A group of K–12 superintendents and school administrators from across Western New York gathered at the University at Buffalo School of Management on March 5 for a tour and a half-day conversation about a topic reshaping classrooms everywhere: artificial intelligence.
Hosted by the School of Management’s Center for AI Business Innovation, the visit offered a close look at how faculty are incorporating AI into teaching, research and workforce preparation, and what those developments might mean for the next generation of students.
The morning began in the Alfiero Center Atrium, where school leaders arrived for a series of rotating tours and discussions across campus. The goal was to share ideas, compare experiences and examine how emerging technologies are changing the skills students need long before they reach college.
One of the first stops introduced attendees to the school’s forthcoming data theater, a multi-screen learning environment that supports interactive simulations and collaborative analysis. Faculty described how immersive displays can help students work through complex operational challenges. For example, modeling patient flow in a hospital emergency department to identify bottlenecks and improve efficiency.
The conversation continued at the Leadership, Learning and Community Center, where faculty shared an overview of the school’s academic programs in technology management and entrepreneurship. Unlike traditional computer science pathways, the programs emphasize how organizations manage data systems and emerging technologies within business settings.
Later discussions highlighted how AI is shaping career preparation, as well. Melissa Ruggiero, assistant dean and director of the Career Resource Center, explained how the CRC works closely with employers to understand evolving hiring practices, including the growing use of AI tools in recruitment.
Career advisors then translate those insights into guidance for students, helping them refine résumés, prepare for interviews and navigate job applications while learning to use AI responsibly throughout the process. By connecting employers’ expectations with student preparation, the CRC helps ensure graduates are ready for a hiring landscape that increasingly blends human judgment with algorithmic assistance.
Dominic Sellitto, assistant faculty director of the Center for AI Business Innovation, expanded on how AI is being incorporated into classroom instruction and student projects. Sellitto, who is also a clinical associate professor of management science and systems, said that many students now arrive with a strong familiarity with AI tools and a growing awareness of issues such as bias, intellectual property and social responsibility.
“What faculty hope students bring is the ability to connect those tools with deeper subject knowledge,” he said.
To help build that connection, students in Sellitto’s courses develop open-source simulations that replicate real workplace situations. In one scenario, an AI-powered system simulates a difficult conversation between a manager and an employee being dismissed, allowing students to practice communication and emotional intelligence in a controlled environment.
Other exercises place students in virtual boardrooms using VR headsets, where digital participants respond dynamically to discussion and visual cues reveal how they are reacting in the moment.
“The goal is to create learning experiences that mirror real decision-making as closely as possible while reinforcing that effective organizations rely on both human insight and intelligent technology,” Sellitto said.
Ethical considerations are woven throughout these conversations. Faculty encourage students to examine how AI is used across industries and public life, from finance to politics, and to consider the boundaries that should guide its application.
The tour continued with visits to Level Up, UB’s gaming and computing center and home to UB's Esports Arena, and the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, which brings together researchers, labs, institutes and centers of excellence at UB that are focused on advancements in AI, data science, computational science and related areas of research to tackle these complex problems.
The final stop on the tour was at the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education. Researchers there are developing AI-powered tools that can assist children with speech and language challenges, helping expand access to screening and support for the millions of students who require specialized services.
As the morning concluded, participants gathered for a final discussion reflecting on what they had seen. For many of the visiting superintendents, the experience underscored how quickly AI is influencing both higher education and the K–12 system, and how collaboration between institutions will play a key role in preparing students for that future.
By bringing regional school leaders together with faculty and researchers, the Center for AI Business Innovation aims to encourage those conversations and support a shared understanding of how AI can be applied responsibly in education and industry alike.
The UB School of Management’s Center for AI Business Innovation advances research, education and collaboration around artificial intelligence and its impact on business and society. The center connects faculty, students and industry partners to explore practical applications of AI while promoting responsible development and workforce readiness in an increasingly technology-driven economy.