AI Spotlight Series
Real Drexel faculty, staff, and students sharing creative, practical ways they use AI: short stories, honest experiences, and ideas you can try yourself.
Stories from Faculty
Steven Weber and Scott Warnock share insights on their co-taught seminar for the Pennoni Honors college titled Contrast in AI: Now and Future.
Will Dampier shares how he used custom GPTs to create a community summarizer that simplifies scientific concepts for non-scientists.
Michael Wagner explores the frontier of AI in higher education and shares examples of AI‑resistant testing methods for assessing student learning in the age of AI
Rosina Weber and Christopher Rauch discuss ProEthica, an ethical decision analysis platform that uses large language models to extract structured knowledge from professional ethics cases.
Rita Carroll from Drexel’s Complementary and Integrative Health program describes how generative AI is being integrated into healthcare education curriculum as an optional, scaffolded learning tool to prepare students for an AI-enabled clinical environment. She explores how students use generative AI to support learning, analyze cases, examine patient and stakeholder perspectives, and enhance capstone projects. Emphasizing AI literacy, ethical use, and critical evaluation, the approach positions AI as a thought partner that promotes reflection, creativity, and more holistic, person-centered care.
Stories from Staff
Becka Rich discusses how large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can support executive function, especially for people with disabilities. She highlights practical applications like brainstorming, organization, editing and email tone adjustment, while advising thoughtful AI policy in higher education settings.
Karen DeVose and Nicole Dalberto explain how they are harnessing AI to analyze Co-op data from the Steinbright Career Development Center, identifying skill gaps and shaping student preparation strategies. Karen also discusses how these insights have driven their digital badging initiative and fostered the collaborative effort to align curriculum with employer needs, empowering students for success in an evolving workforce.
Nicole Dalberto shares how Steinbright Career Development Center is thoughtfully leveraging AI tools to address evolving industry needs and prepare students for an AI-driven workforce by teaching appropriate and ethical AI use in job searches and professional development. Additionally, how AI is used to optimize the scheduling of Steinbright classes is discussed.
Sherri Welch and Chris Roberts highlight how Drexel University’s General Accounting Office is leveraging robotic process automation and data tools to streamline accounting operations and reduce manual workload. They discuss the development of automation “bots,” including a tool that splits and organizes bank PDF transactions, saving significant processing time while improving consistency, audit readiness, and enabling staff to focus on higher-value financial analysis through ongoing skill development in RPA technologies.
Stories from Students
Graduate Colette shares how her perspective on AI changed through Dr. Rita Carroll’s courses and how she now uses generative AI to improve her workflows as a case manager.