AI + X is a core effort of the Northwestern Network for Collaborative Intelligence (NNCI), focused on exploring how AI intersects with disciplines within and beyond traditional computer science. These initiatives bring together faculty, staff, students, and partners to share emerging questions, identify collaboration opportunities, and seed new interdisciplinary efforts. AI + X activities are designed to be exploratory and generative, supporting early conversations that can grow into research collaborations, educational offerings, certificates, or externally funded initiatives.
AI + X initiatives function as interdisciplinary “spokes” around NNCI’s larger hubs, including the AI Major and Minor. These efforts are intentionally flexible and community‑driven. Through convenings such as roundtables and working groups, participants:
- Share how AI is reshaping their fields
- Identify common challenges and opportunities
- Explore education, research, or infrastructure needs
- Lay the groundwork for collaborative proposals and programs
NNCI hosts AI + X Roundtables as focused, invitation‑open discussions bringing together faculty, staff, and collaborators across schools and campuses.
A collaborative forum bringing together Northwestern's AI-focused student groups to share goals, surface needs, and explore how NNCI can best support the next generation of AI leaders on campus.
A cross-disciplinary conversation examining the mathematical, computational, and theoretical underpinnings of AI — and how a shared foundational understanding can strengthen research and education across fields.
An interdisciplinary exploration of how AI and human cognition inform one another — from cognitive modeling and brain-computer interaction to what machine learning can reveal about the way humans think and learn.
Exploring how AI is transforming athletic performance, sports analytics, fan engagement, and the business of sports, bringing together technologists, researchers, and industry practitioners.
A focused discussion on the opportunities and challenges of applying AI to mental health research, clinical practice, and intervention — with attention to both the promise and the ethical responsibilities involved.
Bringing together biologists, engineers, and computer scientists to explore how AI is accelerating breakthroughs in synthetic biology, from the design of novel organisms to the future of biomedical research and sustainability.
Exploring how AI is transforming news gathering, fact-checking, content creation, and audience engagement, while bringing together journalists, researchers, and technologists to examine the future of trusted and responsible reporting.
A focused discussion on the opportunities and challenges of applying AI to national security, cybersecurity, diplomacy, and global governance, with attention to both technological innovation and the ethical responsibilities involved.
An interdisciplinary exploration of how AI is accelerating the discovery, design, and optimization of new materials, from sustainable energy technologies to advanced manufacturing and next-generation scientific innovation.
Bringing together clinicians, researchers, engineers, and healthcare leaders to explore how AI is advancing diagnostics, treatment, patient care, and medical discovery while addressing questions of safety, equity, and trust.
- Interdisciplinary research initiatives
- Certificates or micro‑credentials
- Courses or curricular pathways
- Workshops or community symposia
- Externally funded proposals and centers
Is there an AI + X topic you care deeply about?
