The Northwestern Network for Collaborative Intelligence, a University initiative promoting artificial intelligence and data science research, announced a new strategic leadership team in a Wednesday news release.
Multiple NU schools are represented among the group’s five members, who will further program initiatives and “guide human‑centered AI innovation,” according to the news release.
The leadership group consists of Medill Prof. Jeremy Gilbert, McCormick Prof. Sara Owsley Sood, Feinberg Prof. Scott Budinger, McCormick Prof. Chris Wolverton and Joseph Paris, NU’s associate vice president of information technology services and support.
NNCI was established in summer 2025 “with the goal of advancing responsible, high-impact, world-class research and education in data science and artificial intelligence,” according to the news release.
McCormick Prof. Erik Luijten, McCormick’s associate dean for research and doctoral education and the University’s incoming provost, told The Daily in a January interview that AI and data science are “not going away.”
“To play an important role in that, to see how we can use it for good, that’s something fabulous,” Luijten said. “And if NNCI is the way in which you do, that will be great.”
The announcement comes after the McCormick School of Engineering announced a new AI major for undergraduate students in March, set to begin in fall 2026. Sood is the AI major program director and associate chair for undergraduate education in McCormick.
NU debuted its AI minor in fall 2024.
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