University of Missouri

July 15, 2024
Contact: Courtney Perrett, cperrett@missouri.edu

Artificial intelligence (AI) stands as the frontier of technological revolution — poised to reshape every facet of our lives. The University of Missouri, a leader in AI research, features AI experts in disciplines such as law, engineering, education, the arts and health sciences.

If you are reporting on AI, we would be happy to connect you with the right expert. Below you will find a sampling of them. Once you select the best expert for your story, contact us to arrange an interview.

MU experts in artificial intelligence

• Kevin Brown (digital media and theater)
  As a professor of digital media and performance studies in the College of Arts and Science, Kevin Brown researches the ways in which digital media intersects with performance, including the role of AI, robotics, video games and other factors in the construction of identity, gender, class and community.
  
• Prasad Calyam (engineering)
  Prasad Calyam, the Greg L. Gilliom Professor of Cyber Security in Mizzou’s College of Engineering, studies the role of AI across many different disciplines. He and collaborators have worked to integrate automation and AI to help news organizations sort through story pitches. He’s currently helping determine how much we can trust AI-powered autonomous vehicles. And recently, he studied whether popular chatbots can pass a cybersecurity certification test to help protect digital data. 
  
• Jianlin (Jack) Cheng (engineering)
  A Curators’ Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering and computer science in Mizzou’s College of Engineering, Jack Cheng is known for his groundbreaking work around AI-based protein structure prediction. His AI methods were ranked among top predictors in the last nine rounds of the biennial worldwide competition on protein structure prediction between 2006 and 2022. The research has exerted fundamental impacts on both basic and applied biomedical sciences, such as the design of drugs and vaccines.
  
• J. Scott Christianson (business)
  J. Scott Christianson, a teaching professor in Mizzou’s Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business, focuses on AI's impact on society and geopolitics. He has been featured in numerous articles, mainly on AI, deepfakes and misinformation. Christianson’s insights provide a valuable perspective on AI technologies' practical applications and implications.
  
• Dennis Crouch (law)
  Director of the Center for Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship at Mizzou’s School of Law, Dennis Crouch is no stranger to new technology. His research has focused on the influence of AI as an inventing tool in patent law. Crouch has published extensively on the relationship between AI and intellectual property, privacy and speech. He also advises generally on the role of AI in the profession of law and in law education.
  
• Noah Glaser (education)
  An exemplar of the Missouri Method — an innovative, hands-on approach to education — and professor of information science and learning technologies in the College of Education and Human Development, Noah Glaser conducts research focusing on how AI and virtual reality headsets can simulate training opportunities for autistic people and those with other neurological and developmental disorders.
  
• Jared Schroeder (journalism)
  While much AI expertise is technical, Jared Schroeder, a professor in the Missouri School of Journalism, is an expert on the implications of AI as it applies to open discourse in society, democracy and elections, misinformation and disinformation and regulation. In his new book, “The Structure of Ideas: Mapping a New Theory of Free Expression in the AI Era,” Schroeder addresses how AI shapes the marketplace of ideas.
  
• Sharan Srinivas (engineering)
  Sharan Srinivas, a professor of industrial and systems engineering, specializes in integrating AI with operations engineering to enable smarter, faster, and more informed decision-making across various domains. His expertise spans health care operations, transportation and logistics, smart service systems and supply chain management. Recently, he used AI to sort through thousands of customer reviews to identify where airlines are falling short and leveraged AI to develop a tool that can predict the trend in steel prices.
  
• Dong Xu (engineering)
  As a leading expert on AI in Mizzou’s College of Engineering, Dong Xu has been immersed in the realm of machine learning for more than two decades. Xu is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science whose research examines the interface between bioinformatics and deep learning. Co-founder of the International Journal of AI and Robotics, Xu’s research runs the AI gamut, and he’s comfortable discussing the past and future of this technology.
  
• Jianfeng Zhou (agriculture systems)
  Jianfeng Zhou is a professor of agricultural systems technology in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. Zhou’s research at the intersection of precision and digital agriculture focuses on AI-enabled plant phenotyping, precision livestock farming and robotic technologies for crop harvesting. Zhou offers insights into how AI is revolutionizing the future of farming. Among his latest ventures: refining the use of the electric, autonomous Monarch tractor that recently came to Mizzou.