UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #472

Submission information
Submission Number: 472
Submission ID: 8631
Submission UUID: cacb31f8-796c-43b8-86b1-e99713482c7a

Created: Thu, 08/17/2023 - 01:57 PM
Completed: Thu, 08/17/2023 - 02:26 PM
Changed: Mon, 09/25/2023 - 03:10 PM

Remote IP address: 71.220.183.56
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Primary Research Mentor Name Gordon Erlebacher
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns He
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific? Professor
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) gerlebacher@fsu.edu
Position Title Faculty
FSU College (if applicable) Arts and Sciences
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation Scientific Computing
Headshot (optional) gordon_head_shot.png
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above)
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated)
Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable)
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated)
Title of the Project Experiments with large language models
Project Keywords GPT Claude AI tools python
Are you currently looking for research assistants? No
Number of Research Assistants Needed 3
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Scientific Computing
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?
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? 10 hours.
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 In the past six months, generative AI tools have taken a giant leap forward. Starting with ChatGPT, we are now besieged by a plethora of language models that number in the thousands. Research has accelerated to generate model that run faster, consume less memory, and produce better results. I am interested in constructing specialized tools to provide faculty and students to help them in their research and studies. Such tools might include the ability to scan a collection of papers, and converse with the AI. Although such tools exist, they are general, and do not work very well. I much prefer having these tools in-house at no cost. Also, the development of these tools is a learning experience. Promising applications of such tools is the generation of personalized curricula, tools to help study new subjects, chatbots that can help you prepare for tests, and systems to help with grading. We will use langchain (https://docs.langchain.com/docs/), a framework that simplifies the access to language models and allows the construction of programs to mix and match them for specific tasks. We will explore the use of vector databases to store books and articles to allow later querying, and we will develop simple to use interfaces for the users. The specific task will be decided once the research begins.
Research Tasks The student will develop code based on existing templates to interface with language models via standards APIs (Application Program Interfaces). There will be lots of documentation to read, and code experimentations. The work might be frustrating, but rewarding. You will have the opportunity to experiment with several AIs, and you'll be up to date on the progress made in the field.
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: The assistant should be comfortable with Python and not afraid to experiment with new Python modules. and experiment. The assistant should ask many questions, as that is the only way to make progress. These questions will be posed to the mentor, and to different forums on the Internet, such as Stack Overflow and Discord, depending on the need.
Mentoring Philosophy My own philosophy of mentoring is having a continuous two-way conversation about the work we are doing. Simply meeting once or twice a week is not sufficient. Good research is frustrating, which can easy lead to the research grinding to a halt. I would expect presentations of the work done over the period of a week, made with Google Slides or equivalent tool. Given that the research involves AI, I would expect the presentations and any written materials to take advantage of the latest AI tools to get more done faster and better. However, I will insist that the assistant be responsible for any content. The AI tools make errors so they should not be taken for granted. I communicate a lot by email, and would like a free-flowing email exchange. I tend to be rather direct, which some people find hard to tolerate. But the more work the assistant accomplishes, the more engage I, as a mentor, become.
Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable): https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=GYQIwJkAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
Please add any additional information here (if applicable):
Roundtable times and Zoom links Thurs, Sept 7, 11 am - 1 pm
Fri, Sept 8, 10 am - noon, 3 pm - 4 pm.
Zoom link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/9038137210
Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation Yes
Materials Grant Yes
UROP Poster Presentation Yes
Year 2023
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