AI in Grad School Workshop

Workshop Goal

The objective of this workshop is to initiate a scholarly dialogue on the effective and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI). It serves as an introductory framework for understanding AI’s role in academic and professional contexts.

Time Commitment:

45 minutes work per lesson
30 minutes group discussion per lesson

“Our knowledge of the world instructs us first of all that the world is greater than our knowledge of it.”

— Wendell Berry

Resources & Policies

🏛️ University & State

Idaho State Board Education Guide Teaching and Learning with AI
UI APM 30.11 University Data Classification Standards
UI Thesis & Dissertation Policy: See page ix

🇺🇸 Federal & National

NSF AI Policy (2023) Use of generative AI in merit review
NIH Policy (2025) AI Use in NIH Research Applications
NAS Editorial (2024) Protecting Scientific Integrity

📺

Watch: AI Literacy 101

From intimidated to informed (YouTube).

Workshop Lessons

LESSON 1

The "Actotron": AI in Context

Start by focusing on the entertainment industry to explore advantages and disadvantages without professional pressure.

Read & Watch:

Article: The Actotron
Video: Who Is Tilly Norwood?

Assignment:

Discuss the article. Make an analogy to concerns/advantages of using AI for scholarly work.

LESSON 2

Tools & Review

Review a section from the Simple Book Publishing Guide.
Select an AI app to review (e.g., Gemini). Indicate your choice in the spreadsheet.
Make a slide listing a few strengths and weaknesses of the app for group discussion.

LESSON 3

Abstract Generation

Caution: Anything uploaded to a non-firewalled AI app may become public domain. Remove abstracts/sensitive data before uploading.

Upload a paper (class assignment or proposal) and generate a 200-300 word abstract. Keep a copy.

Edit the abstract by prompting the AI (e.g., "rewrite for high school students"). Keep a copy.

Do a final edit manually in your word processor. Save a copy.

Submission:

Put all three versions in a Word doc. Include a list of strengths/weaknesses of the process.

LESSON 4

Publishing Guidelines

Review the web page "Using AI Tools For your Research" at Wiley Publishing.

Complete the checklist for your abstract.
Summarize your thoughts/takeaways in a bulleted list on a slide.
Also Review: ACS AI Best Practices and Policies.

LESSON 5

AI & Scientific Discovery

How can AI help researchers accomplish more? Choose one article and create a bulleted list of interesting points.

Early science acceleration with GPT-5 (arXiv) Scientific discovery in the age of AI (Broad Institute) Future of AI in Ecosystem Modeling (BioScience) Scientific discovery in the age of AI (Nature)

Advanced Topics

Deep AI (Gemini Deep Research)

A subset of AI that uses massive computing resources. UI researchers have access to Gemini Deep Research (limited runs/month).

Case Study

A 15-minute run on disparate monitoring data generated a 20+ page report identifying insights the human expert missed.

Read: Deep AI vs. Traditional AI

AI Agents

Autonomous concepts that perform tasks on your behalf.