Mentoring Beyond AI: Forging Pioneers for the Dawning Era of Artificial Intelligence, the Metaverse, and Space

This book--written by Jerry Miller, Anitha Kurup, S. S. Iyengar, Naveen Chaudhary, and Niki Pissinou--not only covers the "tools of the trade" (mentoring how-to), it also examines mentoring's ancient origins since Homer's Odyssey, and peers into its future in virtual and outer space.

Mentors are not born; they are mentees first and they evolve through trials and tribulations to success, to pass on their accumulated knowledge so the next generation can carry the torch yet farther. Such has been the experience of every known brilliant scientist in history. While they possessed the seeds of intellect and passion, they were nurtured to greatness by building on the wisdom and successes of others before them.

Filled with the authors' case studies and anecdotes from contributors, this book explores how we humans learn and pass on wisdom to those that follow. It explores the "mentoring mindset" needed to retrieve and transfer knowledge to the willing ears of mentees as they reach beyond even our newest frontier that is artificial intelligence. Look for answers in the book to questions like these:

• How do mentees benefit from their mentors?
• What are the characteristics of a good mentor?
• How are bright minds enabled to realize breakthroughs?
• What are mentoring's origins and trends?

Dr. Jerry F. Miller first served in the United States Air Force as a rescue/special operations helicopter pilot. He achieved the rank of colonel before retirement from the Air Force. In addition to being an evaluator pilot and squadron commander, he was also a resources, planning, and programming officer, deliberate plans officer, and foreign area officer for Latin America during his time in uniform. Upon leaving military service, he joined Florida International University (FIU) where he later earned his PhD in computer science. He learned the lesson of mentorship early, as a high school student, where he was too shy to ask for guidance. It cost him a scholarship. Since that time, he has been fortunate to have had mentors who recognized his potential and mentored him to success in academia as well. Today, he is actively mentoring computer science, cybersecurity, and information technology students, who will be our future leaders. More importantly, as we enter the age of artificial intelligence, Dr. Miller is mentoring more experienced mentors in the art and science of finding, connecting, and building lasting relationships with a new generation of protégés struggling to compete in our complex, rapidly changing technological world. Jerry lives in Miami, Florida, where he is married and has ample opportunity to practice mentoring in his blended, multicultural family of six children and their spouses, ten grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Dr. Anitha Kurup is a professor and the Head of the Education Program at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, India. She leads the National Gifted and Talented Education Program of the NIAS. The program was initiated by the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser of the Government of India in 2011. She and her team have developed Indian based identification protocols and mentoring mechanisms for the gifted children in India in the age group 3 to18 years for different populations: rural, urban, and aboriginal tribes. She has developed successful multi-stage multi-level mentoring models for the gifted children in India. Prof. Kurup was part of the National team that successfully advocated for the Education for the gifted and talented resulting in it's inclusion in the National Education Policy 2020 of India. Her research career spanning over two decades is marked by her passion and motivation to undertake research in critical areas, hitherto unexplored within the Indian subcontinent. The hallmark of her research career has been the innovation methodologies adopted for large scale research studies questioning existing theoretical frameworks to find solutions to the real-world problems. Thus, her contribution to research stands the test of time and has made critical contribution to the growth of the educational field in India.

Dr. S. S. "Ram" Iyengar is currently a Distinguished University Professor and a former Director of the Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences at FIU, Miami, Florida. He is also the founding director of the Discovery Lab, an undergraduate lab for mentoring students in research. Prior to joining FIU, Dr. Iyengar was Roy Paul Daniel's Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Computer Science department at Louisiana State University for over 20 years. During the last four decades, he has supervised and mentored over 55 Ph.D. students, more than 100 Master's students, and many undergraduate students who are now faculty at major universities worldwide, as well as scientists or engineers at national labs and industries around the world. He has published more than 500 research papers, and authored, co-authored, or edited 22 books. Dr. Iyengar is a member of the European Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Society for Design and Process Science (SDPS), the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).