Student-led GUARD event opens academic year with campus conversations on AI
As Mississippi State began a new academic year, students were already helping shape the university’s conversation about artificial intelligence (AI).
By AI Hub Team
The Group for Undergraduate AI Research and Development (GUARD) brought students, faculty, and professionals together for “AI Unfiltered: The Discussion Your Syllabus Missed,” a student-led event exploring how AI is changing learning, work, and decision-making across disciplines.
Student voices were central to the event. A student panel featuring Leila Alvarado, a marketing student; Evan Garrison, an aerospace engineering and mathematics student; and Joshua King, a statistics PhD student; gave participants the opportunity to hear directly from Bulldogs about how they are encountering and using AI, bringing the perspective of those navigating the technology in their coursework and daily lives.
Alvarado focused on how AI is reshaping marketing and retail, advocating that students should prepare for its growing role in future careers while preserving their creativity. Garrison examined AI applications in aerospace and argued that while AI applications are crucial, engineering students need to maintain strong technical foundations to implement such technologies safely. Finally, King explained how AI and analytics are being applied across college athletics to support more informed decisions in operations and strategy.
A professional panel also broadened the conversation, with perspectives from Lance Atchley, M.D., an anesthesiologist at OCH Regional Medical Center; Dr. Regina Hyatt, MSU Vice President for Student Affairs; Dr. Keith Moser, Professor of French and Francophone Studies and French section head in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures; and Andre Kemp, Project Manager in MSU’s Office of Technology Management.
Atchley discussed AI’s potential in medicine, including opportunities to better use data and reduce professional burnout, while emphasizing the importance of trust and AI literacy. Hyatt focused on how students experience AI and the need to build AI literacy without sacrificing opportunities for learning and meaningful human interaction. Moser approached AI through the humanities and critical thinking, emphasizing the importance of teaching students when (and when not) to rely on AI. Kemp focused on practical workplace applications, including opportunities to use AI to reduce busywork while keeping human judgment at the center.
Across those different perspectives, a common theme emerged: effective AI use requires more than knowing how to operate a tool. Students and professionals need the judgment to determine when AI can help, when its output should be questioned and when the thinking should remain distinctly human.
For GUARD, the event is only a starting point. The student organization plans to conduct AI-related research alongside faculty of MSU and to continue hosting events that give Bulldogs a platform to discuss and understand how AI can be integrated into higher education.