USI Instructor Josh McWilliams is talking to his Computer Information Systems (CIS) class about digital security.
Like many courses, AI is a topic of conversation. They discussed how AI tools can be used “both offensively and defensively in the context of organizational data security.”
But Nicholas Rhew, chair of the Management and Information Sciences Department, said a new $150 million Lilly Endowment grant will fund the exploration of a lot of questions surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) today.
“So what's happening in artificial intelligence in the workforce? What's happening in universities? And how can we as universities make sure that we equip our students to succeed in that kind of increasingly AI driven world?”
— And identify gaps in programming and ensure graduates are employable. This is going to mean studying where AI might be needed, based on what they’re doing already and where it’s being used in the out professional world.
USI will take all of 2026 for this planning grant to answer questions big and small about AI, and then prepare to apply for a longer-term grant.
Rhew said grant work has already begun, with surveying their employers. “We've been using … AI-enabled tools to scrape all of the job ads posted in Indiana to make sure that we can capture what skills are in demand by employers related to artificial intelligence. All of that work is ongoing so that we can identify those gaps and begin to close them with hopefully success.”
Rhew said this study doesn’t mean they plan to use AI everywhere — just where it makes sense. He said AI is being used in various ways in some departments and courses.
McWilliams said he doesn’t use AI for grading coursework. “While there may be efficiency gains, they come with tradeoffs that I am not currently willing to accept,” he said via email.
He shared how AI is being used this semester:
“We do regularly leverage AI tools in our Applied Software Development Project capstone course. For example, this semester our seniors in CIS are collaborating with the Nursing and Health Professions faculty to develop a system that processes simulated medical assessment recordings. These recordings are run through LLM tools to generate transcriptions, summaries, and structured assessment reports for students based on their simulated patient interactions. This approach aligns with practices being adopted in healthcare systems, where internal AI tools are increasingly used to document patient visits and assist medical professionals by streamlining the charting process.”
Rhew said there are concerns about AI. Some are based on whether investing in the infrastructure will be worth it. Others are about the students themselves — whether an assignment turned in by a student is their work — or is it AI generated.
Both McWilliams and Rhew point to the way students “gamed” the classes in the past — paying someone else to produce a research paper.
“Fundamentally the underlying issue has not changed,” McWilliams said. “Rather, the tools resulted in an accelerated path of the same result.”
This planning grant will prepare USI to apply for a larger, longer term grant.
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