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What’s a scholar, anyway?

A new peer discussion series invites campus community members to discuss pressing questions around scholarship in the age of artificial intelligence. 

Words and photos by Rachel Robey

Amidst the university’s “Year of AI Readiness and Competency,” UW–Madison researchers are already experiencing sweeping changes brought on by artificial intelligence. And not just in the College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence — academics across campus are finding their work, fields, and classrooms in flux. So how do we begin to understand this shift?

The new peer discussion series AI in Academia Coffee Hour is helping students, faculty, and staff do just that. Co-sponsored by the College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence, RISE-AI Collaboration HQ, the Data Science Institute, UW–Madison Libraries, the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring, and the AI Readiness and Competency Working Group, the five-part series invites campus community members to convene around questions like: What are scholars for? What does AI disclosure look like in research? And how does AI change traditional mentorship models?

During the first installment on October 5, more than 80 attendees gathered in Memorial Library to listen and respond to featured speakers Anna Haensch, Kyle Cranmer, Jordan Ellenberg, Clinton Castro, and Dimitris Papailiopoulos as they discussed opportunities, obstacles, and outstanding questions of AI in scholarship.

AI in Academia Coffee Hour

Join CAI and partners in the Data Science Institute, UW–Madison Libraries, RISE-AI, and the Center for Teaching, Learning and Mentoring:

  • Thu, Oct. 22: Evaluating Learning
  • Thu, Nov. 5: University Readiness
  • Thu, Nov. 19: Graduate Mentorship
  • Thu, Dec. 3: AI Disclosure
Learn more and register
Kyle Cranmer, professor in the Department of Physics and the David R. Anderson Director of the Data Science Institute, delivers opening remarks in Memorial Library’s Digital Scholarship Hub.  
Drawing more than 80 people from across campus to its first installment, the AI in Academia Coffee Hour series was designed to promote discussion amongst peers, says event organizer Niamh McGuigan, associate dean of research at UW–Madison Libraries. 
Jordan Ellenberg, a professor in the Department of Mathematics, discusses the role of the scholar in the age of AI. Citing John von Neumann’s 1955 essay “Can we survive technology?”, he suggests that this new era of research depends on attendees helping to make “a long sequence of small, correct decisions.”
BJ Ard (center), associate dean for research and faculty development at the Law School and member of the RISE-AI Collaboration HQ executive committee, listens on as Clinton Castro, an assistant professor in the Information School, speaks. “System-level problems aren’t a product of AI,” says Castro. “We need to question the legacy structures of how we incentivize work.”
Patrick McDaniel (third from left), associate dean of research at the College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence and a professor in the Department of Computer Sciences, joined the event with members of his research team Kyle Domico PhDx’28 (second from right) and Kunyang Li (far right).
Dimitris Papailiopoulos, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, discusses how AI has evolved his work into what he terms “high-temperature research,” in which there’s not only more breadth and depth, but an ability to apply learnings.
Attendees were invited to consider and discuss what “makes” a scholar in the age of artificial intelligence, using the Leiden Declaration (a public statement on AI in mathematics research, published in June 2026 by an international coalition of mathematicians) as an initial framework.
Following remarks, faculty and researchers from across campus engaged in a dialogue around the effects of AI on their own fields and research. Speakers Jordan Ellenberg (left) and Kyle Cranmer (right) were able to reflect on each other’s remarks.
The event concluded with a Q&A and open discussion. Pictured is Marissa Loving (center, with microphone), an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics. 

AI in Academia Coffee Hour is forum for gathering campus feedback to support the ongoing work of the AI Readiness and Competency Working Group established by Provost John Zumbrunnen. The five-part event series is a collaborative effort sponsored by the College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence, RISE-AI Collaboration HQ, Data Science Institute, UW–Madison Libraries, and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring.

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