10 Interdisciplinary Programs Or Course Options

These span AI, robotics, digital art, ethics, and entrepreneurship, all rooted in hands-on creation and recursive systems thinking.

Each one is designed to be:

Accessible to a wide range of learners
Modular, so it can be combined with others
Anchored in Pittsburgh’s legacy of invention and reinvention

1. Intro to Ethical AI & Human-Centered Design

Type: 6-week bootcamp
Focus: Teach foundational AI logic alongside bias detection, explainability, and responsible design.
Project Example: Build a chatbot that refuses unethical tasks and explains why.
Who it’s for: Students, ethicists, journalists, artists

2. Build Your Own Autonomous Robot (BYOAR)

Type: 8-week robotics lab
Focus: Hands-on engineering: servos, sensors, microcontrollers (Arduino, Raspberry Pi)
Project Example: Mini delivery drone for indoor supply chain use
Who it’s for: Engineers, hobbyists, trade workers transitioning to automation

3. Neural Canvas: AI x Digital Art Studio

Type: 4-week immersive
Focus: Teach text-to-image models (e.g. Stable Diffusion), generative art theory, and remixing with human input
Project Example: Create an “Industrial Dreams of Pittsburgh” digital mural
Who it’s for: Artists, storytellers, content creators, students

4. Startup Forge: Launch a Tech-Driven Microbusiness

Type: 10-week guided accelerator
Focus: Business modeling, MVP design, AI tool integration, ethical monetization
Project Example: Launch a local AI-powered service, like resume review or intelligent tutoring
Who it’s for: Entrepreneurs, local business owners, community leaders

🧬 5. Recursive Agents & Synthetic Thought

Type: 6-week R&D workshop
Focus: Design self-modifying, self-interacting software agents using RWKV or lightweight LLMs
Project Example: “Fractal Pittsburgh” — a civic simulation populated by evolving agents
Who it’s for: Advanced coders, AI researchers, experimental thinkers

6. Creative Coding: Generative Systems & Sound

Type: 5-week hybrid class
Focus: Create music, visuals, and interaction systems using Processing, p5.js, or TouchDesigner
Project Example: Reactive AI soundtrack for a robotics display
Who it’s for: Musicians, multimedia creators, STEM/STEAM educators

7. Digital Rights & Algorithmic Accountability

Type: 3-week seminar + debate
Focus: Law, privacy, surveillance, explainability, and fairness in automated decision-making
Project Example: Run a simulated city council hearing on predictive policing AI
Who it’s for: Activists, students, civic leaders, technologists

8. Makers to Market: Product Prototyping & Pitching

Type: 6-week hands-on + business studio
Focus: Take a physical or AI-assisted invention from idea to prototype to pitch
Project Example: Create a wearable assistive tech device + present to a funder panel
Who it’s for: Inventors, community members, displaced workers with skills to repackage

9. AI + Climate Lab: Modeling Our Region

Type: 8-week team lab
Focus: Use AI to model, predict, or visualize local environmental issues
Project Example: Train a model on Pittsburgh air quality + make an interactive dashboard
Who it’s for: Environmentalists, students, data scientists, civic groups

10. Pittsburgh Story Engines: AI + Oral History

Type: 4-week storytelling and NLP lab
Focus: Use LLMs and transcription tools to preserve and remix stories from Pittsburgh communities
Project Example: Build an interactive “Steelworker Memory AI” that responds with oral history segments
Who it’s for: Historians, nonprofits, families, artists

Bonus: How You Can Bundle These

Pair #4 (Startup Forge) + #1 (Ethical AI) for an NSF “AI for the Public Good” curriculum
Pair #2 (Robotics) + #3 (AI Art) for a youth “STEAM Creation Lab”
Combine #5 (Recursive Agents) + #9 (Climate Modeling) for research grant submissions
Use #7 (Rights & AI) as a module inside any other course to meet ethical training goals