UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #966

Research Mentor Information
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Primary Research Mentor Name: Rashad Aziz
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns: He/Him
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific?: Dr.
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): raziz@admin.fsu.edu
Position Title: Faculty
FSU College (if applicable): N/A
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation: Office of the Provost
Headshot (optional): {Empty}

Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above): {Empty}
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific?: {Empty}
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): {Empty}
Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable): Solveig Brown
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns: She/Her
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific?: Dr.
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): sbrown7@fsu.edu

Overall Project Details
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Title of the Project: Can AI Interpret Nuanced Expression?
Project Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, Natural Language Processing
Are you currently looking for research assistants?: No
Number of Research Assistants Needed : 2
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s):
Open to all majors

Project Location:: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?: {Empty}
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s):: Partially Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work?: 7
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work?: Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description:
Large Language Models are being adopted for Q&A applications in virtually every industry. Emphasis on LLM capabilities has typically focused on accuracy, safety, and aligning with human values. This project, however, will explore LLM abilities and limitations in understanding nuances in human expression. Can LLMs parse language that is poetic, sarcastic, metaphorical, or which uses slang? Can LLMs process text in a way which aligns with emotional intelligence? This project will establish a suite of tests for this kind of language to be applied to multiple large language models and compare their relative abilities.

Research Tasks:
Review literature on existing LLM benchmarks and LLM provider claims on what models are capable of.
Brainstorm types of nuances in human expression worth examining and develop a strategy for producing language samples.
Develop a strategy for scoring LLM responses to prompts with nuanced expression.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need::
Recommended to have some experience or interest in computer programming.
Recommended ability to consider viewpoints of multiple disciplines, e.g. what nuances exist in language for sales, clinical psychology, leadership studies, and so on, and how those fields identify nuanced expressive capabilities.

Mentoring Philosophy:
My goal is to help the mentee explore a problem and identify areas of personal interest to them. The ideal research project involves mentoring the researcher to find what aspects of the project feel most important to address, and to craft a plan in a direction that makes a unique and meaningful contribution to the field.

Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable):: {Empty}
Please add any additional information here (if applicable)::
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Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable?: No
Roundtable times and Zoom links:
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UROP Program Elements
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Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication: Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation: Yes
Materials Grant: Yes
UROP Poster Presentation: Yes

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Year: 2024
update url: https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=VEEWHnGHSYKChm7cGkrgbOBKLN2_C6Py355TdpPnAEA