Non Technical Summary
Although Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled solutions hold promise to minimize time, waste, and cost while increasing speed, efficiency, and safety in a production environment, the rural forest industries are still far behind in leveraging the power of AI in their day-to-day businesses. As the global demand for forest products continues to rise, the need for innovative solutions, such as AI-driven technologies, has the potential to revolutionize our production systems and processes while paving the way for a more resilient and sustainable future for forest product industries. To prepare our next-generation agricultural and forestry workforce with hands-on AI-driven technology development experiences, Mississippi State University proposes to develop an REEU program (AI2F) in a unique partnership with the local forest-product industries. Guided by an experienced and interdisciplinary team of faculties, this 9-week AI2F program will support 12 students/year who will be trained in different stages of the AI ecosystem, including data collection/management/visualization, to even model training, technology deployment, and demonstration. Each student will be given an industry-driven research problem in the areas of forest genetics and wood phenotyping, wood processing, quality inspection and monitoring, supply chain, and human-technology integration. Specific highlights from our program include: (i) training a diversified set of underrepresented and minority-focused REEU fellows ready to advance their careers in graduate studies or forest-based industries; (ii) introducing state-of-the-art AI technologies and solutions to use in a fast-paced industrial environment; and (iii) developing leadership skills, including communication, networking, critical thinking capabilities.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
123	0650	3020	100%

Knowledge Area
123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0650 - Wood and wood products;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;

Goals / Objectives
Although Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled solutions hold promise to minimize time, waste, and cost while increasing speed, efficiency, and safety in a production environment, the rural forest industries are still far behind in leveraging the power of AI in their day-to-day businesses. As the global demand for forest products continues to rise, the need for innovative solutions, such as AI-driven technologies, has the potential to revolutionize our production systems and processes while paving the way for a more resilient and sustainable future for forest product industries. To prepare our next-generation agricultural and forestry workforce with hands-on AI-driven technology development experiences, Mississippi State University proposes to develop an REEU program (AI2F) in a unique partnership with the local forest-product industries. Guided by an experienced and interdisciplinary team of faculties, this 9-week AI2F program will support 12 students/year who will be trained in different stages of the AI ecosystem, including data collection/management/visualization, to even model training, technology deployment, and demonstration. Each student will be given an industry-driven research problem in the areas of forest genetics and wood phenotyping, wood processing, quality inspection and monitoring, supply chain, and human-technology integration. Specific highlights from our program include: (i) training a diversified set of underrepresented and minority-focused REEU fellows ready to advance their careers in graduate studies or forest-based industries; (ii) introducing state-of-the-art AI technologies and solutions to use in a fast-paced industrial environment; and (iii) developing leadership skills, including communication, networking, critical thinking capabilities.

Project Methods
To prepare our next-generation agricultural and forestry workforce with hands-on AI-driven technology development experiences, Mississippi State University (MSU) proposes to develop a unique REEU program, AI-enabled Industrial Solutions for Forest Products (AI2F), in a unique partnership with the local forest-product industries. Guided by an experienced and interdisciplinary team of faculties, this 9-week AI2F program will support 12 undergraduate students/year who will be trained in different stages of the AI ecosystem, including data collection/management/visualization, to even model training, technology deployment, and demonstration. Each student will be given an industry-driven research problem in the areas of forest genetics and wood phenotyping, wood processing, quality inspection, process monitoring, supply chain and logistics, and human-technology integration. Specific objectives of this training program include: (1) Training a diversified set of underrepresented and minority REEU fellows (12 undergraduate students/year) ready to advance their careers in graduate studies or forest-based industries; (2) Training undergraduate students to become independent researchers by challenging them with real-world research yet industrially-feasible problems; and (3) Providing interdisciplinary hands-on research, education, and outreach/extension experiences in state-of-the-art AI technologies and their potential solutions or adoption challenges in a fast-paced industrial environment.