Spring Honors Forums Explore AI on the Grid and America's Political Divide

Artificial intelligence is moving off the screen and into the physical systems that power modern life. At the same time, deepening political divisions are reshaping how Americans understand their institutions, their news and one another. 

This spring, two Honors College Forums will put students in the middle of both conversations. 

In Edge AI for the Modern Grid, students will explore how machine learning can help detect trouble before failures cascade across the electrical grid and what happens when intelligent technology meets complex, vulnerable infrastructure. In Partisanship, they'll look backward and forward, tracing political division through American history before grappling with the forces driving polarization today. 

The subjects could hardly be more different, but both forums ask students to do what these small, discussion-driven courses do best: dig into complicated problems with experts, cross disciplinary boundaries and think seriously about issues unfolding far beyond the classroom. 

"Be an intellectual risk taker," said Lynda Coon, dean of the Honors College. "Honors Forums are a chance to step outside the comfortable boundaries of your major and throw yourself into a consequential topic with faculty who know it deeply and students who will challenge the way you think. You don't need to arrive as an expert—curiosity is the prerequisite. See something that makes you wonder, 'What larks?' Do it."  

Honors College Forums

Honors Forums bring exceptional faculty and top administrators together with honors students for lively, 75-minute seminars each week.  

Edge AI for the Modern Grid: This one-hour honors seminar introduces students to Edge AI, the practice of running machine learning directly on the embedded hardware inside distributed energy resources rather than sending data to remote cloud servers. Students will explore how on-device models detect anomalies and use prognostics to predict equipment health and remaining service life before failures cascade across the grid. 

Taught by Christopher Farnell, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the course will also examine the engineering challenges of edge intelligence and the tradeoffs involved in deploying machine learning models on microcontrollers, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and other resource-constrained hardware. Students will work with data coming directly from Farnell's lab using state of the art Real-Time Hardware in the Loop (HIL) simulation platforms such as the Typhoon HIL, along with Edge AI platforms. The course is designed for intellectually curious students who want to understand how artificial intelligence is transforming the physical systems that power modern life; no prior background in machine learning or power systems is required. 

"The skills developed in this course will transfer well beyond power systems," Farnell said. "My hope is that by the end of the semester students will have developed an intuition for complex systems and the tools needed to identify what normal data looks like, what a pending fault might look like and what an attacker trying to look normal might look like." 

Partisanship: In this seminar, taught by Noah Pittman, associate dean of enrollment for the Honors College, students will examine the role of partisanship throughout U.S. history before exploring the issues that divide Americans today. Through discussion-based class sessions, students will analyze periods of intense political conflict, including moments when the nation's institutions and unity appeared under significant strain. 

While investigating the rise of polarization in recent decades, students will look at contributing factors such as the growth of the internet, social media and the fragmentation of the news media. In the final portion of the semester, students will discuss some of today's most contentious political issues, from recent Supreme Court decisions to debates over the United States' role in global affairs. 

"One of the best parts of my job is getting to teach thoughtful, politically engaged honors students," Pittman said. "In Partisanship, we'll grapple with the many recent changes and developments in American politics that help explain this era of intense partisanship we see today." 

About the Honors College: The University of Arkansas Honors College was established in 2002 and brings together high-achieving undergraduate students and the university's top professors to share transformative learning experiences. Each year, the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships that provide $80,000 over four years, and more than $1 million in undergraduate research and study abroad grants. The Honors College is nationally recognized for the high caliber of students it admits and graduates. Honors students enjoy small, in-depth classes, and programs are offered in all disciplines, tailored to students' academic interests, with interdisciplinary collaborations encouraged. All Honors College graduates have engaged in mentored research.   

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $3 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.