Department Directory

Areas of Interest: computational sociology, language technology, NLP for social science, systems of evaluation, education, identity, AI
 

Ayham Boucher is the Head of AI Innovations for both the Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) at the Ithaca campus and Information Technologies & Services (ITS) at Weill Cornell Medicine. With over eight years of experience at Cornell University, Ayham leads the institution's AI innovation efforts in support of education, research, and administration. He also directs the AI Innovation Lab, which develops custom AI solutions to support Cornell's institutional mission.

Ayham received his Master's degree in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University. His expertise lies in building Large Language Model (LLM) powered applications, with a focus on harnessing LLMs to solve complex problems. He has particular experience in developing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems and AI Agents.

Prior to his current role, Ayham contributed to various AI projects at Cornell. He also co-leads the AI Innovation Accelerator, a group that encompass more than 50 institutions, fostering collaboration and advancement in AI technologies across higher education.

He currently teaches a course on building AI applications at Cornell, helping students bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical implementation.
 

Jeff Christen is an IT leader specializing in Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing. He currently leads Cornell’s Data Warehousing team and has been involved with Cornell’s data warehousing effort for the past 15 years. Jeff is passionate about adding value to organizations by enabling data informed decision making. He has focused on improving the functionality, reliability and availability of the data warehouse environment through technology and improved support practices. Jeff is a frequent presenter at HEDW (Higher Education Data Warehousing Forum), Alliance (Higher Education Oracle User Group) and IOUG (International Oracle User Group) conferences and also a past president of the HEDW (Higher Education Data Warehousing Forum). 

Areas of interest: Psychometrics, Value-Added Models, Measurement and Policy, K-12 Education Technology, and Entomology

Mike Priehs is the Copyright Specialist for Education at Cornell University Library and a visiting lecturer in the Department of Information Science at Cornell University. He is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at Wayne State University and earned a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to joining CUL, he has held positions at Wayne State University, Toledo Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Wisconsin-Washington County, and University of California-Santa Barbara. In addition to his roles at CUL, Mike is a part-time faculty member at the Wayne State University School of Information Science.