Faculty Led by Crystal Brown Publish Paper on a Framework for Teaching with and About AI

Paper Presentation

During the 2025–26 academic year, our Faculty Learning Community (FLC), funded by the Morgan Teaching and Learning Center, brought together faculty from across economics, political science, engineering, computer science, business, development, and geography to examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping undergraduate teaching and learning. The FLC focused on developing critical AI literacy, promoting ethical and responsible engagement with AI, exploring interdisciplinary teaching strategies, and preparing students to enter an increasingly AI-infused workforce. 

One of the key outcomes of the FLC was a collaborative paper, “Teaching with (and About) AI: A Convergence-Divergence Framework for Engineering Education.” The paper was accepted for presentation at the 2026 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition in Charlotte, N.C. Building on that work, the faculty further developed the paper for publication in Systems journal. 

The paper introduces an interdisciplinary “convergence–divergence” framework for AI education. The framework recognizes that students across disciplines need a shared set of competencies—including AI literacy, ethical awareness, and an understanding of governance—while also recognizing that the ways students engage with and apply AI will differ across disciplines. The work draws on perspectives from engineering, computer science, economics, political science, development, geography, and business to consider what students should commonly understand about AI and what AI education should look like within different disciplinary contexts. 

Crystal Brown, assistant professor and associate department head of Social Science and Policy Studies (SSPS) was the lead researcher on the project. Co-authors were Patricia Agupusi, SSPS assistant professor; Stephen McCauley, associate professor of teaching and head of the Department of Integrative and Global Studies; Raha Moraffah, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science; Oleg Pavlov, SSPS professor; Daniel Treku, assistant teaching professor, The Business School; and former WPI faculty member Shams Bhada, systems engineer at MITRE Corp. 

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Crystal Brown
Crystal Brown
Assistant Professor & Program Director, Technology, Policy, and Sustainability, Social Science & Policy Studies
Dr. Crystal Brown earned her Ph.D. in Political Science with a focus in comparative politics, international relations, and public policy. She also has a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Pennsylvania State University and a certificate in Data Analytics from Harvard Unive [...]
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Patricia Agupusi
Patricia Agupusi
Assistant Professor, Social Science & Policy Studies
Patricia C. Agupusi (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor of Social Science at the School of Social Science and Policy Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Massachusetts, US. Her research interests include state capacity, political violence, and the political economy of [...]
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Stephen McCauley
Stephen McCauley
Associate Professor of Teaching & Department Head,
Department of Integrative and Global Studies - DIGS
Stephen McCauley is a geographer whose work focuses on exploring how cities change and how urban futures can be inclusive, green and resilient. His broad substantive interests include climate change preparedness, urban resilience, energy system innovation, community participation [...]
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Raha Moraffah
Raha Moraffah
Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Raha Moraffah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Prior to joining WPI, she earned her Ph.D. in computer science from Arizona State University. Raha’s research spans machine learning, data mining, artificial in [...]
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Oleg Pavlov
Oleg Pavlov
Professor, Social Science & Policy Studies
Professor Pavlov earned a BS degree in Physics/Computer Science and a PhD in Economics from University of Southern California and an MBA from Cornell University. He has taught at WPI since 2002. He has been to many universities in the US, Russia and Western Europe, but he thinks [...]
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Daniel Treku
Daniel Treku
Assistant Teaching Professor, The Business School
Daniel N. Treku teaches business application of blockchain technology, business intelligence, and data science at the Business School at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts. His ongoing research lies at the intersection of the value of network technologies (e.g., the b [...]
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