Center for Emerging Technologies in Artificial Intelligence (CERTAIN)

 

Overview  

Artificial Intelligence technologies have created waves of hype, fear and optimism across a variety of sectors of the economy, unleashing their power in accomplishing tasks that less than a few years back were thought to be purely in the human-intelligence territory. While the capabilities of these technologies continue to improve exponentially and outpace human capabilities, their usage and integration into the workflow of a variety of professions has not been fast enough to achieve scale and reduce costs. In addition, AI implementations are frequently muddled with operational issues such as lack of deep understanding of this technology, evolving and confusing guidance on organizational usage, difficulty in integrating with the daily workflow, fear of adoption due to possible displacement and job losses, uncertain security and privacy issues, and maintenance challenges with ever-changing capabilities and newer product versions.  

With the establishment of the Center for Emerging Technologies in Artificial Intelligence (CERTAIN), we address this capability-deployment gap through liaising with a variety of stakeholders including industry, government, regulators and non-profits. We understand their problems with deploying, using and scaling this technology and provide solutions through in-house and contract research on AI adoption and adaptation. Our focus is on healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, higher education, supply chain and software development, which are the major industries in this region. In addition, we offer executive and non-executive education and consulting services for government, industry, and regulator stakeholders through the Center.  

 

Research Areas & Themes  

The purpose of this Center is to promote research in AI adoption and adaptation in the areas of healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, higher education, supply chain and software development.  Possible topics of research include: 

1. Governance practices that promote the adoption of and adaptation to each of predictive, Generative and Agentic AI in any of the aforementioned sectors
2. Investigation of human factors and training practices to promote the effective usage of predictive AI in manufacturing
3. Regulation, Safety and Security practices for deployment and usage of Agentic AI in healthcare settings
4. Impact of AI on various stages of the software development life cycle
5. Effective strategies for integrating Generative AI in developing teaching material, instruction and assessment of undergraduate curricula
6. Frameworks for adopting and implementing predictive AI in improving agricultural yield
7. Best practices for AI-enabled scientific discovery and multi-disciplinary collaboration in biomedical science and engineering 

 

Faculty & Researchers

Directors

 

 

 

Collaborators

Monideepa Tarafdar Guidance and Oversight University of Massachusetts – Amherst	Pavan Kumar Mulgund Researcher University of Memphis	Utkarsh Shrivastava Senior Researcher Western Michigan University
Huigang Liang Researcher University of Memphis	Srikant Venkatesan Researcher University of Memphis	Brian Hoogstra Consultant and Case Study Provider FedEx
Justin Williams Advisor and Case Study Provider FedEx	Yuan Gao Researcher University of Memphis	Samuel Camacaro Advisor and Case Study Provider FedEx
Vivek Kumar Singh Researcher University of Missouri Saint Louis	Yue Guan Researcher University of Memphis	Ruoting Yang Senior Researcher Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
Sen Li Researcher Bentley University	Hedieh Ghorbanie Research Assistant University of Memphis	Rasha Hammamieh Senior Researcher Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

 

Current / Past Research Projects  

We have active research projects broadly focused on the theme of AI adoption and adaptation. Some of these include: 

1. Internet Search Trends and Infectious Disease Outbreaks – Understanding Spatial Variations in Relationship
2. A practical framework for AI Adoption in Large Scale Enterprises
3. Navigating Algorithmic Management – Balancing Efficiency Gains with Employee Wellbeing
4. Impact of Generative AI on Supply-Demand for Peer-Produced Content: Evidence from Wikipedia 

 

Partnerships & Collaborations  

We collaborate with research institutions, non-profit organizations, Local, State and City Governments and Fortune 500 firms. Our partners include FedEx, Institute of Applied AI and Robotics (IAAIR), University of Missouri St Louis, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. 

 

Get Involved  

We want to get involved with the community on collaborative research projects, education and training, and providing consulting services around AI adoption and adaptation. For more information or to connect with us, please contact any of the Center directors.