AI in US historically black colleges and Indonesian universities

UNITED STATES-INDONESIA

In the early 2000s, artificial intelligence was barely on the horizons of the general public, small domestic colleges and many emerging nations. In 2004 and 2005, New Orleans, in Louisiana in the United States, and parts of Indonesia were hit by massive hurricanes and tsunamis – and earthquakes in the latter – that devasted primary schools through to universities with graduate and professional programmes.

Immediate responses were needed to prevent millions of additional deaths and to ensure safe and healthy environments – not to overlook the urgency of rebuilding comprehensive infrastructures. How might university technologies of the day and thereafter, such as AI, play pivotal roles since it often takes a minimum of 15 to 20 years to address the effects of colossal disasters?

Metropoles impacted by hurricanes and tsunamis

New Orleans, an American metropolitan area, had approximately 1,350,000 residents prior to Hurricane Katrina and now has 1,400,000. It is the location of Dillard University, an historically black college and university (HBCU) that is one of the ‘Black Ivies’.

These 10 or so private black colleges historically produced African American graduates who became physicians, attorneys, judges and engineers. HBCUs originated in the mid-1800s through to the mid-1900s, in times of brutal segregation, when African Americans largely could not enrol in white universities.

As a former senior professor at a major research university and an international dean at an HBCU Ivy, we at these top universities pondered immediate and long-range policies and mitigations to prevent devastations. Innovative models were critical to address conditions through university applied research and policy developments.

Although thousands of kilometres apart on geographically different continents, I spent extensive professorial and administrative engagements in New Orleans and Indonesia. In my role as the inaugural university professor and fellow in the office of the Dillard University president after Hurricane Katrina, strategic assessments and planning were at the forefront.

Indonesia moved from decades of military rule to a central geopolitical participant in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and to ASEAN universities. Striving to move its university systems to the foreground of international standards were essential goals.

Shortly after being in New Orleans, I became a Fulbrighter at the University of Lampung, ranked among the top 15 comprehensive national universities. It is located in Bandar, Lampung (with a population of approximately 1,200,000) on Sumatra Island.

AI was becoming evident in some modes through actual and potential uses in the medical faculty, to display up-to-date means for health and medical care. At that time, AI was largely limited to select features, such as avatars, because medical students and professionals often had limited access to and development of state-of-the-art modes.

Currently, there are movements for AI in multiple spheres of the university curriculum and life at Lampung and other Indonesian universities.

Initiatives in New Orleans and Indonesia

How are these illustrative American and Indonesian universities, with similarly sized metropolitan populations, fostering exposure to and developments for AI, particularly within the last three years?

Both are located along gulfs and oceans that are continually affected by climatic and oceanic conditions that cause natural disasters. A considerable proportion of these areas’ gross domestic product is generated by surrounding coasts and oceans. Therefore, it is essential to prepare students, faculty and local communities to utilise AI in endeavours contributing to career options, forecasting and preventing human and natural disasters, and establishing recovery undertakings.

Dillard University is a member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), a non-profit organisation that provides financial support to 37 private HBCUs. These universities receive small portions of state funds compared to public universities. UNCF and other select organisations offer options to students who could not otherwise afford university degrees.

A comprehensive wide-ranging venture is the HBCU Transformation Project that has been allocated US$124 million in funding (from the Gates Foundation, other philanthropic organisations and corporations). Components entail development of transformative leadership, curriculum, and academic endeavours – including STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) with AI as a fundamental component.

At Dillard University, AI is located in the STEM programme wherein new courses provide career options and attunement to geographical conditions that may be addressed by AI. Moreover, Dillard students can enrol in select courses at five New Orleans universities that are not offered by their home institution. One of the additional universities, ranked in the top tier of American research universities, offers courses on geological oceanography and climates.

Tropical storms and-or hurricanes strike the New Orleans metropolitan area every year – with many categorised as level three or above every five years. Applied research, model development and forecast prediction are AI options.

The Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology and the Ministry of Communication and Informatics established task forces that focus on AI in universities and surrounding communities, while bearing in mind traditional technologies.

To accomplish viable policy planning and development, both ministries seek input from university experts and those in the private sector regarding AI. A University of Lampung technology director, in the faculty of education and other university disciplines, who focuses on current and emerging applications consults with these ministries.

The university sector aims to provide options through regular curricular degree offerings and through certification programmes in conjunction with the ministries. In some instances, the certification courses may become components of university degree programmes.

AI is to expand beyond specific offerings to spread across multiple disciplines, not restricted to computer science and other STEM fields. Students and professionals (in social sciences, arts and humanities, natural and physical sciences, and medicine and public health) would learn to utilise AI to contribute to current and future economic options for individual families and the nation.

This dissemination of sound AI utilisation could foster the country’s competitive position in geopolitical and economic arenas such as ASEAN and the G20. The latter consists of 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union and concentrates on global financial and economic matters – with membership designed to have viable input and sustainable options.

University AI in democratic nations

The United States and Indonesia are the world’s second and third largest democratic nations, with a range of university types that can lend themselves to illustrative domestic and international cooperative models, with current and future partner institutions and communities.

Certainly, AI curricular infusion and instruction are salient examples of innovations during recent years. Collectively, Dillard, the United Negro College Fund, Lampung, the Indonesian ministries of communication and of education, culture, research and technology, and American and Indonesian professionals are aware of existing AI limitations and threats.

Some include unknown factors such as unintentional errors. Obtuse deep fakes – masquerading as truths – pose a particular threat during hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes. Imagine even more horrific effects if deep fakes prevent timely distribution of humanitarian aid.

Equally important is the necessity for policy development and administration in a swiftly changing field, since what is current in one year may be outdated in three years. Hence, financial resources are necessary for faculty, staff and student training and updates.

Yet, what levels of funding can be allocated for retraining and constructing new paradigms, when there are competing university and community budgetary pressures? This may be akin to the dilemmas of how to address the complications and challenges of in-flight airplanes and space stations.

Tricky, but there can be successful illustrations, when anticipating flaws through evaluations and corrections (of curriculum, productions and disseminations) that can reap AI benefits to universities and communities.

Beverly Lindsay (PhD, EdD) has received five Fulbright fellowships, including one to the University of Lampung in Indonesia, where she team-taught research methods to the faculty of medicine and faculty of education. She also focused on policy development involving the university rector and deans. She is a fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and formerly a co-principal investigator for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant. Budi Kadaryanto (PhD), at the University of Lampung, assisted in the development of this commentary.