Shonda Bernadin, associate professor in electrical & computer engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, Florida.

Please join TSS to honor Dr. Shonda Bernadin with the 2025 Gold Medal at the annual reception and presentation on January 15th at the Challenger Learning Center in the Fogg Planetarium beginning at 6 PM; presentation will start at 7 PM. All are welcome! The title of Dr. Bernadin’s talk is “Adventures in AI: Empowering students through Interdisciplinary Research in Engineering.”

The annual Gold Medal award, established in 2004, is bestowed by the Tallahassee Scientific Society on a local scientist or scholar whose career achievements in science or science education and outreach are deemed exemplary.

Dr. Bernadin indeed exemplifies these traits. She is a Google Endowed Full Professor at the College of Engineering, has authored/co-authored over 50+ refereed technical papers in her research areas, received numerous awards including being recently named a 2025 Influential Woman in Tallahassee. Throughout her career she has actively developed education and outreach programs to broaden participation in STEM including summer K-12 camps, hackathons, middle and high school mentorship and the annual Women and Girls in STEM program.

In her talk, we look at how various projects in artificial intelligence (AI) are used as teaching tools to build technical skills, teamwork, confidence and community. You will learn about some exciting projects including a Virtual AI Art Museum, Digital Arts and Animation and an AI-based driving simulator. This event is open to all – please join us!