USF鈥檚 new Master of Science in AI program welcomes students without deep computing backgrounds.
As one of USF鈥檚 first master鈥檚 students studying AI, Charitie Martino wants to fuse computer modeling with how the mind works.
She wants to take those hard-to-pin-down concepts in psychology 鈥� things like memory, attention, and learning 鈥� throw them into models that AI computers can test, and measure to see what happens. The end result? Hopefully, some definitive answers on how humans take in information and how perception works.
As a graduate student in the new USF Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing, she will draw heavily on her psychology and clinical science background.
鈥淚 want to take concepts that can sometimes be vague, like attention or resonance, and be able to match them up with algorithms with specific measurable parameters,鈥� she said.
Martino describes herself as an aspiring computational and experimental neuroscientist. She was drawn to the MSAI program because of USF鈥檚 commitment to interdisciplinary research and its faculty experts. And a love of math.
From people to programs
Martino鈥檚 first steps in research were firmly rooted in psychology. As an undergraduate, she studied mindset theory and organizational lay theory in a social psychology lab. She earned a USF bachelor鈥檚 degree in the field in 2014. After graduation, she sought out new opportunities to stay active in research.
She joined the DataWiz-IN Scholars program at Indiana University鈥檚 Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering as a lab scholar, where she worked in a bioinformatics lab. She conducted a pilot study to test for visual complexity and cognitive overload related to the development of virtual reality therapy for traumatic brain injury patients. Her project placed patients in a virtual kitchen where they followed simple directions, like chopping onions and making soup. Subjects faced different kitchen environments, which fluctuated in complexity depending on what the patient could withstand. Researchers studied how much visual complexity they could handle and the work led to an article in the National Library of Medicine magazine.
鈥淚 was really on the psychology cognitive science side, doing a lot of literature reviews and pilot studies related to how we even define visual complexity and cognitive overload,鈥� she said.
Those experiences got her thinking differently. Psychology gave her important insights, but the questions she kept returning to -- like how humans take in information and how perception works -- were increasingly mathematical and computational.
鈥淲hat I was finding was that I kept returning to more theoretical mathematical questions,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was more interested in how there can be physical constants for human perception. I'm drawn more to computational and quantitative approaches, which led me to artificial intelligence.鈥�
Returning to her roots
After taking some time off to start a family, Martino began brushing up on math and computer science courses, simply for the joy of learning. And she joined the memory modeling lab at USF.
She began working with Associate Professor Chad Dub茅 in USF鈥檚 Department of Psychology, whose work focuses on building mathematical models of memory and decision-making. It gave Martino a chance to see how psychology and computation could come together.
鈥淚t was the first time I鈥檇 seen a psychology lab use math so deeply!鈥� she said. 鈥淗e uses more computational modeling, differential equations, to mathematically model what he studies in the lab, which I found just fascinating,鈥� she said.
Her work there centered on adaptive resonance theory, which she used to explore equations that could describe the 鈥渟erial position effect鈥� which explains why people tend to remember the first and last items on a list best.
Her questions quickly grew to span both fields. She wondered, 鈥淗ow do cognitive science and neuroscience offer biologically plausible solutions to AI networks, but then also, on the flip side, how do these computational networks offer more precision, more universality to experimental data?鈥�
The psychological connection to AI
It was Dub茅 who encouraged Martino to consider USF鈥檚 new MS in AI. He learned about the new program from the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing launch dean, Sudeep Sarkar. Martino had been leaning toward a psychology program, but the new MSAI, which emphasizes interdisciplinary application, career readiness and hands-on learning, provided a better home for her computational interests.
She plans to explore USF鈥檚 broad network of labs and faculty who work across psychology, AI and human-computer interaction. Faculty such as John Licato and Shaun Canavan demonstrate how the new college brings interdisciplinary expertise under one roof, an approach that directly attracted Martino to the program.
鈥淲ith the MSAI, I am hoping for and expecting it to teach me more formalization,鈥� she said. 鈥淭aking concepts like attention or resonance and being able to match them up with algorithms with specific measurable parameters.鈥�
The chance to simulate brain processes excites her most. 鈥淭o think that I could simulate a brain process that I鈥檓 not doing an experiment on necessarily yet, or maybe I鈥檓 matching it to that data, is just so fascinating,鈥� she said.
She also looks forward to diving into areas that are new to her, such as machine learning and neural networks.
鈥淚 have just a very fuzzy understanding of the different types of neural networks and how they鈥檙e used and if they can be combined or not. I have so many questions.鈥�
Looking ahead
鈥淢y preferred learning is in-class, but I work part time, and my daughters go to school in St. Pete, so I am taking two courses in person and two online. I like the availability and flexibility that the program offers, and that it can lead to further options.鈥�
She plans to pursue a doctoral degree, gain research experience, and hopes to present at conferences 鈥� and mentor her two school-age daughters along the way.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e come with me to some conferences where I have presented and my 12-year-old just gets up there with everyone whos asking questions. How cool is it that they get to interact with researchers and philosophers and things like that?鈥�
Motherhood, she added, has shaped her perspective as a student. 鈥淚 have just this greater tolerance for ambiguity and an appreciation for human development and perspective taking. It鈥檚 made me become a different student than who I was when I got my undergrad.鈥�
Martino envisions her children celebrating milestones alongside her. 鈥淲e jokingly say too that by the time I graduate with my PhD, my eldest daughter might be graduating from high school, and my younger one from middle school.鈥�
And she is okay with that. She advises her daughters and her fellow students to try something new, no matter where you are in life.
鈥淏e willing to be a beginner at something and ask questions,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou will benefit so much more by doing than just thinking about these things.鈥�