Organization of the AI Initiative

Dear Members of the Georgetown Community,

In my message on September 3 announcing the Georgetown AI Initiative, I noted that it would be led by a steering committee of faculty. This email announces the membership of that group and describes other sources of input for the initiative.

The Steering Committee members are:

Andrew Sobanet, Ph.D., Steering Committee Chair, Professor of French & Francophone Studies, College of Arts & Sciences. Professor Sobanet studies the intersection of politics, literature, and culture and has held several leadership roles in the College of Arts & Sciences, including interim dean, vice dean for faculty affairs, and chair of French & Francophone Studies.

Julie Cohen, J.D., Mark Claster Mamolen Professor of Law and Technology, Law School. Professor Cohen teaches and writes about surveillance, privacy and data protection, intellectual property, information platforms, and the ways that networked information and communication technologies are reshaping legal institutions.

Mark Danielsen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, School of Medicine. Professor Danielsen directs the Bioinformatics MS program, and also teaches in the areas of endocrinology, signal transduction, metabolism, transcription and the control of cholesterol biosynthesis. Professor Danielsen is an expert on the mechanism of action of steroid receptors in general and in their role in the development of breast and prostate cancer.

Laura DeNardis, Ph.D., Endowed Chair in Technology, Ethics, and Society, Communication, Culture, and Technology program, College of Arts & Sciences. Professor DeNardis is the Director of the Center for Digital Ethics and Professor in the Communication, Culture and Technology program. Professor DeNardis studies the role of technology within society in both the United States and the world.

Eddie Maloney, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice, English Department, College of Arts & Sciences. Professor Maloney is the Executive Director of the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), the inaugural Chair of the Academic Innovation Network (AIN), and the Founding Director of the Program in Learning, Design, and Technology. His work focuses on integrating technology-enhanced learning, data-informed teaching, and faculty development in support of Georgetown’s mission of formation, inquiry, and the common good.

Cal Newport, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Arts & Sciences. Professor Newport’s computer science research focuses on distributed algorithm theory, with a particular interest in what can and cannot be solved in challenging network settings. He was a founding faculty member of the Center for Digital Ethics and is the inaugural Director of the Computer Science, Ethics and Society academic program. Professor Newport writes about technology and its impact on our ability to live and work deeply in an increasingly distracted world.

Paul Ohm, J.D., Professor of Law, Law School. Professor Ohm is Chief Data Officer at Georgetown Law and builds bridges between computer science and law, utilizing his training and experience as a lawyer, policymaker, computer programmer, and network systems administrator. His research focuses on information privacy, computer crime law, surveillance, technology and the law, and artificial intelligence and the law.

Nawar Shara, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Medicine. Professor Shara, among other roles, is a founding co-director and chief of AI applications in health data science for the MedStar – Georgetown Collaborative Center for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Research and Education (AI CoLab). Professor Shara’s research focuses on collaborative approaches for big data solutions, predictive analytics, data mining, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Jeanine Turner, Ph.D., Annette N. Shelby Endowed Chair in Business & Leadership Communication, Professor of Management, McDonough School of Business; and Professor, Communication, Culture, and Technology program, College of Arts & Sciences. Professor Turner’s research has explored the use of communication technologies by individuals and organizations. Specific examples of this research include the study of instant messaging and multicommunicating, online communication as a form of social support, and the implementation of telemedicine technology as a means of augmenting the delivery of health care services.

Input to the Steering Committee

The Steering Committee will oversee the outreach for input from faculty, staff, and students through focus groups, listening sessions and individual meetings. It will invite input from colleagues with expertise in the various areas related to AI. It will report monthly to the Faculty Senate with updates on its progress to their endorsement of a set of Georgetown University Principles for AI Use in December 2026.

The Steering Committee will be assisted by three input groups, chaired by administrative leaders of their domains:

Research – Chaired by Professor Arthur (Skip) Lupia, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Research Officer; James Curley, S.J., Professor, Department of Government.

Teaching and Pedagogy – Co-chaired by Professor Randy Bass, Ph.D., Vice President for Strategic Education Initiatives and Professor of English, and Professor Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Computer Science.

Administration/Operations – Adam Donaldson, Vice President for Strategic Operations and Information Technology.

These three input groups will inform the work of the Steering Committee and react to intermediate products of the Steering Committee, representing the perspectives of their respective constituencies.

Thank you to our colleagues for taking on this important work.

Respectfully,

Eduardo M. Peñalver
President