You Explain It to a 10-Year-Old?

Senior Product Manager for Data Science at Dick’s Sporting Goods. Part of Advice from the Board, a HAIL series where we ask advisory board members the three questions students care about most: what skills to build, how to stand out, and what to go try. Here’s what Bridget had to say.

Albrecht Powell  Managing Director, Data and Applied Intelligence, Accenture
August 24, 2026

Albrecht Tracy Powell: Learn to Leverage AI

Albrecht is a Managing Director at Accenture, where he helps lead their AI and Data practice, and runs their Pittsburgh Office. He is also a Adjunct Faculty in AI and Analytics and an Executive in Residence at Pitt’s Katz Business School. “Advice from the Board”, is a HAIL series where we ask advisory board members the three questions students care about most: what skills to build, how to stand out, and what to go try. Here’s what Albrecht had to say.

Screenshot of AI Teaching Field Notes Interview
August 24, 2026

AI Teaching Field Notes: Maureen Gallagher

In Maureen Gallagher's Professional Uses of Social Media course, students have to decide, in a real assignment, whether and how to use generative AI themselves. That decision, and everything students learn from making it, is the heart of the lessons that Professor Gallagher shares with this AI Teaching Field Notes. 

https://youtu.be/9ftT1YadZTg

The assignment

Picture of whiteboard with post-it notes.
June 17, 2026

Where Research Meets Reality: HAIL-MCSI Summer Researchers Tackle AI, Sustainability, and the Future of Learning

 

At a recent lunch gathering hosted by HAIL (the Hub for AI and Data Science Leadership) and the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, this summer’s MCSI research cohort sat down with faculty advisors and industry-connected guests to share project updates and dig into one of the most pressing questions in higher education today: What does it mean to learn in the age of AI?