2023-24 Newsletter

Artificial Intelligence Fair

On Wednesday, April 17, technology enthusiasts gathered in the Bronco Student Center for Cal Poly Pomona's first Artificial Intelligence Fair to explore how this emerging technology category could enhance our work and personal lives.

The event started with a welcome from Dr. Sandeep Krishnamurthy, energized that we are in the early stage of an artificial intelligence (AI) revolution where CPP could be an academic leader. Krishnamurthy is the Singelyn Family Dean of the College of Business Administration.

Krishnamurthy moderated an AI panel which included Zahra Sotoudeh, Assistant Professor in the Aerospace Engineering department, who reflected on the history of artificial intelligence. "Thinking about human intelligence versus artificial intelligence, the word artificial gives the vibe that it's not real, but we have been using it for a very long time in specialized ways, AI tools have been solving difficult equations, and we're comfortable with it." With all the excitement around generative text and art, it is easy to forget that AI is a field that has been around for a while, and its study has already spanned decades.

"One of the things I talk about with my students is if resulting content is actually good and helpful, we discuss the output, where it works and where it doesn't." Dr. Markus Eger, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, on how he approaches generative AI in the classroom. Preparing his students to be critical of the output, review it for accuracy, and look to learn from its limitations. 

"We all use ChatGPT for homework. We used to Google everything to get answers." Joey Cindass, President of CPP Data Science & AI Club, commented jokingly and continued, "Notes, generative AI, and Google—we use all of it to elevate our learning experience." These tools are another resource in our academic and professional toolkit.

Near the end of the table conversation on ChatGPT, Dr. Marcus Eger quipped, "If no human bothered to write it, why should any human bother to read it?" reflecting on a favorite post he read recently on the social platform X. Eger elaborated, "My purpose is for students to learn these technical skills, and that's what we should focus on. The report is one way they display they've learned these skills." Reminding the audience that these tools are only as good as the prompt and using them to expand a report has little academic value.

Moving from academics to professional work. "We're on the cusp of the next industrial revolution." Karam Tascoe provided a direct example from his experience as a Senior Modern Work Specialist at Microsoft: "CoPilot gives you back your time by providing an AI assistant. Even the most non-technical person has an assistant to help with mundane and repetitive activities. CoPilot frees us up to do other things that matter." 

 "I used CoPilot leading up to this conference," Dr. Zahra Sotoudeh added. "Searching my email inbox, organize notes, it gave me the information I wanted and saved time in preparing for this panel," and continues, "I see CoPilot as a tool that could help me personalize lesson plans for my students."

The panel discussed the adoption of generative AI tools and their potential impact on academics to expand on ideas and aid in building a report or completing an assignment.

Concluding the panel Karam Tascoe advises students and professionals to explore AI tools. "Get comfortable in the art of prompt engineering. You want to articulate how to interact with AI products, a good prompt can improve results and make you look like a genius."

Hackathon Presentations

The College of Business Administration hosted an AI hackathon that concluded with finalist team presentations spanning academic disciplines and industries. Each team consisted of three to five students and required members to represent at least two colleges at CPP.

Ode to Code applied Open SDG tools to address food insecurity. By cross-referencing regional soil and weather conditions with drone footage of a strawberry farm, they hope to reveal emerging challenges that could impede crop health and yield.

Team Innovision approached the current limitations of Learning Management Systems (LMS) to challenge a student's current knowledge of a subject appropriately. In their presentation, they cited that LMS systems often pose questions that are either too difficult or easy. They hope that integrating AI tools within an LMS could actively review a student's ability, raise, or lower the difficulty, and help maintain momentum as students progress through a course.

Luis Dominguez explained that time wasted on poor interactions impedes progress. "When I was taking Calculus, a lot of times when you get stuck on a problem and there's no solution; when you really don't get it, the LMS keeps giving you the same question, you're not learning from that process."

Team PACE proposed using gamification techniques in STEM LMS courses, along with relevant and positive feedback, to keep the learning process fun and engaging.

Next-Gen Path addressed survey fatigue in education using mini-games to collect student interests and skills that could aid high school counselors in revealing additional career paths that students may want to explore.

Team EP, also looking to improve high school outcomes, presented the benefits of using AI to visualize an active path, benefit from focused academic study, and save time.

Moving toward business opportunities, Poly Insights hopes to leverage AI tools for small businesses by ingesting and analyzing relevant market information and suggesting actionable strategies an owner might take, reducing the need for a specialized employee or contractor.

Team GDSC, inspired by 25 Live, CPP's event planning system and seeking to improve it though the creation of a conversational chat bot asking a few questions and revealing appropriate spaces on campus to hold a meeting or event. All contained within a simple user interface.

Team WM and Parental CoPilot both found niches within healthcare to improve symptom detection, provide advice to healthcare professionals, and provide faster, more accurate outcomes for their patients.

WM used AI to analyze X-ray lung scans to detect whether an infection was bacterial or viral pneumonia and would provide that information to their physician to determine how best to proceed in their recovery.

Parental CoPilot created a chatbot that helps determine if a patient is likely to be suffering from prenatal depression. The AI converts responses into text and uses keyword combinations to inform their medical professional on the likelihood of a concern that may warrant follow-up from their doctor.

Both projects addressed the need for security, privacy, policies, and lines of communication with healthcare professionals to be trustworthy and successful.

Keynote Presentation

Maria Alvarez opened her keynote with a comparison. “It took 80 years since the invention of the car to actually mandate seatbelts when New York introduced [the first law in 1984]," she noted while comparing the disruption of the automobile to industries at the time. "What we're doing for AI... We're not going to wait 80 years to be responsible and decide how we handle ethics and bias."

During her keynote session examined AI’s recent rise in popularity, what it means for the future of work, and how professionals can prepare. "Access to large amounts of data along with cloud computing provides us the ability to use this information” and she would know, Alvarez is the Vice President of [Experimentation for Azure's AI platform at Microsoft] as well as a CPP alum and [member] of the university's [board of philanthropy]. "Today's developers are also AI developers." Alvarez noted while reflecting on a need for professionals to have experience using AI as it becomes a multidisciplinary tool. Effective prompting will be a soft-skill desirable to employers in the future of work.

Artificial intelligence has achieved, and in some cases, exceeded human parity during the last decade. There is now an opportunity for professionals to customize and thoughtfully integrate CoPilot into our daily work.

Cybersecurity & Awareness Fair

Over 600 cybersecurity enthusiasts gathered in the Bronco Student Center and online on October 26, 2023, for the 19th Annual Cal Poly Pomona Cybersecurity & Awareness Fair. Attendees participated in sessions presented by industry professionals, cybersecurity clubs, researchers, and organizations hiring or providing cybersecurity services.

This year’s theme, The Watchful Eye, focused on the risks of packaging privacy as a commodity. Presenters discussed fraud prevention, data protection, user privacy, safety, and career opportunities.

Rex Lee, session speaker and a security advisor and advocate, shared details on the rise of surveillance capitalism and organizations paying to pre-install leaky, insecure apps on smartphones and other devices, allowing them greater access to collect personal data.

"You can't control or uninstall pre-installed apps in some cases; if they're operating on your device, you're forced to use them, and if there's surveillance technology, you're forced to be observed and data mined."

In A Tour of the Dark Web, Nick Espinoza details the chain of events from phishing to taking advantage of poor security practices that often result in data being held for ransom or sold. He explains, “94 to 96 percent of the internet is the deep web, areas you can't search… I can't go and look at your bank information.” Espinoza provides a tour of what happens to sensitive information once it is exposed and sold on the dark web. “Where you can buy stolen accounts and take the risk when you intend to use it."

Lee and Espinosa reiterated the importance of consumers adopting awareness of these activities to maintain their security and privacy.

This year also presented opportunities for emerging technologies; Jessa Davis examined the possibilities for blockchain and the Internet of Energy to increase power grid resiliency through distributed production, transmission, storage, and improved security.

“Blockchain is a fancy database with the ability to protect data integrity and confidentiality between parties.” She explains that blockchain technology can be used to generate contracts to decentralize and protect our power grid.

Michael Melore compares the rise of generative AI as a consumer technology to the rise of the internet.

“Similar to the web browsers of the old days, we provided an interface into AI that is consumable.” He continues, “Back in the day, people accepted anything on the internet as being true; later we found that it’s not. We’re going through the same growing pains with AI."

CPP student clubs also exhibited a range of awareness, privacy, and safety topics, including malware investigation, Wi-Fi penetration testing, hardware tampering, and detailed how online services track users across the web.

Jessica Leung of SWIFT, a student led cybersecurity club, presented and exhibited on RF-Controlled Cables, exploring the dangers of trusting and connecting found objects to your devices. The Google Student Developer Club (GSDC) explored the risks of open Wi-Fi networks.

Presentations were not limited to Cal Poly Pomona students; Diamond Bar high school students Joe Zhao and Aaron Liang presented their research poster on The Great Firewall of China detailing how websites could adopt encryption protocols to defend against Server Name Indication (SNI) used to block them within the country.

“[A] Firewall is being used to prevent people in China from accessing outside websites such as Google, YouTube, and Facebook.” Aaron Liang says during their YouTube presentation, which details the scope of the issue.

All this year’s sessions were presented hybrid, allowing attendees to watch in person, online, or on CSAF's YouTube channel, and activities were self-guided, allowing participants to drop in and out of sessions as desired.

Cal Poly Pomona students interested in pursuing a career in cybersecurity were invited to attend a job fair following the conference featuring local and national employers, including Accenture, CloudStrike, Deloitte, Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Irvine Ranch Water District, Northrop Grumman, San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, and Unisys.

In-person exhibits were presented by CPP student clubs ./Script, Women in Cybersecurity (FAST), Google Developer Student Club (GDSC), Management Information Systems Student Association (MISSA), and SWIFT. Additional exhibits were provided by Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Fraud & Cyber Crimes Bureau Electronic Device Detection K9s and Chaffey College.

Coastline College, CloudStrike, Cal State Fullerton Offensive Security Society provided virtual exhibitions. ISACA Chicago, Riverside City College, SHI, The Women's Society of Cyberjutsu, and Women in Cybersecurity.

The Cal Poly Pomona Cybersecurity & Awareness Fair will returns later this year on October 31, 2024.

MyCPP Student Dashboard Upgraded

Last spring, IT&IP conducted a student focus group to improve MyCPP, Cal Poly Pomona’s online portal for accessing information and services, and the majority indicated they access the platform at least once a week. The collaboration provided details for streamlining user experience to consolidate frequently accessed information on the landing page.

On September 24, MyCPP relaunched with enhancements including the ability to view the current course schedule, their academic profile detailing progress towards a degree, and how to connect with their student advisors. The refresh also improved tools for checking student account balances, financial aid status, and Campus Life information with at-a-glance access to clubs and organizations, upcoming events, and timely campus notifications. 

The new streamlined MyCPP experience continues to receive regular improvements.

MediaVision Earns a Telly Award

The I Am First campaign video highlights several of Cal Poly Pomona's first-generation students and alums, their struggle, and the university's commitment to the majority of our student population. MediaVision, in collaboration with the Office of Strategic Communications and the Office of Student Success, Equity, and Innovation, earned a Bronze in The 2023 Telly Awards in the non-broadcast, general education category.

While this video won the award, it is part of our continued campuswide effort to support the journey of Cal Poly Pomona's first-generation students.

Namecoach Now Available in Canvas

Canvas courses now feature Namecoach, a name pronunciation service. Namecoach profiles reduce mistakes with name pronunciation, which fosters inclusion in our daily interactions. Any Canvas course will provide your personal recording as part of our BroncoIdentity. Additionally, Namecoach profiles can be made available outside of Canvas for use in email signatures, social media, or documents if desired.

Tableau Dashboard Navigation Guide

The Dashboard Navigation Guide offers the campus community a curated set of commonly used dashboards to quickly access. Users can easily find dashboards based on a particular topic, read a description about the dashboard, learn how the dashboard can be used, gain insight into how frequently the dashboard is updated, and who to contact for questions about the dashboard. Additionally, the Dashboard Navigation Guide highlights any new or recently enhanced dashboards!

Users can access the dashboard within CPP’s Tableau website or directly through this link: Dashboard Navigation Guide. 

Contact the Office of Institutional Research, Planning, and Analytics for any questions at itip_irpa_staff@cpp.edu.

A Fresh Look for Bronco411

The new Bronco411 arrived on April 11 and moves hosting of our university directory to BroncoDirect and PeopleSoft, this effort streamlines record keeping and platform maintenance. Bronco411 is a collaborative effort between Enterprise and Web Apps, and Human Resources Operations.

Future enhancements are expected to include Namecoach integration for name pronunciation and a mobile responsive layout.

New Staff and Staff Role Changes

Welcome to the Divsion of Information Technology and Institutional Planning and congratulations to those with new roles.

New staff roles: *

Jonas Bueno*
Applications Specialist
Administrative Apps
6/20/2023

Christopher Laasch*
Interim Director, Information Security
7/1/2023

Alex Harwood
Associate Vice President & Chrief Technology Officer (CTO)
Advanced Computing
8/28/2023

Angela Tatco
IT Compliance Analyst
Information Security & Compliance
9/5/2023

Kyle Gloria*
Desktop Solutions Consultant
Client Services
Formerly Technical Support in Client Services
9/11/2023

Thomas Gustafson
PeopleSoft Analyst/Programmer
Enterprise Applications
10/02/2023

Boris Guerra
Information Technology Consultant II
Client Services
11/6/2023

Robert Rivas
Information Technology Consultant II
Client Services
11/6/2023

Curtis Carpenter*
Interim Director of Advanced Computing
01/01/2024

Anthony De La Loza
Director of Enterprise Applications
01/02/2024

Jose Vega
Information Technology Consultant II
Client Services
01/16/2024

Grace Mayorga
ServiceNow Administrator
Mobile and Web Applications
02/27/24

Adrian Enciso
Information Technology Consultant II
Client Services
05/06/2024

Allison Hauptman
Administrative Analyst
Process and Project Management
05/13/24

Roxanne Mendoza
Administrative Support Coordinator II
Information Security and Compliance
05/21/24

Rean Mondejar
Information Technology Consultant II
Client Services
06/03/24

Michelle Lam
IT Security Analyst
Information Security & Compliance
07/08/24

Daniel Flores
Administrative Support Coordinator
IT Business Operations
07/15/24