April 05, 2023
By Marcus Wilkins | Show Me Mizzou
Long before pursuing advanced degrees at the University of Missouri, Derek Anderson peered across the plains of eastern Kansas as an undergraduate hoping to glimpse the future. The year was 1998, and a computer science professor at Wichita State University introduced Anderson to the nascent field of artificial intelligence (AI).
Today, after 20-plus years in the industry, it鈥檚 an understatement to say the concept piqued his interest. But back then his enthusiasm collided with pragmatism.
鈥淢y professor told me I couldn鈥檛 actually do AI as a career because it wasn鈥檛 well funded, and I should pursue something peripheral like database indexing and retrieval,鈥 said Anderson, now an associate professor in electrical engineering and computer science in the College of 糖心Vlog传媒. 鈥淪o, I set out to make my own way, starting with a master鈥檚 and PhD at Mizzou.鈥
New frontiers
These days, AI is at the forefront of everyone鈥檚 mind, and Anderson is at the forefront of AI. His acumen includes a list of specialties elemental to the field: information fusion, machine learning, computational intelligence and computer vision, to name a few. His most recent research projects include training AI to better detect landmines by using simulated environments, and 鈥渆xplainable AI鈥 鈥 a concept aimed at engineering AI capable of explaining its own decision-making processes.
And he鈥檚 not doing it alone. Anderson鈥檚 students (undergraduate through doctoral) are gaining experience in his lab and going on to land big-time jobs in the AI sector. Even freshmen are taking advantage of Anderson鈥檚 hands-on research opportunities and supercharging their academic trajectories.
鈥淚 always knew I was going to major in computer science, but the opportunity to immediately do research in an actual lab is what sold me on Mizzou,鈥 said Dhruv Agarwal, a freshman from St. Louis. 鈥淚n Dr. Anderson鈥檚 lab, I鈥檓 working on a project to help make synthetic data more applicable for machine learning 鈥 such as teaching a smart car to recognize roadblocks or traffic lights by learning from synthetic images. It鈥檚 exciting to get your foot in the door so early.鈥
All the rage
While headline-grabbing AI systems such as Chat GPT and DALL-E have captured our collective imagination by creating eloquent prose and stunning graphic art, Anderson sees them as only the latest phase of AI鈥檚 multi-decade lifespan that has included peaks and valleys.
鈥淚鈥檓 part of what could be considered the third generation of AI scientists,鈥 Anderson said. 鈥淚n the 鈥50s, it was mostly armchair thinking and philosophy. Then there was a second wave in the 鈥80s when we incorporated a lot of rule-based systems and expert systems, but they became brittle and couldn鈥檛 do everything. I came to AI during the third generation, and pattern recognition 鈥 now called machine learning 鈥 is basically the migrating of statistics and mathematics over to AI.鈥
Anderson鈥檚 work in explainable AI seeks to revolutionize diagnostic and decision-making processes in AI systems. In most cases, an AI system is tasked with arriving at an output 鈥 such as DALL-E creating a picture based on a text prompt. Explainable AI works to build in explanations of why the system arrived at the output, exposing potential biases or incongruencies in uncertain conditions 鈥 a critical step in implementing future AI policy.
It鈥檚 a complex problem that could very well revolutionize how AI systems are built, and Anderson鈥檚 students are on the ground floor of yet another potential wave.
鈥淚 plan on going into an accelerated master鈥檚 program through Dr. Anderson鈥檚 lab because I find this research so fascinating and exciting,鈥 said Phillip Lei, a freshman computer science major from Columbia. 鈥淎nd after graduation, I hope to continue doing research.鈥
Anderson鈥檚 guidance is sought beyond Mizzou鈥檚 halls, too. He is program co-chair for three national AI conferences in 2023, a role that includes coordinating the events鈥 programming and logistics.
Yet, as globally impactful and philosophically weighty as the topic of AI is, Anderson relishes the opportunity to mold minds 鈥 including his own. For him, it鈥檚 the 鈥渨hy鈥 that explains his motivation.
鈥淚鈥檓 pretty sure I learn as much from my students as they do from me,鈥 Anderson said. 鈥淚f they don鈥檛 quite understand a concept and I need to explain it differently, it helps me to better understand my concepts, or to look at things from another perspective. The classroom and lab are great intellectual places where I鈥檓 changing myself and hopefully changing them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 why I鈥檓 at Mizzou.鈥
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