The WPI community and the public are warmly invited to the 2024 University Lecture, "AI and the Future of Work," Thursday, March 21, at 4:30 p.m. This year's event will feature a dynamic panel discussion moderated by President Grace J. Wang, PhD, on the eve of her inauguration. Join us for an engaging discussion on the intersection of technology and the future of work.
Why it’s important: Artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize labor dynamics in the coming years, streamlining routine tasks and unlocking human potential for creative and strategic endeavors. Moreover, AI promises to enhance decision-making and transform customer interactions. It’s critical that we understand the potential—both positive and negative—of the AI evolution.
While concerns about job displacement persist, AI presents exciting opportunities for innovation. Specialized training and higher education in AI, exemplified by the new AI degree programs at WPI, will pave the way for a workforce characterized by increased efficiency and ingenuity.
This year’s panelists: Three illustrious leaders in the field of AI will share their unique perspectives on navigating the future workplace.
- Deepthi Bathina ’00 (MS), visionary WPI alumna and CEO and founder of RhythmX AI, is renowned for her groundbreaking work in hyper-personalized healthcare through generative AI technologies.
- Terrence Sejnowski, PhD, pioneering and award-winning scientist in neural networks and computational neuroscience, uses computational models to shed light on brain function and cognitive processes.
- Steve Vassallo ’93, general partner at Foundation Capital and celebrated entrepreneur, brings invaluable insights into AI-driven innovation from his vast experience nurturing successful startups.
When and where: Thursday, March 21, at 4:30 p.m. in the Rubin Campus Center Odeum
About the WPI University Lecture Series: Sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the University Lecture Series provides a forum for diverse speakers of national and international importance, enriching scientific learning for the university and surrounding communities.
→ To attend this event, RSVP here.
About Deepthi Bathina
Deepthi Bathina is the CEO and founder of RhythmX AI, with $50M initial investment from Symphony AI Group (SAIGroup). RhythmX AI is a generative AI-native health company driving a paradigm shift in hyper-personalized care. Its precision care platform helps physicians pioneer a new era of whole-person care through generative and predictive AI-powered copilots.
Bathina is chair of the board of the Kerry Murphy Healey Center for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Babson College. The former chief product officer of Humana, she led Humana’s evolution to a product, service, and experience focus while overseeing the product design, development, and delivery for chronic condition management, behavioral health, social determinants of health, caregiver solutions, utilization management, care management, oncology, musculoskeletal, and pharmacy areas across Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial segments. She also led Humana’s customer success organizations, responsible for winning new business, implementations, and overall customer satisfaction. Humana is a Fortune 50 market leader in integrated healthcare serving over 16 million medical members, including over 6 million TriCare members.
Previously, Bathina was general manager of operations for the approximately $1 billion Healthcare Technology division of Nuance Communications, market leader in AI-powered solutions serving more than 450,000 clinicians at more than 10,000 healthcare institutions worldwide. She is the former COO of the clinical decision support division (UpToDate) at Wolters Kluwer, leading product management, technology and engineering, global customer operations, implementations, and global IT infrastructure in 170 countries.
Bathina has also held leadership positions in innovative companies ranging from start-up to Fortune 500, such as ADP. Former GE CEO Jack Welch personally chose her as his strategy consultant. In this role, she initiated and executed several strategic initiatives that influenced millions of business leaders and entrepreneurs worldwide. She holds a master’s degree in computer science from WPI and an MBA from Babson College Graduate School of Business.
About Terrence Sejnowski
A trailblazer in neural networks and computational neuroscience, Terrence Sejnowski seeks to understand the principles linking brain and behavior. Using both experimental and modeling techniques, Sejnowski examines the biophysical properties of synapses and neurons, as well as the population dynamics of large networks of neurons. He has developed new analytical tools and computational models to uncover how the brain stores information for different activities and forms new representations of the world. Drawing from his extensive research, he has published over 300 scientific papers and 12 books, most notably The Computational Brain, with co-author Patricia Churchland, and The Deep Learning Revolution.
Sejnowski earned his PhD in physics from Princeton University in 1978 and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in 1981. A former faculty member at Johns Hopkins University, he now holds the Francis Crick Chair at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He is also a Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego, where he serves as co-director of the Institute for Neural Computation and co-director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center.
He is the president of the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) Foundation. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a former investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is the founding editor-in-chief of Neural Computation, a monthly journal from MIT Press.
Throughout his career, Sejnowski has won several prestigious awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the NSF, the Wright Prize for interdisciplinary research from Harvey Mudd College, the Neural Networks Pioneer Award from the IEEE, and the Hebb Prize from the International Neural Network Society. He is one of only 10 living individuals elected to all three national academies: the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering.
About Steve Vassallo
Steve Vassallo is a general partner at Foundation Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm, where he leads investments at the intersection of design, technology, and business. Spanning enterprise, fintech, frontier tech, and crypto, Vassallo’s work is shaped by his passion for building great products. Over the course of his venture career, he has backed and helped build more than 100 startups, including Stripe, Sunrun, Solana, Cerebras, and Loft Orbital, among many others.
After starting out as a design engineer and project leader at IDEO, Vassallo went on to run engineering and product at several successful startups. He holds 77 patents and has been awarded numerous design awards, including Business Week’s Design of the Decade and the Red Dot Design Award. Vassallo cemented his design philosophy in his 2017 book, The Way to Design. He also writes a regular column for Forbes about product, tech, startups, and “Missionary Misfits.”
Vassallo holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from WPI as well as master’s degrees in both engineering and business administration from Stanford University.