William Eberle, Ph.D., has been selected for the National Science Foundation’s inaugural cohort
(UCBJ) – Tennessee Tech University computer science professor William Eberle, Ph.D., has been selected for the National Science Foundation’s inaugural cohort of National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource AI Education Fellows, a prestigious program aimed at advancing artificial intelligence education across the United States.
Eberle, co-director of Tech’s Machine Intelligence and Data Science (MInDS) Center and assistant dean of graduate studies for the College of Engineering, is among 25 faculty leaders from 23 states chosen to serve as national ambassadors for advancing AI education. Through the NAIRR Pilot Classroom and NAIRR Pilot Classroom Expansion AI EDU Research Coordination Network, fellows will help instructors integrate advanced AI tools and resources into classrooms.
“I am truly honored and humbled by being selected for this fellowship,” Eberle said. “I hope that I can learn from the other fellows some of the best practices when it comes to AI education and then enable Tennessee Tech to be a leader in the AI community.”
Eberle’s selection comes as Tech prepares to launch a new bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence this fall, making the university the first in Tennessee to offer an undergraduate major focused on the theories, systems and development behind AI. The new degree replaces what was previously a data science and artificial intelligence concentration within the computer science major.
“I believe this is a big achievement and opportunity for our new AI major, the Department of Computer Science, MInDS Center, College of Engineering and Tennessee Tech,” Eberle said.
Hosted by the Computing Research Association, the fellowship includes educators from public and private universities, community colleges and a wide range of higher-education institutions.
As a fellow, Eberle will expand AI learning at Tech by integrating NAIRR Pilot Classroom resources into undergraduate courses and promoting AI education on campus and beyond through NAIRR initiatives. He will also help organize and implement at least two project-based seminars and collaborate with other fellows through monthly strategy and working meetings.
Eberle brings nearly four decades of combined academic and industry experience to the fellowship. He has been a professor at Tech for more than 18 years, teaching courses in data science, AI and software engineering. Before joining the university, he spent more than 18 years in industry, including eight years developing AI and machine learning models for anomaly detection in the telecommunications sector.
As a researcher, Eberle focuses on designing novel techniques for analyzing graph-based data to detect structural anomalies. He is the author of more than 80 publications in graph-based anomaly detection and data mining. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin and master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Eberle believes the fellowship will amplify Tech’s voice on a national stage.
“By promoting AI across the campus,” he said, “this will not only help the local academic community but also allow Tennessee Tech to drive the national discourse on AI education.”
Pictured above – William Eberle, Ph.D.
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