The initiative combines hands-on workshops, industry perspectives, cross-institution collaboration, and digital badge recognition to help students develop both technical confidence and critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n
Program highlights include weekly AI boot camps at Brooklyn College, guest speakers and industry experts from IBM and other national AI practitioners, and a joint CUNY\u2013NYU Tandon session hosted at NYU that helped launch a long-term collaboration. Students also take on leadership roles as moderators and event facilitators. Designed for scalability, the model aims to expand across CUNY while maintaining a strong focus on equity, access, and workforce readiness.<\/p>\n
![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NEWS-260401-Matt-Lentz-AI-Bootcamp-NYU-Tandon-Featured-1200x960-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Matt Lentz, vice president at Monks and founder of the Enterprise Consulting Practice, speaks at an AI bootcamp hosted by NYU\u2019s Tandon School of Engineering on March 12. The event was a part of the CUNY AI literacy and professional readiness series led by Brooklyn College Associate Professor Ngoc (Cindy) Pham and focused on AI in enterprise consulting. (Top photo) In February, guest lecturer Conor Grennan\u2014CEO of AI Mindset and New York Times bestselling author\u2014headlined a lecture titled, \u201cArtificial Intelligence & the Future of Work\u201d that drew 118 participants.<\/p>\n
Expanding AI to Student Support: Addressing Food Insecurity<\/p>\n
Brooklyn College\u2019s AI initiatives also extend beyond the classroom, applying emerging technologies to one of the most pressing challenges facing students: food insecurity.<\/p>\n
Led by Associate Professor of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship Laura Rifkin and building on the human-centered work of the campus food pantry staff\u2014including Assistant Director of Student Support Services Nicole Cohen and Student Affairs\u2014this effort will explore how AI can expand access to nutritious food in ways that are both practical and dignified. One approach under consideration is a smart vending system that would serve as an extension of the pantry, offering discreet, flexible access outside of traditional hours. By reducing barriers such as stigma, scheduling conflicts, and transportation challenges, the system could significantly broaden its reach while generating anonymized, real-time data on usage patterns and unmet need.<\/p>\n
The initiative also examines how agentic AI can support pantry operations behind the scenes\u2014analyzing trends, anticipating demand, optimizing inventory, and improving coordination of donations and purchasing. Guided by principles of transparency, human oversight, and bias mitigation, the work builds on the college\u2019s strong track record of student-centered support while introducing scalable, data-informed solutions.<\/p>\n
The effort comes at a critical moment. Food pantry use has grown fourfold in recent years, reflecting both rising need and the extraordinary commitment of staff working with limited resources. Across CUNY, approximately 110,000 students\u2014about 40% of the system\u2014experience food insecurity, yet only a small percentage access available support, often due to stigma or administrative barriers. By integrating AI thoughtfully into these services, the college aims to close that gap by strengthening student well-being to support academic success.<\/p>\n
AI-Supported Professional Preparation for Early Childhood Teachers Working With Dual Language Learners<\/p>\n
In the School of Education, Associate Professor Lulu Song is addressing a critical need in early childhood teacher preparation. Her project integrates AI into coursework to support future educators working with dual language learners, a population that represents nearly half of young children in New York State. Through structured assignments, students will use AI tools for research and problem-solving while learning to critically evaluate outputs for accuracy, bias, and credibility.<\/p>\n
Additional projects include AI-supported learning studios in mathematics, interdisciplinary minors linking computer science with writing and finance, and research on ethical design and decision-making. Collectively, these initiatives highlight Brooklyn College\u2019s holistic approach to AI\u2014one that blends innovation with responsibility, and technical skills with human insight.<\/p>\n
Understanding AI: A Foundational Series for Faculty<\/p>\n
Led by Karen Stern-Gabbay, professor of history and director of the Roberta S. Matthews Center for Teaching and Learning, and James T. Eaton, associate dean in the Provost\u2019s Office, this workshop series will bring expert speakers to campus to guide faculty through key topics such as technological disruption, ethics, and curriculum design.<\/p>\n
Open to both full- and part-time instructors, the program is designed to build confidence and shared understanding around AI in the classroom.<\/p>\n
Faking It: A Global Workshop Series<\/p>\n
AI\u2019s cultural and creative implications are also a focus. Distinguished Professor of Film Alexandra Juhasz, in collaboration with filmmaker Nishant Shah, is leading \u201cFaking It,\u201d a global workshop series examining questions of authenticity, knowledge, and human connection in an AI-mediated world. With sessions planned in New York and Hong Kong, the project will explore how emerging technologies reshape storytelling, perception, and social relationships.<\/p>\n
You can see all the projects listed here.<\/p>\n
Myles Bassell (Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship) \u2013 AI Literacy in Business Education: Scaling a Proven Model at the Koppelman School of Business.
\nApril Bedford (Academic Affairs) \u2013 Faculty AI Bootcamp: Developing Critical AI Literacy, Course Policies, and Pedagogical Innovation.
\nHui Chen (Computer and Information Science) \u2013 Human-in-the-Loop Just-in-Time AI Auto-Tutoring: A Pilot for CUNY Pathways Courses.
\nCarol Connell (Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship) \u2013 AI, Decision-Making, and Business Strategy Integrated Capstone.
\nJames Eaton (Academic Affairs) \u2013 Understanding AI: A Foundational Series for Faculty.
\nAlexandra Juhasz (Film) \u2013 Faking It: AI Education and Literacy.
\nDevorah Kletenik \u2013 (Computer and Information Science) Designing With Ethics: Exploring AI-Enhanced Dark Patterns.
\nSwan Kim (English) \u2013 Critical AI Literacy for the Public Good: A CUNY-Scalable Ethical Foundations Module Reaching All Incoming Students.
\nSandra Kingan (Mathematics) \u2013 AI-Supported Math Foundations Studio.
\nAnjali Krishnan (Psychology) \u2013 Promoting Responsible AI Use in Skill-Based and Writing-Intensive Courses.
\nJennifer McCoy; Jonathan Zalben (Art, Conservatory of Music) \u2013 AI Initiative in the Arts.
\nMartha Nadell and Hui Chen (English, Computer and Information Science) \u2013 Writing For the Future: An Integrated English\/Computer and Information Sciences Minor.
\nHyuna Park and Katherine Chuang (Finance, Computer and Information Science) \u2013 Using AI Tools to Create Synergy Between Finance and Computer Science Education.
\nNgoc (Cindy) Pham (Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship) \u2013 CUNY AI Literacy and Professional Readiness Micro-Credential Series With Global Expert Partners.
\nLaura Rifkin (Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship) \u2013 Addressing Food Insecurities.
\nLulu Song (Early Childhood Education\/Art Education) \u2013 AI-Supported Professional Preparation for Early Childhood Teachers Working With Dual Language Learners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooklyn College is advancing its leadership in artificial intelligence education with a series of newly funded initiatives supported…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[75876,98,100,99,75877,75878,75879,75880,75881,75882,75883,75884,9,24,75885,63,75886],"class_list":{"0":"post-189180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-alexandra-juhasz","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-carol-m-connell","13":"tag-frimette-kass-shraibman","14":"tag-james-t-eaton","15":"tag-karen-stern-gabbay","16":"tag-laura-rifkin","17":"tag-lulu-song","18":"tag-merih-uctum","19":"tag-myles-bassell","20":"tag-new-york","21":"tag-new-york-city","22":"tag-ngoc-cindy-pham","23":"tag-nyc","24":"tag-sunil-mohanty"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}