FORGE: Network for Collaborative Intelligence

FORGE is NNCI’s emerging hub for applied, hands-on experimentation and collaboration, where data science, AI, and domain expertise come together to address real-world challenges. Bringing together students, faculty, staff, and industry partners who are exploring, experimenting, or ready to build, FORGE is designed to support work across all disciplines and levels of experience.

Meet the FORGE Team

Director of FORGE

Kristian J. Hammond

Bill and Cathy Osborn Professor of Computer Science
Director, Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence Program
Director, Center for Advancing Safety of Machine Intelligence (CASMI)

FORGE Administrators

Harper Pack — Program Administrator, harper.pack@northwestern.edu

Lisa Myers — Capstone and Practicum Coordinator, MSAI, lisa.myers@northwestern.edu

FORGE Team

FORGE Student Cohort Advisors:

Joshua DeAndria — Clinical Assistant Professor, Pioneer Professor of Practice

FORGE Organizers:

Abel Kho — Co-Director, NNCI, Director, Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, Professor, Medicine (General Internal Medicine), Preventive Medicine (Biostatistics and Informatics)

Jeff Stiers — Senior Director of Strategic Projects

Liz Blondel — Director of Operations, NNCI

Sydney Hlavaty — Program Coordinator, NNCI

Jim Bray — Executive Director, Corporate Engagement

Kate Rice — Director of Outreach and Operations, Corporate Engagement

Sean Reynolds — Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer

Joe Paris — Associate Vice President of IT Services and Support

Lisa Dhar — Associate Vice President for Innovation and New Ventures

Mike Raab — Executive Director, The Garage

The Forge fills an important gap between theory and practice by offering:

Space for collaboration
Access to enterprise‑grade tools and infrastructure
Mentorship from faculty and industry experts
Programmatic pathways for building, testing, and iterating

We have this groundswell of innovators. They're called students.”

Abel Kho, Co-Director of NNCI

Multi‑Audience and Interdisciplinary

FORGE cohorts bring together teams of 3–6 students to tackle faculty- and industry-guided challenges over an 8–10 week engagement. Working at the intersection of experimentation and real-world problem solving, students develop prototypes, analytical models, proof-of-concept demonstrations, and exploratory research findings. Each cohort culminates in a final poster session and celebration, where teams share their work with the broader NNCI and Northwestern community.