Panopto recording:

• Watch the November 2025 AI Lightning Talk online here.

Presenters:

• Claire McGranahan, Director for Collegiate Communications in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, on Ethical Use of AI in Daily Communications 

• Jill Kolesar, PharmD, MS, FCCP, Dean, Professor, and Jean M. Schmidt Chair in Drug Discovery in the College of Pharmacy, on AI-Enabled Letter of Support 

• Elizabeth Crawford, Visiting Assistant Professor, Rhetoric in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, on Teaching AI in the Rhetoric Department 

• AnnaKate Hartel, Senior Data Analyst, Graduate and Professional Programs in the Tippie College of Business, on Strategic Prioritization through AI: Making Sense of Competing Rankings 

• Renee Cole, Department Executive Officer and Chair Professor, Chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, on Using AI Tutors to Provide Just-in-Time Student Support 

Panopto recording:

• Watch the October 2025 AI Lightning Talks online here.

Presenters:

• Ross Miller, Lead Application Developer, Administrative Information Systems (AIS), on Teaching your AI Skills with Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• Paras Gaur, Postdocotoral Fellow, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, on Pipettes to Prompts: How AI Streamlines My Research Flow
• David Frisvold, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, on An Example Writing Assignment using AI in an Upper-Level Graduate Course
• Tory Brecht, Communications Coordinator and Assistant Editor for Tippie Publication, Tippie College of Business, on Using AI Effectively and Ethically in Article Generation – As It Relates to Sharing Research Stories
• Tony Pennuto, Research Associate, Department of Orthopedics, on AI Assist Schedulers Finding the Correct Provider

Panopto recording:

• Watch the September 2025 AI Lightning talk online here.

Presenters:

1. Gahyun Callie Sung, Assistant Professor, College of Education, on Building Automations with AI – In Teaching and Research
2. Galen Schneider, Professor, College of Dentistry, on Reimagining faculty peer evaluations: from paper to AI-Driven Digital forms
3. Sasha Khmelnik, Assistant Director, Iowa Writers’ Workshop, on Building HTML interactions and automations
4. Ramey Fahal, IT Project Coordinator, CIO Office, on on Generative AI as a Thinking Partner: Shifting from Shortcut to Collaboration in Everyday Work
5. Anne Schimke, A/V & Classrooms Technology Services Manager, on Boosting Email Productivity with Microsoft Copilot 365 in Outlook

Panopto recording:

• Watch the August 2025 AI Lightning talk online here.

Presenters:

• Eddie Estey, Associate Athletics Director for Technology / CTO, on AI in Athletics  

• Ken Brown, Tippie Children Professor of Management (Tippie College of Business) and DEO of Educational Policy & Leadership Studies (College of Education), on research on Student Interview Prep with GenAI 

• Joseph Yockey, F. Arnold Daum Chair in Corporate Law, College of Law, on Augmenting Traditional Law Teaching with AI 

• Carl Follmer, Associate Professor of Instruction, Director, Frank Business Communication Center, and Assistant DEO, Accounting, on AI Resources to Improve Student Communication Skills 

• Jeremy Dietmeier, Digital Innovation Consultant, OTLT (Office of Teaching, Learning and Technology) on Note Depot: A new tool in ICON to support student learning 

Watch the July 2025 AI Lightning Talks online here.

Presenters:

• Emily Ladendorf, Administrator, Technology and Marketing, Belin-Blank Center, College of Education, on how to use the Researcher agent in Copilot to determine whether course notes cover all a certification requirements.

• Sean Hesler, Director, Organizational Effectiveness, University HR, on exploring Copilot as a proxy for a certified professional coach.  

• Allie Brandriet, Assistant Director, Center for Teaching, on a simple Copilot agent that helps summarize meetings and track action items to stay organized and streamline logistics for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) program meetings. This agent was created in collaboration with Sara Nasrollahian Mojarad, Associate Director, Center for Teaching

• Laura Yost, Instructional Services Specialist, College of Nursing, on how to use Napkin (an AI tool) that can support principles of Universal Design for Learning 

• Ross Miller, Lead Application Developer, Admin Information Systems (AIS), on an AI Lecture Note generation to meet the needs for students in Student Disability Services and enhances automatic transcripts with AI  

• Watch the June 2025 AI Lightning Talks online here.

Presenters:

• Salim George, Senior Learning Analytics Specialist, Office of Teaching, Learning, and Technology, on streamlining UX interviews with live transcript and Copilot summaries
• Siddharth Sarathe, Senior Application Developer, Administrative Information Systems, on Agentic AI in Prospector
• Amy Bartachek, Managing Director, Tippie Graduate Career Services, Tippie College of Business, on AI in job searching
• Marina Zhang, Engineering & Informatics Librarian, Engineering Library, UI Libraries, on making scientific reading more enjoyable with Gen AI
• Charlie Taylor, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Office of Strategic Communications, on brainstorming and developing new ideas for the Accessibility Task Force

Panopto recording:

• Watch the April 2025 AI Lightning Talk online here.

Presenters:

• Allison Levine, Assistant Professor of Counselor Education, on AI and Virtual Reality in Counselor and Clinical training
• Matt Hodges, Data Literacy Project Manager, on Synthesia AI-generated videos on data literacy promotion
• Sean Kelley, Team Lead for Media Production Department in Dentistry, on using ElevenLabs AI for audio processing in media production
• Andy Vu, Doctoral candidate in Education Measurement and Statistics, on creating Copilot agent(s) for personal utilization 
• Justin Hess, Senior Systems Administrator in College of Pharmacy | UI Pharmaceuticals, on leveraging AI Dashboards for Contract Cost Analysis

Panopto recording: 

• Watch the March 2025 AI Lightning Talk online here.

Presenters:

• Ryan Gore, Sr. IT Security Engineer, Information Security & Policy Office, on catching phish with LLMs
• Greg Thompson, Director, Residence Education, University Housing & Dining, on qualitative analysis using Copilot for civic dialogue skills
• Adam Brummett, Associate Professor of Instruction, Chemistry, on the use of Copilot using Power Automate
• Vedansh Airen, AI Support Team Consultant, Enterprise Services ITS, on image replacement through augmented reality and artificial intelligence
• Erin Nelson, Associate Professor of Practice, Tippie College of Business, on custom GPT in analyzing transcripts of student discussions and feedback

Panopto recording:

• Watch the February 2025 AI Lightning Talk online here.

Presenters:

• Derek Siebert, Lead Application Developer, ITS- Custom Solutions and Integrations, on Genetic Algorithm to predict NCAA March Madness finalists
• Jennifer Deberg, User Services Librarian, Hardin Health Sciences Library, on AI in literature reviews
• Stephen Cummings, Social Work Program Director & Clinical Associate Professor, on AI in classroom assignments
• Marissa. Green-Francescon, Assistant Director of Institutional Research and Assessment, on rapid qualitative data analysis with Microsoft Copilot
• Spencer Owen, Rienow Hall Coordinator in Residence Education, on using AI to create helpful documentation
• Bianca Shamberger, Doctoral Candidate in Social Studies Teacher Education, on using AI to create critical, but non-political teaching materials in highly politicized times

Panopto recording:

• Watch the January 2025 AI Lightning Talk online here.

Presenters:

• Milan Sonka - Upcoming HawkAI Opportunities
• Tyler Bell - Introducing students from Fall 2025 ECE:5995 "Generative AI Tools and Applications."
  • Samantha Pothitakis - Amazon Content Generator
  • Fatma and Beyza Ilerisoy - MCAT Study Plan Generator
  • Veetrag Nahar, Abhishek Shastry and Yash Vora - Video Learning Platform 
  • Moaiz Abrar and Dilara Kizilkaya - Describe It! game 
  • Lo Fi Automated Short-Form Video Generation 
  • Yun Jae Choi - Outfit Anything
  • Frugal Foods 2.0