URSINUS MAGAZINE ViewNew The
Ursinus’s Human-Machine Intelligent Systems Lab is a lens through which to experience the A.I. revolution.
INNOVATION. DISCOVERY. INQUIRY.
Donate to the Ursinus Fund by December 31 to OPEN DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY for today’s Bears!
Visit ursinus.edu/year-end-giving or scan the QR code to give online now.
Call us at 610-409-3585 or mail a check to:
Ursinus College Advancement Office 601 E. Main Street Collegeville, PA 19426
The Ursinus Fund OPEN THE DOOR TO 2024
SUPPORT OUR BEARS FOR GENERATIONS TO COME THROUGH GIFT PLANNING! Make the most of your calendar year 2023 tax savings by exploring a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA, a Charitable Gift Annuity, a gift of appreciated securities, or more.
READY TO TALK ABOUT YOUR PHILANTHROPY?
Contact Michelle Yurko, vice president for advancement, at 215-888-6978 or myurko@ursinus.edu, to start the conversation.
URSINUS MAGAZINE
VOLUME #141 FALL 2023
PRESIDENT
Robyn Hannigan
VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT
Michelle Yurko
VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
Tom Yencho
MANAGING EDITOR
Ed Moorhouse
DESIGN TEAM
Steve Thomas Lexi Macht
CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ISSUE
Photography: Douglas Benedict, David Morgan, Margo Reed, and Jim Roese
Editorial: Jacqueline D’Ercole, Ben Seal, and Jennifer Meininger Wolfe
ONLINE MAGAZINE
Erin Hovey ’96
Ursinus Magazine is published seasonally two times a year and digitally four times a year. Update your contact information at ursinus.edu/updatecontact
Copyright © 2023 by Ursinus College.
Editorial correspondence and submissions: Ursinus Magazine
601 E. Main Street Collegeville, PA 19426 610-409-3000 ucmag@ursinus.edu
Dear Readers,
I’m proud to present to you a newly redesigned Ursinus Magazine! Lately, we’ve been producing a leaner version of this publication, but—given all our positive momentum over the past year—the time was right for a change.
It comes down to this: We love telling the Ursinus story in engaging ways that highlight the dynamic experiences of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. We have a lot to be proud of, and by refreshing the design of Ursinus Magazine, we didn’t want to just tell you about all the great things happening on campus. We wanted to show you.
First, you’ll note a change to the cover—the Ursinus Magazine masthead has been replaced by our U, pulled right out of our shield. It’s simple, yet powerful and unmistakably Ursinus, and doing so creates a new, distinctive identity for the magazine. The editorial and creative team were also inspired to create a more elegant, modern publication that refines the overall reading experience and allows for more space—more openness—and flexibility on each page. We’ve added more campus news; sections dedicated to arts and athletics; and we’ve rebranded our popular “Getting to Know” feature as “Bear Bites.” Moving forward, our photography will be more purposeful and allow the personality of our subjects to shine.
We’re just getting started. Our talented writers and designers will continue to make subtle changes to future issues to give you the best reading experience possible, and don’t forget to check out ursinus.edu/ magazine for exclusive digital content, including video features. Most importantly, we want to hear from you! Email ucmag@ursinus.edu tell us what you like and what stories you’d like to read in the future.
Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,
Robyn Hannigan President
STUDY BREAK Ursinus students take advantage of the good weather and study on the second-floor outdoor terrace of the Schellhase Commons.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence are making an impact on every industry. At Ursinus, faculty researchers and students are beginning to explore its endless possibilities.
Lean On Me
To conclude our three-part series on the college’s commitment to the well-being of people, places, and planet, we look at how students serve as supporters, educators, and role models.
Pitch Perfect
Vonnie Gros ’57 built a hall of fame legacy—and did it her own way. She reflects on a legendary career as a true pioneer in women’s athletics.
LIFE IN PIXELS
View move-in day through our lens! In August, Ursinus welcomed its new class of Bears to campus during a reimagined academic convocation ceremony.
THE
DEN
PHOTO: MARGO REED
LEADERSHIP DINNER
President Robyn Hannigan poses with Allie Nenish ’25, the student speaker for the annual leadership dinner, held Thursday, October 5, at the Phoenixville Foundry to celebrate the college’s most engaged, loyal, and generous benefactors and volunteers.
NEWS IN BRIEF: RESEARCH FRONTIERS
ON THE BRAIN
Professor of Biology Carlita Favero has been awarded a $349,738 grant from The Alcohol Institute and the National Institutes of Health to study the link between alcohol’s impact on brain development and substance use disorders. Favero had long studied the mechanisms underlying alcohol’s effects on the brain’s wiring during its development, and now she’s piloting a new, mostly unchartered research area that explores alcohol’s impact on dopaminergic axons, which control attention, impulse control, and executive function.
SOLVING THE PROBLEM
In neurogenerative diseases, one of the underlying issues is a misfolding
of proteins—something that can be very toxic to cells. Understanding what triggers that misfolding is the focus of research happening at Ursinus, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is ensuring that important work continues via a $418,000 grant renewal to Professor of Biology Dale Cameron. Thanks to the funding, Cameron’s student researchers have been able to present their work at national conferences.
BRAVE IN SEASON
Professor of English Jon Volkmer has penned a new book, Brave in Season, that serves as a love letter to his hometown of Julian, Neb. The book is a fictionalized version of a rumored baseball game that may have taken
place in Julian in the 1950s. It’s a story that weaves railroads, race relations, and America’s pastime, and it’s accompanied by interviews with people of the Julian community.
ENERGY IMPACT
As part of the college’s growing civic, cultural, and economic partnership with neighboring Phoenixville, Ursinus got an early look at the nation’s first municipally owned hydrothermal carbonization system, PVXNEO, at Phoenixville’s wastewater treatment plant.
Students in the “Energy and the Environment” linked-inquiry course taught by Professor of Physics Lew Riley and Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tristan Ashcroft were invited to tour the
PHOTO: MARGO REED
NEWS IN BRIEF: URSINUS IN THE COMMUNITY
SUPPORTING RECOVERY
Recovery-Friendly Workplaces, a nonprofit that works to support staff in or seeking recovery from mental and behavioral health conditions, certified Ursinus as the first Recovery-Friendly Workplace that is a college. To further that commitment, the college hosted, with U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a panel discussion on how higher education institutions can serve as incubators for recovery-friendly innovation.
LEADING THE CONVERSATION
On Thursday, Sept. 28, Ursinus hosted a panel discussion on human trafficking, organized by Pennsylvania State Rep. Joe Webster. He has introduced legislation to combat the issue. State senators and representatives, as well as law enforcement, county, and health care leaders, all attended the event in the Schellhase Commons.
LEGACIES OF SLAVERY
Ursinus faculty and staff joined community leaders last summer to embark on an initiative exploring the long-lasting impact of slavery in the region. “Legacies of American Slavery: Reckoning with the Past” is an initiative of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at the MacMillan Center at Yale University in collaboration with the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).
BEARS ON THE HILL
Looking to connect their inclass policy work to the outside world, students from Assistant Professor Brie Berry’s Special Topics in Environmental Studies class visited the Pennsylvania state capitol on October 4 to meet with elected officials. They learned how their studies could begin to shape the environment in Collegeville and across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
facility last semester.
Previously the wastewater treatment facility used a biological digester system. That process produced natural gas which can be captured and used, but it’s not fossil fuel.
“The natural gas you get out of this bio digestion is actually waste that’s coming in through the sewage. It’s not dinosaurs or ancient stuff that’s buried underground, so it’s actually greener, but it’s still putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” Riley said.
Now at PVXNEO (Phoenixville New Energy Optimization), the hydrothermal carbonization system—which is the first large-scale system of its kind in the U.S.—will transform waste into hydrochar, a coal-like substance that can be used as fuel or fertilizer.
An upcoming exhibition at the Berman Museum of Art will bring fresh perspectives and new scholarship surrounding the work of a late Mexican photographer who has been under-recognized in the U.S. The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage awarded the Berman $245,900 to support Enrique Bostelmann: Apertures and Borderscapes in 2024. The exhibition will contribute to an ongoing intergenerational dialogue regarding the work of artists for whom Mexico and concepts of Mexican identity loom large.
AT THE BERMAN
BEAR BITES
AIDAN NADELL ’25 concludes each email he writes with a simple reminder: “Stay smiling.” Chances are you’ve seen him around campus without even knowing it. He’s often spreading Ursinus pride everywhere he goes as the Bear mascot. Get to know Aidan.
UM: Aidan is co-president of Hillel, philanthropy chair for his Greek organization (Phi Kappa Sigma), a gold ambassador (tour guide), and a first-year student advisor.
AN : I want to take my Ursinus experience and use it to better the world. I’ll always remember when I first toured campus. People were kind to me. I’ve had some tough times here, but throughout my experience, my professors have had my back. If I was at another place, I might have dropped out. Ursinus has allowed me to be a more independent, confident version of myself.
UM: He’s writing a book to help high school students navigate their college experience.
AN : It’s called, Dear Anxious Student: How to Survive the College Transition . College is only four years. What’s going to happen afterward? I was putting so much pressure on myself to have everything figured out before I graduate. But you can’t overwhelm yourself with the burden of knowing exactly what you want to do with the rest of your life. I have about 65 pages written—it’s a work in progress. I hope to find some meaning in helping other students.
UM: His self-initiated major is “Behavioral Economics,” which combines business and psychology, but he’s not limiting his own career aspirations.
URSINUS MAGAZINE : Thanks to the encouragement of Ursinus President Robyn Hannigan, Aidan honed his craft as a college mascot at Keystone Mascots Camp last summer, where he learned choreography, skits, and technical skills.
AIDAN NADELL : It culminated in a mascot birthday party at a minor league baseball game. I had never stood on a dugout before! The biggest takeaway, though, was that it is important to take [being a mascot] seriously. You have to treat it as a serious job because you’re taking care of the costume and the persona. I’m representing the college when I’m in the suit, so if I take it seriously, then others will, too.
UM: He first put on the Bear suit at homecoming as a firstyear student and he has embraced the role ever since.
AN : I’m really grateful to Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow (STAT) because being involved in that organization gave me a chance to become the mascot. I’m a pretty high-energy person. I have a fair amount of experience working with kids. And I love just making people smile and making them happy. It’s my favorite job that I’ve ever had.
UM: Aidan is a huge Philadelphia 76ers fan, so it should come as no surprise who he lists as his favorite mascot.
AN : I’m in awe of Franklin the Dog. He enters games rappelling from the ceiling. I can only imagine that. I don’t have the skills to make behind-the-back half-court shots, but I’m working on it!
UM: “Stay Smiling” isn’t just a mantra, it’s Aidan’s way of giving back to the community. He is the founder of Spread Smiles Movement, which raises money for children’s charities.
AN : My long-term goal would be president of Ursinus College. Why not shoot for the moon? Worst comes to worst, I’ll end up among the stars.
AN : It started during the COVID pandemic because there was rampant negativity in the air. I was working at a preschool that was in the process of building a new playground when the school closed for COVID. I wanted to help fundraise for the playground, so I made bracelets, shirts, and other “smiling” products. All of the proceeds went to the playground, and then I began supporting other organizations as well. I wanted to help make a difference.
PHOTO: DOUGLAS BENEDICT
OFFICE SPACE
By Jennifer Meininger Wolfe
Scientists by day. Woodworkers by night (and weekends).
Emily Schleicher Worrilow ’16 and Jim Worrilow ’16 are the skilled craftspeople behind Worrilow Woodworking, an in-home business built on entrepreneurship, art, and science. Oh, and a whole lot of sanding.
What started in early 2020 as a fun hobby in a one-car garage has grown into an impressive side hustle in Hamburg, Pa.
By day, Emily, who earned her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from Penn State College of Medicine 18 months ago, is an oncology consultant for Fenix Group International specializing in breast and ovarian cancer.
Jim works in manufacturing science and technology at Johnson & Johnson, writing the manufacturing recipes so lotions and creams can go from raw materials to the shelf.
Even if you didn’t know Emily and Jim were scientists, it would quickly become apparent in listening to them talk about woodworking. There’s the percentage of moisture content in southeastern Pennsylvania air and how it impacts their medium; the way wood adapts to its environment; and the chemistry at the root of the formula for epoxy (a colorful substance used on some projects).
“There’s a lot more science in woodworking than you’d think,” said Emily.
The trade—even if only on a parttime basis—comes by her honestly. Her grandfather was a carpenter, and she and Jim are proud to own and use some of his tools. The onetime studio art minor says her favorite projects involve epoxy and wall art. “Having someone hang your work in their house is really meaningful.”
She describes Jim as a natural artist, who can “just look at something and draw it perfectly.”
“I feel like we’re all artists,” he said. “You just try to find a medium to express
your creativity. We’re expressing our creativity through wood.”
Entrepreneurs at heart, the Worrilows had to learn all aspects of the business, such as sourcing materials, creating a website, and launching social media accounts. With more than 6,500 followers on Instagram—and one Reel that has nearly a million views—their @worrilowwoodworking account is their primary vehicle for sales.
Nearly all of their wood is locally sourced so it’s primarily Pennsylvania trees that make up their tables, kitchen blocks, cutting and charcuterie boards, serving trays, lazy Susans, and coasters.
After moving last year, the shop is now an expanded two-car garage with a separate shed for storage. They carve out time to work on projects when their 1-year-old, Archie, is sleeping.
“When we started and we saw something handcrafted, immediately the first question—and I guess that’s the scientist in us—was, ‘How?’” said Jim. “How do you make it? Where do you start? What’s the process?”
Self-taught in all ways of the business, they credit that natural curiosity for motivating them to figure out the process, which is mill, cut, sand, finish.
“It’s so many hours of sanding,” said Emily.
“It feels like 99.99%,” joked Jim, “but it is about 80% of our time. It takes the longest because if you rush that step, then you can see the flaws in the finish. You need to put in that effort and all that time if you want a good product. If it wasn’t taking a long time, we probably would be cutting some corners. That time means that you’re doing it right.”
PHOTOS: MARGO REED
I feel like we’re all artists. You just try to find a medium to express your creativity. We’re expressing our creativity through wood.
— Jim Worrilow ’16
ViewNew The
How an Ursinus lab is threading machine learning and the human element.
Bill Mongan was feeling uncertain. He had been called upon by colleagues in Drexel University’s Center for Functional Fabrics who needed help solving a problem he thought was beyond his expertise. They were attempting to decipher the data gathered by a piece of clothing woven with powerful technology that could detect concerning biological markers in women with highrisk pregnancies, or in babies susceptible to sleep apnea.
Using radio frequency identification technology and thread made out of a minuscule antenna, the researchers could identify a wireless signal that shifted with each breath or contraction. But the signal was full of noise, an illegible mess of information filled with artifacts created by the surrounding environment.
teaching professor of computer science at Drexel, now an associate professor at Ursinus and founder of the HumanMachine Intelligent Systems Lab. When he walked into that room, in 2013, he joined an electrical engineer, a sociologist, a fashion designer, and an OB-GYN who was still in scrubs after delivering a baby earlier that day.
“I thought, ‘I don’t belong here. This is not a place for me,’” Mongan said. “I don’t know anything about babies. I took one biology class as a kid.”
By Ben Seal
Enter Mongan, then an associate
Mongan thought he would introduce himself and never see those people again. Instead, his skills allowed the team to understand the meaning of the data they were generating. By applying signal processing and unsupervised machine learning—advanced mathematical methods that use algorithms to identify otherwise invisible patterns in a data set—he helped his colleagues clean up the noise, find the signal, and identify the
respiratory rate the fabric was designed to track.
“Thank God you’re here,” the doctor told him, “because practitioners don’t know how to do any of that stuff.”
For Mongan, the experience was transformative. Aided by his collaborators’ confidence, he expanded his comfort zone to tackle a challenge that had seemed to exceed the scope of his training. He stayed on the project, known as the belly band, and his research eventually became the subject of his Ph.D. in computer engineering. Years later, he’s carried forward the lessons he learned from it: the power of pushing one’s boundaries and the critical role of interdisciplinary breadth in innovation.
Now, he is working alongside Ursinus students and faculty to explore the potential for machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve human well-being, including an intercollegiate effort to further study the belly band with those same Drexel colleagues. His lab has supported research with implications for health care, radar tracking, digital privacy, astrophysics, and education about machine learning itself—a range of fields as varied as the liberal arts will allow. It embodies an idea that first struck Mongan in that meeting a decade ago.
“This is bigger than any one of us,” he said. “This wouldn’t exist without all of us.”
TWO SIDES OF THE COIN
The Human-Machine Intelligent Systems Lab isn’t a physical space. Perhaps appropriately, given that its focus is on applying computer intelligence to real-world problems, it exists somewhere in the ether. To enter, all it takes is a computer with enough power to operate a state-of-the-art graphics processing unit. Mongan launched the lab after coming to Ursinus in 2020, hoping to
bring research—or, as he thinks of it, “discovery” or “inquiry”—to the everyday student experience. “It felt like planting the seeds and reinvesting in the next generation,” Mongan said.
At Ursinus, he wanted to create a space for students to engage in their disparate fields with a shared language rooted in his field. The lab isn’t just for computer science students, though; even taking the college’s artificial intelligence course isn’t required. They need only to be interested in exploring how AI and machine learning affect people and eager to find ways to improve that relationship.
The lab’s name is intentionally broad, suggesting that its work uses mathematical modeling to consider intelligent computing systems from a human-centric perspective. Its projects cohere around two goals that should go hand-in-hand but are too often treated as distinct concepts. One half of the lab’s vision is focused on applying machine learning to biomedical research and the internet of things—the growing conglomeration of devices containing sensors that communicate data to each other and the cloud. The other half is about ensuring the security and privacy that can keep AI horror stories from coming to fruition.
“We believe those two need to develop together,” Mongan said. “They need to happen in the same room, because they’re not going to morph together by accident.”
CUTTING-EDGE CONCERNS
Mongan recently decided to sign up for Facebook and was told, much to his surprise, that he was not a real person. Somehow, the algorithms working behind the scenes to keep the social network from being overrun by bots and scammers had determined that he was suspicious.
“That’s clearly a mistake that’s easy to fix,” Mongan said, “but there’s no person
Bill Mongan, machine learning offers a lens through which to view the world around us and can be applied to all disciplines.
To
This is bigger than any one of us. This wouldn’t exist without all of us.
— Bill Mongan
behind that decision that you can talk to and impeach.”
In his case, the harm was minimal, but similar flaws in AI systems have done significant damage. Unchecked AI (like racist chatbots, gender bias in recruiting, and discriminatory bank lending) has a tendency to exacerbate flaws in data sets that reflect humanity’s own historical faults and biases. Mongan and the members of his lab, which by now includes more than a dozen students and several faculty members, want machines
to act with humans in mind—and humans to do the inverse.
“There’s this tool working either for or against people, but they don’t have the knowledge to communicate about it and make those decisions,” said Kevin Hoffman ’23, who came to Ursinus focused on biology but eventually found his way to Mongan’s course on computer science programming.
Hoffman’s interest in AI and machine
CONTINUED ON PAGE 38
PHOTO:
DOUGLAS BENEDICT
By Jennifer Meininger Wolfe
upport takes many forms on campus. Physical spaces— and the people who staff them—such as the Institute for Student Success, the Institute for Inclusion and Equity, the office of disability and access, the wellness center, the Hive (home to the health promotion office), and the offices of residence life and religious and spiritual life are top of mind when it comes to support on campus.
All offer vitally important services and are the building blocks behind the “One Ursinus” pillar of the “Quest for Success” strategic framework. Beyond those areas lies perhaps one of the greatest sources of support: the students themselves.
Feeling heard and feeling seen can make all the difference for a person facing a hardship, and everyone interviewed for this story agreed that very often that type of support is especially meaningful when it comes from a peer.
Resident advisors are often the first point of contact for students who need help.
Joshua Odebode ’24 is a
health and exercise physiology major from Toms River, N.J. He is also a member of the football team, a participant in the emerging leaders academy (ELA) for student-athletes, and a researcher in the REPS (Resistance Exercise Physiology Sports) lab. This semester, he added “resident advisor” (RA) to his resume.
It’s not common for seniors to become resident advisors, but it’s a role Odebode has been contemplating since he was a first-year student. Now in his fourth year, and bolstered by lessons learned in the ELA, he felt the time was right to make an impact.
As an RA in Paisley Hall, which is one of the dorms dedicated solely to first-year students, Odebode promotes an opendoor policy to his residents. “I tell them, ‘If you ever need to talk about anything, whether it be relationships with your roommate or people back home, academics, or athletics,
don’t ever be afraid to knock on my door and come talk to me because I’ll always be there. I was once in your shoes so I’m able to help and be that shoulder to lean on.’”
For Odebode, the importance of peer-supported initiatives on campus comes down to one key aspect: relatability. “When it’s student to student, we are taking the same classes, doing the same things, so we are really able to feel what they feel.”
Taking it a step further, beyond the benefits of housing for first-year students, the college’s special interest (SPINT) and affinity housing program creates space for students to live and find support in the camaraderie of a community. SPINT housing gives students an option to reside with those who share their interests and passions (current
Last year, in “Here to Help”—our story about the creation of the Health and Wellness Division and the college’s efforts to prioritize mental-health initiatives on campus—we spotlighted some of the departments and groups that offer support to students. Now, to conclude our three-part series on the college’s commitment, under the international Okanagan Charter, to the well-being of people, places, and planet, we are doing a deeper dive into how students serve as supporters, educators, and role models.
SPINT homes are International Culture House and Writing and the Arts House). Affinity housing offers students who self-identify within a historically marginalized population the opportunity to live together, share salient social identities, and engage in programming that explores various aspects of those identities (current affinity homes are Community of Diverse Excellence, Hillel House, and Queer House).
Similar to Odebode, Maddie Benfield ’25 wants to help her residents feel a sense of comfort and “make Ursinus College their home away from home.” As one of the RAs assigned to the college’s residential village on Main Street, she oversees
Lean on me
A system of student-led support
residents in two homes, one of which is a SPINT house.
“SPINT and affinity housing is important for students’ sense of belonging,” said the biology and education double major from Glendora, N.J. She’s also a strong advocate for fostering collaboration with other residential areas, allowing students to support, connect with, and learn from communities they may not have otherwise encountered.
In addition to RAs, each SPINT and affinity community has a
program leader who facilitates activities that align with the house theme or identity. Program leaders are supported by a graduate assistant, Reese Goodlin ’23, and they tend to be upperclass students whose experiences allow them to serve as mentors for housemates.
“Affinity housing is especially important because our students from historically marginalized populations are able
to live in a community together. It is these students who most often struggle to see their identities represented in other students, faculty, and staff across campus,” said Director of Residence Life Alyssa Caffarelli Murphy ’13. “If we want students from marginalized identities to feel a true sense of belonging at Ursinus, it is critical that we offer and cultivate spaces for them that celebrate their identity and
Everyone goes through things, and we all do it together. Knowing the girl sitting next to you in class is going through the same things really helps you understand that you’re not alone.
Elisabeth Tucker ’24
help foster connection with others who share their identity.”
Like many Ursinus students, Benfield wears multiple hats on campus. She is also the secretary of UC Possibilities, a club that was founded by Sophie Louis ’24, who is also president.
The group promotes accessibility for and awareness of hidden disabilities, which can be physical or mental. Members also work to reduce stigma regarding disabilities and make the campus more inclusive. The group is working to establish an accessibility committee within the Student Government Association and implement an accessibility checklist to encourage inclusivity (such as meal options for those with food allergies, sensitivities, or preferences).
A psychology major from Sykesville, Md., Louis chose Ursinus in part due to its multiple avenues of support—which have only grown due to the progress she helped initiate.
In addition to her role in UC Possibilities, Louis is also the student lead for UCrew (Ursinus Cultivating Respect, Education, and Wellness), which is a group of nationally certified peer educators who raise awareness about well-being and substance-use disorder, support those who choose sobriety, educate students on harm-reduction strategies, and create a supportive environment for everyone.
“When everyone’s looking for a college, they’re looking for a supportive, inclusive community, and I think that’s the main theme for both of my groups,” said Louis. “We are trying to increase that support and inclusivity [so that] students are able to do their best in college and be set up for success.”
Elisabeth Tucker ’24 is also a member of UC Possibilities and president of yet another club that seeks to support students. The Hidden Opponent (THO) is a national nonprofit organization that focuses on mental health in athletics (although the Ursinus chapter is open to the entire Ursinus community regardless of athletic status).
A member of the gymnastics team who hails from Marlborough, Mass., Tucker says the peer-to-peer acknowledgement provided by student-run clubs helps prevent feelings of isolation.
“Everyone goes through things, and we all do it together,” said the biology major. “Knowing the girl sitting next to you in class is going through the same things really helps you understand that you’re not alone. It’s not someone you don’t know saying, ‘Oh, it gets better,’ but it’s someone you’re going to see around campus.”
Members of THO work to spread awareness about—and facilitate connections with—the resources available on campus. “We have a lot resources available on campus and not everyone knows about them.”
In addition to providing support to those who ask for it outright, Tucker has been empowered by her roles to initiate conversations when she suspects someone could use help. “What I’ve learned from THO and from my own struggles, I think I’m a little bit more in tune to those subtle changes that not everyone picks up on,” said Tucker. “I recognize someone’s
VONNIE GROS ’57 built a hall of fame legacy—and did it her own way.
Pitch PERFECT
By Ed Moorhouse
onnie Gros ’57 picks up a dry erase coach’s board and begins to sketch out a field hockey formation. She’s done this thousands of times, and it comes naturally. It’s conjured from decades of experience—she is a composer writing music; a mathematician jotting down a formula.
Gros (pronounced GROW) is 88. She’s sharp. Nothing slips past her, and she’s quick with a joke. The coach is always a step ahead, constantly evaluating.
“I enjoyed bringing new things to the game,” Gros said. “Some people I played with didn’t always appreciate what I did because we were coached a certain way. When I watch [pick-up] games—the players make up their own game. I used to make up my own game.”
Sometimes the best coaches and players are like jazz musicians: They improvise. They keep opposing teams off balance by doing something unexpected, and when the opponent adjusts, they change it again. Perhaps that approach made others bristle, but that’s Vonnie. She’s against the grain. Fundamentally sound? Yes. Willing to draw up a back-of-the-napkin play to bewilder a defense? Absolutely.
Why play by the book when you can keep rewriting it?
When Vonnie Gros came to Ursinus College in the mid-1950s, she embarked on one of the school’s most celebrated athletic careers. She was an All-American in field hockey and lacrosse, and a national champion as a player and coach. She played on the U.S. National Field Hockey Team for 13 years and then coached that team to its only Olympic medal in 1984.
Gros enjoyed a storied coaching career at West Chester University and also taught and coached at Ursinus. She is enshrined in the U.S. Field Hockey Hall of Fame, the Ursinus College Hall of Fame for Athletes, the West Chester University Athletics Hall of Fame, the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame, the Chester County Sports Hall of Fame, and the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.
“Vonnie believed that we should do what was necessary to be as competitive as possible, including changing style of play, navigating rule changes so they became an advantage, and playing on the best surface possible,” Ursinus Vice President for Health and Wellness Laura Moliken P’21 said. “The goal was always—and still is—to elevate the game to the next level. She wanted to compete and win, but she made darn sure her teams would go about it the right way. Toplevel play and sportsmanship were key.”
Moliken can trace her own coaching lineage back to Gros. Before she guided national powerhouse Bear field hockey teams to Centennial Conference championships and a 2006 national title, she was a three-time national champion at Old Dominion University under the tutelage of renowned ODU coach and Ursinus alumna Beth Anders ’73, whom Gros coached on the U.S. National Team.
That coaching tree is a veritable who’s who of women who paved the way for the next
She is a true pioneer of women’s athletics, and she cleared a path for many after her…With each person like Vonnie, strength and courage are passed on to the next generation of advocates.
Moliken P’21
generation of women athletes and coaches. At the very top, of course, is Eleanor Frost Snell, the legendary Ursinus coach who advocated for women’s sports decades before Title IX.
In a 2016 interview, the late Margery Watson ’52, one of Gros’s assistants on the U.S. National Team, said, “Ms. Snell produced coaches. That was our legacy.”
So, Snell coached Gros, who coached Anders, who coached Moliken and current Ursinus field hockey coach Janelle Benner.
But every story has a beginning, and long before halls of fame and Olympic games, Gros was a Palmyra High School (N.J.) student who wanted to play as many sports as possible. It might be considered serendipitous that at Palmyra, two of Gros’s teachers and coaches—both Ursinus graduates—were Snell disciples.
Mary Ann “Manny” Ballantyne Porter ’48 and Jane McWilliams Kennedy ’49 took Gros under their wings in high school—or was it the other way around?
Laura
The scoreboard at Eleanor Frost Snell Alumnae Field now bears Vonnie Gros’s name.
“They coached softball,” Gros said. “Manny told me a funny story. She said she told Jane, ‘I don’t know much about softball.’ And Jane said, ‘We better ask Vonnie what to do!’”
Porter and Kennedy knew Gros was considering attending Beaver College (now Arcadia University) because of its physical education program and because she earned a scholarship to attend the school. But Gros’s mentors made their pitch.
“And that’s when I met Ms. Snell,” Gros said.
“She was from Nebraska. She was quiet. But she made it very clear that you had to play the right way, abide by the rules, and accept the officials’ calls,” Gros said. “Ms. Snell coached all sports and that really sunk in with me.”
Gros loved to study both domestic and international play in field hockey and share her thoughts with anyone who would listen. She was influenced by all other sports— including men’s sports.
“I had always heard, ‘We don’t play like the men,’” she said. “Well, I know that, but there are techniques you can learn by watching them and by watching all sports.”
Case in point: Gros had been trying to find an advantage for one of her West Chester University lacrosse players who would always seem out of position and a step behind while
playing defense. To help her player, Gros turned to the gridiron.
“I was watching a football practice when the lightbulb went off,” Gros said. “I saw how the defensive backs used their hips. I thought that could easily be applied to lacrosse.”
Gros asked her player to make an adjustment using the technique of a football defensive back. The strategy paid dividends.
As a field hockey coach, Gros also began to adopt international strategies and styles of play.
“[A traditional formation] used to be 5-3-21,” Gros said. “Well, I had gone over to watch the British play and was thinking on the flight all the way home about how they took one player and moved her back. So, that’s what I did.”
Gros’s willingness to adopt new strategies and to innovate raised eyebrows at the time, she said, but it unlocked potential in her athletes and led to even more success.
“She was very unselfish and felt like our entire country needed to understand the game in the same way,” Moliken said. “There was an ‘American style,’ as she says. She wanted us to embrace that style, but also learn from other countries and then take those lessons and fit them into an American
CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
Gros (left) shows Eleanor Frost Snell her Snell Chair of Health and Physical Education medallion.
life in pixels
WELCOME, NEW BEARS!
The Ursinus community welcomed more than 400 members of the Class of 2027 in August during move-in, Ursinus Day Academic Convocation, and several other exciting events to kick off the new year. Presentations of student and academic life included performances by members of a cappella group B’Naturals and Olivia Lesinski ’26 of Escape Velocity dance troupe, as well as a chemistry magic show by David Laucks Hain Professor of Chemistry Mark Ellison, and a performance of The Complete History of Ursinus College [Abridged] (Condensed).
arts. THE
LIVE from New York
The lights are brightest in New York City and for two years in a row, Voices of Ursinus has shined along with perhaps the most recognizable act on any marquee: The Rockettes. The Ursinus choral group, directed by Nicole Snodgrass, performed during the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular Show at Radio City Music Hall last year, and was invited back this year on November 19.. “Performing on this iconic stage…is such an incredible privilege for the Voices of Ursinus,” Snodgrass said. “I want to inspire them to strive for excellence and, most importantly, to share their talent, beauty, and goodness with the greater world.”
Annie Zulick ’25 as Silvia (left) and Kiran Singh-Lefkovitz ’27 as Sir Eglamour (right) in Two Gentlemen of Verona
SCENES on stage COMING TO THE STAGE THIS SPRING
Fringe Festivals are globally recognized as some of the most vibrant, diverse celebrations of art and culture. And Ursinus’s own festival has been a mainstay on the Montgomery County arts scene for 24 years. This year, Ursinus Fringe—founded by Professor of Theater Domenick Scudera—took place September 13-16 and included guest artists Wil Kilroy and Grant Bowen. Actor and storyteller Bowen brought his solo piece, A Public Private Prayer, which he’s performed at multiple festivals in New York City, to the Ursinus stage. He said, “By having an actual Fringe Festival on campus, where students can experience works-in-progress and interact with guest artists, Ursinus is giving them a really unique opportunity to expand their perception of what performing arts can be.”
Additionally, this fall, Scudera offered his creative interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic, Two Gentlemen of Verona (pictured, left); guest director Tina Brock tackled Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist play, Victims of Duty; and Assistant Professor of Dance Michael J. Love produced his first Ursinus dance concert, Motion, Timbre, & Rhythm.
Everybody
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Domenick Scudera, Professor of Theater
February 22-25
Captain Darling A World Premiere
By Kate Isabel Foley ’23
Directed by Meghan Brodie, Associate Professor of Theater April 4-7
Spring UCDC Concert: Dancing Stories, Weaving Time
Produced by Karen Clemente, Professor of Dance April 25-27
For a video of this year’s Fringe Festival, scan the QR code.
Bears’ Tight End Billy Cook throws a stiff arm during a season-opening 38-6 win over Alvernia.
ON THE FAST TRACK
Patterson Field is sporting a brand-new look.
Home to seven of Ursinus’s varsity athletic teams, Patterson, which was first converted to a turf field in 2011, was resurfaced over the summer and is also surrounded by a new track, which was replaced for the first time in nearly 40 years. The new surfaces provide Ursinus student-athletes with modern, safe amenities that allow them to compete at the highest level while enhancing our coaches’ ability to recruit future Bears.
The $2.3 million project was completed by Beynon Sports and FieldTurf and managed by Activitas Inc. Donor support is essential to completing this project and adding finishing touches such as a videoboard and advanced technology such as streaming capabilities and sound system.
For more information on these athletics facilities improvements and our newly-launched Bears Athletics Club, visit ursinus.edu/supportathletics
PHOTO: DAVID MORGAN
BEARS IN ACTION! Ursinus teams always rise to the occasion. Here are some of the fall’s top highlights:
1
The field hockey team won four games this season against nationally ranked opponents: No. 20 William Smith, No. 23 Lynchburg, No. 18 The College of New Jersey, and No. 25 Swarthmore. They sit in the top 25 of the NFHCA national poll.
2
Men’s Soccer enjoyed the best start to a season in over 30 years at 4-0.
3
The volleyball team, competing for a potential first-ever Centennial Conference Tournament berth, beat Muhlenberg for the first time since 2003.
4
Men’s Cross Country finished second at the LVC Dutchmen Invitational, the highest among Division III schools in a field that also featured Division I and Division II competition.
5
Ryan Bodolus ’24 set a career sacks record for the Ursinus football team.
CLASS NOTES
1980s
Rick Millward ’80 reports that he will be retiring from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) Pilot Bioproduction Facility (PBF) on December 31, 2023, after over 22 years of service. In February 2023, he was inducted into the Order Of Military Medical Merit, the highest honor a civilian can achieve while working in the area of military medicine.
1990s
Allison Puff ’91 is executive vice president of academic affairs at Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, Mo.
2000s
Sabir Peele ’08, who owns a men’s style and lifestyle business, has partnered with two-time Super Bowl champion Malcolm Jenkins and his Philadelphia-based custom fashion house on a new luxury track suit capsule collection.
Alumni representing the Pi Omega Delta fraternity participated in a second annual charity golf outing at Linfield National to support Motley’s Mission, named for Cliff Motley ’97 to support suicide awareness and prevention.
Ursinus alumni gathered at Coca-Cola park in Allentown, Pa., to cheer on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs together on Sunday, August 6. View other alumni events at ursinus.edu/alumni.
their
Cindy and John Fessick ’85 hosted an event for Ursinus alumni, parents, and friends of the college in August at the Stone Harbor Golf Club.
Walter Paul Dull III ’00 and Diane Elizabeth Deslatte celebrated
nuptials on May 13, 2023, in New Orleans, La.
In Memoriam
1940s
Frances “Pat” V. (Wilt) Callahan ’43 died May 20, 2023.
Nancy (Landis) Wood ’43 died April 19, 2023.
David B. Heller ’44 died July 22, 2023.
Jean C. (Caton) Johnson ’47 died June 29, 2023.
Mary Ann “Manny” (Ballantyne) Porter ’48 died August 19, 2023.
Sally B. (Bartsch) Brouse ’49 died July 10, 2023.
Jane B. (Brackin) Donnelly ’49 died July 25, 2023.
Annabelle (Shober) Saylor ’49 died August 13, 2023.
1950s
Wayne E. Pearson ’50 died April 7, 2023.
Alvin E. Tobis ’51 died June 16, 2023.
Mary Justice Medicus ’51 died April 2, 2023.
Doris (Fite) Baum ’52 died June 22, 2023.
Marianne B. (Borkey) McEuen ’52 died April 9, 2023.
Marguerite “Marge” (Spencer) Galuska ’52 died September 4, 2023.
Barbara A. (Roeder) Matthews ’53 died August 31, 2023.
Rosemarie (Swallick) Rudolph ’57 died October 7, 2022.
Robert H. Cauffman Sr. ’58 died July 18, 2023.
Emil F. Bretzger ’59 died December 12, 2022.
1960s
Donald B. Watson ’60 died May 27, 2023.
Rita C. (Conger) Banning ’61 died April 24, 2023.
Barbara (Peterson) Bishop ’61 died May 18, 2023.
Emily (Kelley) Thomas ’62 died July 3, 2023.
Susan (Higley) Bray ’63 died June 6, 2023.
Jane S. (Smith) Hunt ’63 died May 1, 2023.
Jeanne A. (Roosen) Grimsley ’64 died March 31, 2023.
Richard D. Bacchi ’65 died July 15, 2023.
Valerie M. (Moritz) Smith ’65 died May 18, 2023.
Carolyn J. (Duff) Fritz ’66 died October 12, 2022.
Lennard D. Greenbaum ’66 died June 12, 2023.
Donald R. Green ’68 died August 9, 2023.
1970s
Robert J. Frank ’70 died August 20, 2023.
Edward “Ken” Kenneth Pace ’70 died May 27, 2023.
Jon C. Baggs ’72 died April 16, 2023.
Janet L. Crawford ’73 died July 17, 2023.
James E. Burkholder ’77 (Evening) died June 15, 2023.
Thomas W. Ousey ’79 died May 19, 2023.
1980s
Jill A. Hadley ’80 died June 11, 2023.
1990s
Carrie A. Lumi ’94 died June 27, 2023.
Amy (Colistra) Malinowski ’94 died May 23, 2023.
Samantha K. Caggiano ’96 died May 28, 2023.
2010s
Mary O. Lobo ’15 died August 9, 2023.
Former Faculty and Staff
Maria R. Carosella P’23, P’23 died August 11, 2023.
Friends of the college
Ilse (Helfferich) Munzinger, daughter of former President Donald Helfferich, died July 6, 2023.
style of play.”
Next year marks the 40th anniversary of Gros’s bronze medalwinning U.S. Olympic field hockey team. She was also the coach of the 1980 team that boycotted the Moscow Olympics because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. That year was the first women’s Olympic field hockey competition, but the U.S. was one of five countries to pull out under protest. In 1984, the games took place in Los Angeles, where the Netherlands and West Germany won gold and silver medals, respectively, and Gros’s American squad earned the bronze.
“I wanted to coach national teams, but I never thought I’d get into the Olympics,” Gros said. “To get there, we had to make changes, and you could really learn from how other countries
were playing and adapting their game. I think I also tried to do some things that were just instinct, even if they might have been out of place.”
Gros didn’t coach the U.S. National Team after the Olympics. Call it philosophical differences. She doesn’t have a medal because they were not handed out to coaches, but she has a jersey and other clothing, and some of the Olympic memorabilia used to adorn the trophy cases in the Floy Lewis Bakes Center at Ursinus. They’re now part of USA Field Hockey’s collection in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Ultimately, those aren’t all that important. Gros views her most significant contributions to the game through the lens of teaching and coaching, much like Snell inspired her to do.
“When we were picking the Olympic team, I had 30 players and only 16 were
going to make it. I was asked to talk to the press, but I wouldn’t do it,” Gros said. “The players who didn’t make it—I was still obligated to them. I still owed them time. I owed time to talk to them as a group, and I told them that if they wanted to talk to me personally, I’d give them that time, too.”
That’s the coach in her. It’s a quality that was ingrained in her during her high school days in New Jersey playing for Manny Porter and Jane Kennedy, and at Ursinus under Eleanor Snell. It’s one that she has passed down to her own players-turned-coaches. Ursinus prides itself on a historic legacy in women’s athletics that, like Vonnie Gros, is anything but conventional. It’s progressive, transcendent, and trailblazing.
“She is a true pioneer of women’s athletics, and she cleared a path for many after her,” Moliken said. “There
PITCH PERFECT | CONT. FROM PAGE 25
Pictured, left to right: Eleanor Snell, Vonnie Gros ’57, Marjorie Garinger ’57, and Margery Watson ’52 at Ursinus homecoming in 1984.
are others, of course, who also cleared paths, broke through barriers, and changed the perception of what women could do in athletics. With each person like Vonnie, strength and courage are passed on to the next generation of advocates.”
Gros’s name will forever be synonymous with Ursinus field hockey. Thanks to the generosity of Ursinus alumna and field hockey player Kara Raiguel ’94, the scoreboard at Eleanor Frost Snell Field now bears Gros’s name.
“I always felt Vonnie was invested in us, as a team and as individuals,” Raiguel said. “When I reflect back on our opportunity as student-athletes to
play for an Olympic coach who came back to her alma mater, it makes me realize how lucky we were to have that experience. Her investment and passion in us as young women—and her time and devotion to the sports she loved—is something that has stayed with me for 30 years. I graduated as a much better athlete than when I arrived at Ursinus. Unfortunately, I never was able to watch her as a player, but as a coach, she left it all on the field.”
A formal dedication ceremony was held at homecoming on Saturday, October 28, to honor Gros’s legacy and she is now immortalized on the field named for her coach.
Some six weeks prior to the ceremony, Gros snaps a photo of her name on the scoreboard with her cell phone. She wants to capture it before all the pomp and circumstance. She runs her fingers over the smooth surface of a modern field hockey stick.
“A little different than what I played with,” she laughs.
She sits on the turf field and presses down on it. The wheels are turning.
“The ball really takes off on this,” she says.
At 88, she’s still looking for an advantage. No doubt she’s already found one.
Vonnie Gros peruses the Ursinus Hall of Fame for Athletes.
changes in body language or behavior. I’m able to pull that out and go up and say, ‘Hey, do you want to grab coffee and talk?’”
That same caring approach that lets a person know they are not alone is what also drives the Peer Advocates.
Alex Bender ’24, a chemistry major from Horsham, Pa., is one of 11 Peer Advocates, a specialized group of student leaders who serve as an intermediary resource between the Title IX office and students who might be struggling with issues related to Title IX.
The group acts as an extension of resources, as well as a support system for students who want to pursue formal or informal resolutions related to Title
URSINUS
Alex Bender ’24
IX. “I feel it’s also important that there are students working in this office because going to a student makes it feel like you’re going to a friend with a problem,” said Bender. “And all that person’s going to do is take [the information] … and get the resources they feel can best support you.”
“That is, however, a very small part of our role. More often than not we spend our time educating students on campus about Title IX-related issues, discrimination, sexual assault, dating violence, boundaries, and accountability.”
Each Peer Advocate lists a quote with their profile on the website. Bender’s reads, “Everyone can always use a little bit more information on setting boundaries, healthy relationships, and how we should live together.”
Is it a call-out to one of Quest’s four questions, “How should we live together?”
“I feel like that’s what the Peer Advocates are all about,” said Bender. “We’re here because we want to make sure that everyone feels safe and included on campus.”
COLLEGE | OFFICE OF ADVANCEMENT
learning grew when Mongan launched the lab two years ago, creating a collaborative research setting for students to explore the evolving field. As a self-described “cautious optimist” about AI, he wants to orient his career toward “explainable AI” in the long run, helping people who don’t have extensive experience with these systems gain a common understanding of their uses and misuses so they can better navigate the world around them.
People often ask Mongan if AI is going to rise up and take us over. While he doesn’t foresee anything like that, he said he’s more concerned about a phenomenon that he sees already developing: the blind acceptance of what AI tells us and the risk that such passivity can be exploited.
“We want to be on the cutting edge of developing these systems, and we also want to be the people who are developing and deploying them responsibly,” Mongan said. “The people on that leading edge need to have that mindset or else it’s going to run away as a technology and you’re not going to get that toothpaste back in the tube.”
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
In many ways, a liberal arts college is an environment well suited to Mongan’s mission. It offers an array of expertise that crosses academic boundaries and the type of critical thinking that can ensure research is ethically sound.
Kacey La ’25 spent his summer working with Mongan on a project that seeks to show how a neural network can be used in remote healthcare monitoring. By analyzing WiFi signals bouncing between off-the-shelf wireless routers placed in a room with an individual, the network can create an image of that person’s positioning within the room—and, theoretically, detect an elderly person’s dangerous fall or identify quirks in someone’s gait associated with neurological or respiratory disease. The first question La asked Mongan and Christopher Tralie, an assistant professor of math and computer science, was about the privacy concerns of tracking a person’s pose in a room, Mongan said.
“Admittedly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this project,” La said. “It’s a Pandora’s box—you kind of don’t want to open it. But I’m hoping it can be used for good.”
To Mongan, La’s uncertainty presented “a very Ursinus question that a lot of people wouldn’t ask.” That type of openminded view of AI and machine learning is how the lab balances human well-being and responsible development.
Leslie New, an assistant professor of statistics, worked with Tralie, La, and another student last summer on a project that sought to use machine learning to automatically identify bowhead whales, a 60-foot-long endangered species that is almost entirely black and therefore difficult to identify and protect. She said machine learning can’t be used for good unless those using it are thinking across disciplines.
“If you develop something in isolation,” New said, “you cause harm.”
Mongan’s lab intentionally avoids that isolation, as the diverse work associated with it demonstrates. To Mongan, machine learning offers a lens through which to view the world around us and can be applied to biology and the humanities all the same.
“The language that this provides lets you tackle the whole universe,” he said. “If you can model it, there are techniques that can inform you about it.”
THE HUMAN IN THE LOOP
Machine learning isn’t going anywhere. Rather than fearing these systems as a dystopian weapon like Skynet from The Terminator, New urges a more optimistic view of the potential they hold.
“If we are conscientious in our development, it will actually build better equity,” she said. “It will help people’s ability to live and find those subtle patterns that are difficult for the human eye to see but that a computer with data points can see.”
Mongan wants to educate everyday people about the influence and impact these systems can have on their lives—for better and worse. If he could pull a random person off the street and ask them about the role AI plays in their life, and if that person could describe its benefits and how to mitigate its risks, then he would know he’d done his job.
“That’s the hole in the work that’s being done broadly that we’re wellpositioned to address: Getting the human in the loop, that stakeholder who stands to benefit from these advances but needs to be better informed about how they work and what they do so they can be a better advocate for themselves,” Mongan said. “I’d like to help with that.”
Imagine checking out at a local produce stand and watching as the clerk totals your order on a desk calculator. Neither you nor the clerk seems concerned about the possibility of an error; that calculator is even more reliable than we are at performing these tasks. Yet we have all experienced the effects of a “system error” at some point in our lives: an item you returned to a store without receiving a refund, or a credit card account that was declined or closed. It is difficult to speak with a person to learn why these occurred, and when we do, they are likely to say that their decision was correct because “the computer said so.” If a calculator produces the correct result every time, why can’t systems like artificial intelligence (AI) models do the same?
Unlike calculators, AI systems are designed to identify patterns in data, and to extrapolate new decisions based on the patterns it finds. Unfortunately, the historical data fed to these systems may contain implicit and explicit biases. If an AI is developed to make credit decisions for consumer credit cards, and the historical data it observes shows that women receive lower credit limits than men, it will infer that gender is an indicator of creditworthiness. The algorithms that underlie these systems promise only to identify relationships and to calculate what is likely to occur if that history is repeated. The risk of harm from using these systems stems from the data used to train the model that makes those decisions; due to historical biases likely to permeate that data, this risk disproportionately affects vulnerable populations.
Additionally, generative AI (GPT)
The Burning Question How can we live together…with AI?
By Bill Mongan ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
has enabled generation of new content. Like machine learning systems, GPTs work by training on large samples of data. This, too, carries the potential for harm with respect to the input data and to the outcomes. The data may be copyrighted, and the output may bias toward the sources from which that data was obtained. GPTs aren’t guaranteed to output correct or even yield meaningful results, though they will confidently generate plausible text using its model. Many assume that the output is correct because it was “computed” to be, and then act on those outputs.
Broadly, state and federal governments are working to regulate the development and use of AI. The Federal “AI Bill of Rights” lists high level principles that should guide the deployment of such systems for consumer protection, including transparency about how automated systems use data about individuals, and how they maintain privacy. Pennsylvania and the European Union have each recently published potential guidance for the use of AI systems as well. These include ensuring that the output of generative AI systems be accurate and verifiable, as well as equitable and fair, and that the use of generative AI must be disclosed, along with any use of copyrighted data used to train the model. However, to borrow from the Ursinus Quest curriculum, the burning question should be, “How should we live together?” We tend to trust the computer and its underlying
data (AI or not), because the computer indicates what we expect to be true. A human-centric practice would require that:
■ Diverse stakeholders are engaged to critically evaluate input data sets to train AI models.
■ Someone must transparently explain the rationale for the decision being made including a technical explanation of the AI internals.
■ Those affected by the decision enjoy a right to appeal to a governmental body on the basis of the input data used to arrive at that decision, and the potential disparity that results from it.
■ Mechanisms and personnel are employed to prevent the use of inequitable data to train computing systems.
■ Independent audits are regularly conducted on the input data and decisions generated by computing systems to detect and correct inequitable outcomes.
■ The use of AI systems and their training data are cited.
We are witnessing, in real-time, a public reckoning with the role technology should play in our lives. We must legislate to empower people—both users and stakeholders of AI—to understand the way that these systems are trained, and to understand the limitations of their outputs. Starting from human-centric principles of beneficence and equity provides a framework from which to have these conversations.
For Jim Worrilow ’16 and Emily Schleicher Worrilow ’16, the road to success is paved with sawdust. Read how the scientists launched an impressive woodworking side hustle out of their garage on PAGE 10.