Artificial intelligence dominated public conversation during the 2024–25 academic year, as powerful new tools rapidly entered everyday life. We wanted alumni to know these headlines had a source close to home: Oregon State University researchers and alumni helped make many of the advances possible. This feature highlighted ways the university affected the development of AI, from faculty member Thomas Dietterich's pioneering machine-learning research to the global impact of OSU alumnus-led NVIDIA. It also offered a glimpse at how AI will shape the university’s future. The feature explored the Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex—which, when completed, will house one of the nation's most powerful university supercomputers—and how faculty are adapting classroom teaching for the AI era. Because AI-related work is emerging all across campus, no single narrative could capture the full story. Instead, the feature was organized around six distinct “brag-points,” with sidebars that explored different facets of the topic. The goal was to give readers memorable ways to talk about their alma mater’s role in shaping this transformative technology. The magazine printed more than 600 additional copies, which went to AI-related events and to journalists participating in an OSU AI and robotics fellowship. The feature became the second most-viewed Oregon Stater online article of 2025.
From the Judges
A very creative approach to this topic. Judges praised the accessible and digestible format OSU took to share research and developments, making the news relevant for a wider audience and showing the university's breadth in the subject.
