“I was delighted and honored to be selected as one of the Senior Members who were named in the first year of the Senior Member Program,” says Dr. Marie desJardins, who was recently granted Senior Member Status by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). Senior Members, of which there are a maximum of only twenty-five chosen per year, are selected according to their contributions in the field of artificial intelligence, active involvement with AAAI, and endorsements from AAAI Fellows. 

“The mission of AAAI is to serve as a professional organization for the advancement of artificial intelligence techniques,” explains desJardins, who has been an AAAI member since 1987, when she was a graduate student at the University of California: Berkeley. Since then, desJardins has served the organization in a variety of roles including as an AAAI Councillor (2001-2004), AAAI Symposium Associate Chair (2002-2006), and the AAAI Workshop Program Co-Chair (1999-2000), among others. Most recently, she has served on the editorial board of AI Magazine, a quarterly publication of AAAI that features articles highlighting new AI-related research.

In addition, Dr. desJardins has served as chair, co-chair, mentor and/or reviewer of the AAAI Doctoral Consortium every year since 2000. She was a founding member and co-organizer of the AAAI Teaching Forum, now known as the Annual Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence (EAAI). EEAI was established to provide a forum for educators and researchers to discuss teaching techniques that better communicate the principles of AI. This year, Dr. desJardins sent three undergraduate students and one Ph.D. student to the symposium in San Francisco to present a poster entitled "Playing to Program: An Intelligent Programming Tutor for RUR-PLE.”

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Romans 8:26-27 (NIV)

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Reflection:

Our weaknesses can refer to a number of things, but is usually associated with not knowing what to pray for and uncertainty about God’s will for our lives.  From this passage, we are strengthened with the truth that the Spirit himself intercedes for us according to God’s will for us.  Being children of God, we too can pray these groans of the Spirit.  Thankfully, it’s not a technique or formula, but about joining in these “wordless groans” of His Spirit that lives in us.  As we groan with the Spirit, it is not trying to manipulate the situation, crying out for an outcome that we want or desire, but about resting in God’s will for us that is good, pleasing, and perfect.

Response:

Let’s thank God for the work of His Spirit in and through us and in His church.  Let’s pray for an increase of the Holy Spirit’s activity in our hearts and lives and of the people in our missional groups and campuses.  Pray that the Lord would fill us with His groans for our lives and that there would be an increase of faith and trust in Him and desire for His will to be done.