Dr. Troy Nunamaker of the Center for Career and Professional Development recently collaborated with Dr. Carl Ehrett and Dr. Hudson Smith of the Watt Family Innovation Center and a group of creative inquiry students to explore the concept of career readiness. The group wanted a deeper understanding of why employers and students often use different definitions of career readiness.
“In this project, we used artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze the language employers and students use while describing professional competencies,” said Nunamaker, the center’s chief solutions officer.
Following the project, the group combined to author an article, “Natural Language Processing of Employer and College Intern Explanations of Leadership Development.” The article was recently selected as winner of the 2022 Tyler Award by the Cooperative Education & Internship Association (CEIA). The national award recognizes distinguished excellence for an outstanding article in the field of cooperative education and internships.
“We hope the national recognition helps bring further awareness of the technologies and research possibilities that can ultimately reduce those definition differences,” Nunamaker added.
Award winners receive a plaque and formal recognition at the 2022 CEIA Annual Conference, which is set for Tuesday, April 5 in Alexandria, Virginia.