2019 CUNY IBM Watson Social Impact Challenge

January 25, 2019

Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Message Archive

Friday, January 25, 2019

This email is being sent to all members of the Baruch College faculty.

For an archive of announcements sent from the Associate Provost beginning June 2011, click here.

From: Prof. Stan Altman, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs

I am writing to solicit your participation in this year’s competition called the 2019 CUNY IBM Watson Social Impact Challenge. Since 2014 I have been collaborating with IBM to provide CUNY students the opportunity to become more aware of the technologies, AI and machine learning to name two, that are driving the rapid changes we see in all aspects of our daily lives. Last spring over 390 CUNY students from 20 CUNY colleges and professional school registered to participate in the competition – 200 from Baruch College of which 180 were from various departments in Zicklin School of Business and the balance from the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs and Weissman School of Arts & Sciences. Examples of the projects students work on and the innovative solution they propose can be seen at the Social Impact Challenge Blog.

Student consistently say that working with a mentor is an important part of their learning experience. Students also report that participating in the competition also helps them develop such skills as critical thinking, complex problem solving, communication and team building skills, technological literacy and the ethical and social implications of its use. Therefore, I am writing to ask you and your colleagues to volunteer to serve as mentors for either a team from Baruch or one of the other CUNY campuses participating in the competition.

As a mentor you will work with a single team of students and be available to offer them advice and guidance as they work through the competition from identifying a project topic through preparing their final 1-minute video and three-page project plan. One requirement is to attend the Saturday afternoon Boot Camp being held on March 9 on the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. On Saturday each team makes a five-minute presentation before a panel of reviewers who provided them feedback on their project and strategy for finding a proposed solution that employs AI technology. See below for the schedule.

Two other volunteer positions involve:

1. REVIEWER: Serving on a review panel at the Boot Camp that will take place on Saturday afternoon Boot Camp being held on March 9starting at 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm.

1. SCORER: Score 4- 6 final project submissions that take place over the three-day period April 13-15, 2019. In general, we have found that this effort takes between 45 minutes to 1 hour to score a team’s submission.

Please volunteer and work with CUNY to students to make their participation in the 2019 CUNY IBM Watson Social Impact Challenge a meaningful experience. For more information about the competition you and your students should visit blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/ibmwatson2019/

Please email me or Jonelle Griffen (Jonelle.griffen@baruch.cuny.edu) your willing to participate in this year’s Challenge and the role you would like to play.

Stan Altman, Ph.D.

Professor

Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs

Formerly Dean and interim President

Baruch College/CUNY

135 E 22nd Street Room 812

New York, NY 10010

Tel: 646-660-6792

Fax: 646-660-6770

Twitter: @stanaltman

2019 CUNY

IBM WatsonSocial Impact Challenge

THE CHALLENGE PREPARES

Students for the 21st Century...

Essential skills: critical thinking, complex problem solving, communication and team building skills, technological literacy and the ethical and social implications of its use

For more information, visit https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/ibmwatson2019/

Schedule

Registration on Eventbrite begins January 25, 2019

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2019-cuny-ibm-watson-social-impact-challenge-tickets-55211442912

Information Session – February 7^th– 12:45 – 2:00 pm Baruch College, 55 Lexington Avenue, Room 3-160

Team Meet-up and Social Mixer – February 8^th 6:00-8:00 pm Baruch College 135 E 22^nd St., Room 301

Workshops held Friday mornings from 9:30-12:30 pm Baruch College 135 E 22^nd St, Room 301

- Feb 15^th: Team Building and Leader, Professor Emeritus, Fred Lane, Marxe School

- Feb 22^nd, Problem Solving Strategies, Roger Osorio, IBM

- March 1^st, Communication Strategies, Professor Don Waisanen, Marxe School

Milestone 1: March 1^st: Submit List of Team Members and Project Description.

Meeting Milestone 1 results in invitation to Boot Camp

Boot Camp: March 8-9, 2019 – Intrepid Museum – workshops on IBM Watson AI, Feedback session

Milestone 2: Review Session – 5 minute Presentation – Saturday March 9^th

Workshop on March 15 hands-on IBM WATSON AI APIs, Helen Lam, IBM @Baruch 135 E 22^nd Street

Milestone 3: Final submission April 12, 2019, Submission on-line

- 3 – page Business case analysis

- 1-minute video

Final Round, May 3, 2019 ACS Children’s Service Center 492 First Ave, Corner of 29^th & 1st Starts 9:30 am. Ten teams compete for $10,000 in prize money