Image of Nimer Murshid.

CMU-Q Faculty Member Awarded GAITAR Fellowship

By Angela Ford Email Angela Ford

Heidi Opdyke

Nimer Murshid is researching how generative AI tools can be used to improve teaching and learning in undergraduate coursework.

Murshid, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry based at Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, received a fellowship from Carnegie Mellon’s Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation in fall of 2024.

The fellowship is part of CMU’s Generative Artificial Intelligence Teaching as Research (GAITAR) Initiative, which measures the impacts of AI tools on student learning and educational experiences.

Murshid, who joined Carnegie Mellon in the fall 2023, is investigating if AI tools can enrich learning in non-major elective courses like chemistry.

“At the heart of this initiative is the observation that learning is a unique journey for each student,” Murshid said. “Through this investigation, I hope to see if AI tools can personalize education more effectively, catering to individual learning paces and needs.”

Murshid is exploring whether these AI tools have different impacts on students from different academic disciplines when learning the same topic.

The GAITAR Fellowship provides $5,000 for a Carnegie Mellon instructor to design and implement a teaching innovation using a generative AI tool in a course. They must then measure the impacts of the innovation on student learning and disseminate their findings at the university and beyond.

Carnegie Mellon has a rich history for learning science, AI and machine learning, and CMU remains at the forefront of AI research. The work to apply generative AI tools and techniques in the classroom is one part of a broader university strategy to advance the next generation of artificial intelligence’s impact across education, research and society.