AI or Not

E025 - AI or Not - Dr. Loretta Cheeks and Pamela Isom

• Season 1 • Episode 25

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Welcome to "AI or Not," the podcast where we explore the intersection of digital transformation and real-world wisdom, hosted by the accomplished Pamela Isom. With over 25 years of experience guiding leaders in corporate, public, and private sectors, Pamela, the CEO and Founder of IsAdvice & Consulting LLC, is a veteran in successfully navigating the complex realms of artificial intelligence, innovation, cyber issues, governance, data management, and ethical decision-making.

Unlock the secrets of AI and STEM innovations with the inspiring Dr. Loretta Cheeks, the visionary CEO behind Strong Ties and DS Innovation. Gain exclusive insights into her groundbreaking work in AI and big data that are transforming small businesses and government projects. Dr. Cheeks passionately discusses her pioneering efforts in fraud detection, intelligent triage systems, and healthcare claims processing. Discover how she's shaping the future of manufacturing with embedded linguistics and large language models, especially for those without cloud access. Her dedication doesn't stop at technology; she's also on a mission to revolutionize STEAM education through her nonprofit, Strong Ties, empowering students with the skills and knowledge to succeed.

Join us as we dive deep into the challenges faced by high school students from marginalized communities in accessing quality STEAM education. We explore the critical role of mentorship and familial support in overcoming barriers and highlight the importance of integrative education that blends science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Dr. Cheeks shares personal stories of persistence and innovation, offering invaluable wisdom on knowing when to push forward and when to pivot. By embracing these lessons, listeners are encouraged to pursue their goals with determination, kindness, and a commitment to making meaningful contributions to progress in America.

[00:21] Pamela Isom: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Personal views and opinions expressed by our podcast guests are their own and not legal advice. Neither health tax, nor professional, nor official statements by their organizations.

[00:40] Guests views may not be those of the host.

[00:48] Hello and welcome to AI or not, the podcast where business leaders from around the globe share wisdom and and insights that are needed now to address issues and guide success in your artificial intelligence and digital transformation journey.

[01:02] I am Pamela Isom and I'm your podcast host and we have a special guest with us today, Dr. Loretta Cheeks. Dr. Cheeks is chief executive officer at Strong Ties and DS Innovation.

[01:18] She is a TED Talk and international speaker. She's a business leader, she's a scholar.

[01:24] So I think it would be best if I let her explain her roles and responsibilities. But I will say that I met Dr. Cheeks, I met you during my tenure at the Department of Energy, and I'm so glad we met.

[01:37] I'm glad that we have maintained our relationship and continued to stay connected.

[01:44] So welcome to AI or Not. And please tell me more about you and tell me what's going on and what you plan on doing next, where you are and where you're going.

[01:53]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Okay. Thank you so much for hosting this wonderful podcast and welcome all of our listeners to learn more about AI and the work that I am doing. And hopefully you'll chime in and do even more and stretch.

[02:07] So I am the founder and CEO of DS Innovation as well as Strong Ties.

[02:14] My business in DS Innovation primarily focuses on artificial intelligence as well as big data and that ranges from services, solutions and also training primarily focused on solving problems that the government has are inserting AI in small businesses who may want to grow or want to create new products.

[02:37] My nonprofit is Strong Ties and that came about after many years of just wanting to demystify and also to give back to community. So that effort is sheerly intended to advance students and hopefully inspire them to become innovators into the future.

[03:01] Pamela Isom: Okay, so that's exciting. So tell me a little bit more about the work that you're doing with AI. So are you all right? What kind of projects do you have going on that you can talk about?

[03:16]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Of course, so several projects. As I mentioned, the work that I've done involves primarily small businesses who are either low tech or no tech who want to who know about AI from a community, just an awareness perspective, but they really don't know what it is and what's possible for them in AI.

[03:41] So my role has been literally making sense of that and that ranges from providing coursework and Training that's the first step is to give them language and also to provide customized training for those small businesses.

[03:57] I've been doing that for the last two years, I mean year three of contracts with the government and as well I provide concepts. So after the training oftentimes small businesses are interested in how could they take the products that they are actually building or have built and insert where there are opportunities.

[04:18] So that's led to several things. Building, creating concept papers that will allow them to actually do just that.

[04:27] We do have products as well. We have the DCAS fraud and abuse detection and that uses of course artificial intelligence and as well as machine learning to understand architecturally wise how we can actually detect fraud and abuse in any input that any system that receives input from either customer engagement or a system that needs to detect those type of things.

[04:53] We have intelligent triage system and that literally is anything that needs to interface again with crisis management or disaster recovery. And it uses also AIML to analyze data triages or disease and routes potential.

[05:12] The research I've done is grounded in network theory and graph theory. So some of the work that I do does overlap that one of the other products that we have is CL convergence and that looks at solving the problem of disparate our siloed data sources and making sure that that there are equitable or equivalent measurements when you're bringing over data and bringing that from product to also to visualization.

[05:40] So it's a full suite using advanced algorithms, processes large scale data rapidly and empowering quick accurate decision making.

[05:50] We have also a claims processor, AI enabled claims processor and that solves the problems definitely in the health industry as for claims processing just more efficiently and the last thing I have built actually a computer and I'm targeting manufacturing for that.

[06:11] And what it does is embeds linguistics and some of the large language models within an actual unit for those who may not have access to the cloud or might not want to put their knowledge in a cloud.

[06:24] So those are the few of the different products that we have. And again our capabilities in terms of DS innovation range from data big data analysis to machine learning applications.

[06:37] Background of course is in the seat for systems command control, communication and computing and software defined radios.

[06:47] Those are some of the specific areas and also AI fundamentals and yeah the gamut we can do it. If it's AI we are able to handle the problems. Even from a governance perspective.

[07:03] Pamela Isom: That's exciting and it's good to know that you have that capability and that you're out here providing this service to the Government and to clients at large. Right. So that's good to know that.

[07:16] I didn't know all of that. I know that you have a lot going on, but I wasn't aware of all of your capabilities. So congratulations on your success.

[07:25] Can you tell me more about steam? Considering everything that you're doing, I can appreciate what you're doing as far as the work for the government, and I know they do.

[07:36] Now let's look at steam. So is there a transference of some of that insight and knowledge into your STEAM programs, or can you tell me more about that?

[07:46]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Yeah, for sure. So just to tell you a snippet about the mission of strong ties. So Strong Ties name comes from network theory. So there's weak ties, There's. There's strong ties.

[08:00] So the whole idea is, for the population that I hope to reach, which are oftenties marginalized students, my goal is to provide a network and also resources and also knowledge so that they can form these what we call strong ties, so that they can get what they need quickly.

[08:20] Okay. So you could think of that as your inner circle. So taking the weak ties and bringing them and making them strong. So that's where the name came from, from Grande Vedder's work.

[08:30] In terms of triads, then the next thing is, so what do we do? So we started off literally by helping students to understand app development and gaming and coding. And then over the 10 years of our service, this is 10 years that we've been doing this, we served over 6,000 students directly, 100,000 indirectly, or something like that.

[08:54] And that's led to a great impact in students either engaging or even going into STEM fields or STEAM fields. We use the arts as a big underscore in all that we do to make sure that we take what students know to give them what they don't know.

[09:12] That's our philosophy in a nutshell. And what that looks like is everything from gaming to teaching them. The back ends of gaming, the front end is pretty, to me, oftentimes pretty clear.

[09:25] But understanding what goes into the physics engines, what goes into coding, and being able to actually do state kind of machine type of programming for gaming, that has led to also virtual reality, augmented reality.

[09:40] One of our focus areas right now and one of our contract agreements is with National Geographic to help students to understand sustainability and environmental issues as it pertains to steam.

[09:51] They can use technology and other ways to actually solve problems that are close to their home, that impacts even the globe. So those are some of the things that we're doing, like I said, we have work with students and definitely artificial intelligence.

[10:09] But we start off by what I call AI literacy, and that is helping students to understand basic things like networks and adjacency, matrix, data science, understanding the world that they live in.

[10:22] So the last project we introduced students to in terms of data science was what does society mean to you and how do you fit in? That led to our students.

[10:33] One of our students raised their hand and said, hey, can we do a mock project on I just got a job.

[10:38] And just so that they can just understand, give a good example of when you get a salary. You can imagine this is very important for students graduating from college and also for high school students.

[10:53] When you get a salary, oftentimes it seems bigger than it actually is once you take the deductions or the withdrawals out and all the other things and you really get a good picture of where that money goes and what it means to you and what you can afford.

[11:10] So we did that and we used the interactive network to actually show the visualization.

[11:16] We had the students to go through a Python class to learn how to visualize and also to aggregate through data. And definitely, you know, the basis is nodes and edges and so forth.

[11:30] So those are some of the few things that we, you know, introduce students to where our big priority programs for strong ties. Right now we have three. One is. We might have four, but one big one is definitely Slingshot Challenge are getting students, more students engaged in that.

[11:50] We were donated an ev. So we're going to start doing something with that and that will lead students definitely into software as. For as hard as in addition to hard tech.

[12:03] And then the other one is more closely aligned with artificial intelligence. And that's entire curricula that we're working to form up.

[12:13] Pamela Isom: I just want to make sure I heard you right. So did you say you were given. You were an EV was donated?

[12:18]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Yeah.

[12:19] Pamela Isom: Well, but what do you mean by an ev?

[12:21]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Electronic vehicle.

[12:23] Pamela Isom: Yeah, I just want to be sure that I heard you right. That's amazing.

[12:27]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Yeah, yeah. Someone donated our EV about three months ago. And so our students are going to. We're going to have. We're going to do something, literally create a documentary with a cohort of students doing some great things with that EV and making it look and also feel the way that they would want it.

[12:46] We won't deal with power, of course, because the battery is very. The battery is very sensitive. It's a lot of power. So what we'll do is, what we can do is modify the interface, modify the Outside and deck it out.

[13:02] Pamela Isom: And so the intent, working with the ev, what's your thought process?

[13:09]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Design.

[13:11] Okay, that's product design. It bridges the gap between again hard tech and low tech. I mean hard tech and software. Because both, you know, you could think of. Most EVs still have the capabilities of the gas, but they, it does go.

[13:28] Pamela Isom: Over to the hybrid.

[13:31]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Now this isn't a hybrid, this is a full ev.

[13:36] Pamela Isom: Wow, that's exciting. I have a document that I'm going to send you a link to.

[13:42] I don't know if it's going to be relevant or not, but the document, it describes some profiles that I was able to work on with NIST and it speaks to charging stations and securing the charging stations.

[13:59] So I'm going to send that to you. I don't know if it'll be relevant or not, but I'm going to send it to you in case it will help out you and the students.

[14:07]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you so much.

[14:09] Pamela Isom: What are the age groups?

[14:11]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: All high schoolers. I only work with high schoolers, middle, you know, the 13 to 18 year olds. My thing is, if you know anything about the schools today, that group of students, oftentimes, it's really sad to say, but if they haven't figured out what they're going to do, oftentimes there's, there isn't a lot of investment in them.

[14:31] So just a point of reference for from a philanthropic perspective, rebooting representation, which is McKinsey report, came out and only less than 1% of all philanthropic dollars go to marginalized communities.

[14:50] So the work that I'm doing really is filling the gap. Oftentimes our students don't have this in their classroom. I'm talking about even all most American students don't have what we call steam, the integration.

[15:02] They may have pure science, they may have pure math, but they do not have this whole idea of this combinatory bringing it all together like in real world, how we work on teams to make things happen.

[15:13] Pamela Isom: I like it. So do you deal with the soft skills as well?

[15:17]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Of course, yeah, yeah. Communication is key. Everything we do, our students have to communicate their ideas out. For instance, if you look on my website, you'll see several of our students doing pictures for Slingshot Challenge where they have to talk about their ideas and defend their solutions and you know, talk about how they're taking action.

[15:38] Pamela Isom: That's a good skill. We gotta be able to defend the decisions that we make.

[15:43]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: That's right, yeah.

[15:44] Pamela Isom: And communicate if we don't agree, communicate in A very positive and constructive manner.

[15:52]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: That's correct.

[15:52] Pamela Isom: That's a real test.

[15:54]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: That's right. You know, I always tell students, you know, and I would admit that I am a poor loser. I have never been a good loser at all. I like to win.

[16:04] I was, I play sports, so I'm very competitive.

[16:07] But I always tell them, and I can tell them at this point in my life that there is no loss in trying, there is no loss in doing, because you always learn.

[16:19] Pamela Isom: Exactly. And nothing beats that experience. Right. And even though it can be hard when you're going through it, I'm kind of excited about what you're describing. But you also mentioned something about Jim, the GEM alumni.

[16:34] Can you tell me more about that?

[16:36]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Yeah. So the Jim Consortium is an organization that's out of Washington, D.C.

[16:42] and it was formed right after the civil rights era for the benefit of ensuring that African Americans, primarily minorities, as they call them, African American, Hispanic and native students, have a pathway into the PhD earning a PhD.

[17:00] So they actually fund, they funded my PhD. Them along with Adobe and also Arizona State University brought those funds together. But they're the bridge, they're the actual broker of those two, the industry partner and the institution to make sure that students that look like me.

[17:20] And of course I was just to give your listeners a little background.

[17:24] I was a real grown and sexy person. When I went to get my PhD. I had spent, I had over 25 years experience building large scale systems, everything that ranged from nuclear reactors for the Czech Republic to domestic power plants for energy and also San Diego Power and light, to building aviation systems as well as ground and satellite communication.

[17:48] So I had a vast amount of experience. But this gain in that PhD was a part of my trajectory and my path in life. And Jim made that happen for me.

[18:00] They gave me an opportunity to do that so that I could focus on my research. And as one professor from Princeton told me, as when I started the path of the PhD going part time, she said, in case you have, her name is Margaret Mansory, in case you haven't got the memo that you could start a PhD as a part timer, but you will not be able to finish it.

[18:22] And so that was a big, big eye opener for me. It was a hard review because that commitment of time as whole, also when you're making a lot of money in industry to go down to making almost none, it's, it's, it's a big, it's a big deal.

[18:38] But I would tell your listeners, I call it bend and don't break. So you Will bend for a little bit, but you're not going to break. And that's what happened with me.

[18:48] Pamela Isom: I like that, too. That's a song. I like that, too. That song keeps me uplifted.

[18:54]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Yes.

[18:55] Pamela Isom: Yeah. Yeah. All right. So I want to tell you that my aunt, you know, since we're kind of talking about people that were there to. Were there for us, to help us through.

[19:07] My aunt was one of the ones in my family that she was. She was right there. So what my mom couldn't do, my aunt was there. And so my mom showed, of course, showed lots of love, very strong lady.

[19:22] We were not very, you know, we were from. We were poor. And so my mom. My aunt would step in sometimes and she would help out. And I remember that my mom and my aunt came to my graduation when I graduated from undergrad.

[19:37] I went to school in Hawaii, and they came. They made it. They made it there, and they were at the graduation. And I also remember in high school that my aunt, she was a part of a sorority, so she saw to it that I got a scholarship to help me through.

[19:55] So I always think back to those that are there for us. And I try to do the same thing, Dr. Cheeks. I try to be there for those that are in need and those that are oftentimes overlooked or not thought about for whatever reasons.

[20:12]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Right?

[20:12] Pamela Isom: So I try to do that in my capacity. So I want you to know that I appreciate the things that you said, and I can relate. And you made me think of my aunt and my mom and how they were so supportive and how she just found a way.

[20:30] She just found a way to be there. They just. They just found a way to be there.

[20:34]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Right?

[20:34] Pamela Isom: I mean, regardless of the circumstances. And I remember that I told her, and this is probably for your young, your.

[20:42] The folks that you mentor. But I remember that I told her, my mom, that I was going to go and I was going to finish school. So she had worries, right?

[20:55] Because you know how the neighborhood is. In my neighborhood, not a whole lot of people went on to pursue higher degrees for whatever reasons, right? And I remember that I gave my mom my word that I would go to school and I would continue with my education.

[21:13] And I gave her my word. So I'm one of those kind of people. If I do that, I gotta do it right? So that's what she instilled in us. So I thought about all of that as you were talking about what you're doing, the GM alumni and the work that you are doing with the students.

[21:29] And then how you have propelled your career and are so successful and I even think about how you were. You had to have been unique in the AI realm right at the.

[21:39]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Oh definitely. Oh yeah. I am the. I will say I'm the second to have graduated in computer science from Arizona State University.

[21:50] First person she was. She was born in France but she is a part of the diaspora. Her name is Eloyde billionaire. She's down in Florida and I'm proud of that.

[22:03] I was committed to finishing and just for your listeners it's. It's not an easy path. Sometimes it's a mind game but everything you can imagine as a woman and a male dominated feeling.

[22:19] Our paths may be different but I am determined to be a good engineer. That what that looked like even leaving Southern University in rural Louisiana that looks like taking the hardest job that I could take.

[22:34] So I never all I literally. If you look at my resume everything I did was groundbreaking even for me.

[22:43] You know from the start building copolymer programs for the copolymer plant at Dow Chemical as a young computer analyst is in 85 when we had punch cards. So I chose careers that were not easy.

[22:59] But I worked hard to make sure that I was always competitive and I love what I do. That is like amazing. I literally love.

[23:10] I love. It's almost I could not have written this out that in 1990s, early 90s 919091 I was studying neural network even back then.

[23:25] Pamela Isom: I know, I hear you.

[23:26]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Yeah. I actually my thesis was in echo potentiality looking at the brain and how when you have localization in your brain that you can actually train another function of the brain and then poorly in that to a neuro network.

[23:43] And basically in systems what that looks like is what we call falate or redundancy in a system. When we brought that to a nuclear plant and so forth. So I yeah my journey has been really.

[23:58] It hasn't been easy. I'm not going to say that it hasn't been easy but I am sure one thing that sports taught me is to have confidence. And my dad helped a lot too.

[24:09] He literally with the person and my mom to tell me that I can literally do whatever I could fly, I could do whatever I want to do. And also don't accept no's.

[24:21] You know, don't. You know I don't care if no say no 500 times. It's just not the right no. It's not the right yes for you. So just keep it moving.

[24:31] Pamela Isom: Yep. You know I feel that way. I like what you're saying, and I'm glad that you stuck to it. And you have that competitive and persistent nature about you because you never know who you're influencing.

[24:45] You just.

[24:46]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Yeah. And I always. Look, you know, my thing is. And literally, this is a personal conviction. At the end of my life, I do want to do several things. I want to leave empty, meaning I do not want to take that.

[24:58] I do not want to take to the grave something that's been put in me because someone has either tried to intimidate me or tried to block me. Forget that we're going to leave empty.

[25:10] I also want to achieve what I have been set out to do. And I know that technology is a big part of that. So I express that in different ways.

[25:18] I am definitely a AI expert, but I'm a firm believer that we come in this world and if you can't do everything, but you can do one thing, and your one thing might be talking to somebody.

[25:30] It could be talking to a colleague, it could be writing a letter to encourage someone. Whatever your one thing is, you can do that, and you could do it very well.

[25:40] Pamela Isom: This has been so uplifting. I normally ask when I'm about to wrap up, can you please share advice or words of wisdom for the listeners? But you just did it. You made me think about my own trajectory and my persistence.

[25:55] I believe that one should be their authentic self. And I don't let people tell me or. Or try to shape me to be something else. I am who I am, and my mama raised me that way.

[26:07] Right. She's like, just do you. Right. So, but are there any other things that you want to share as far as words of wisdom or advice for the listeners?

[26:18]  Dr. Loretta Cheeks: Yeah, I would just like to leave with your listeners to, as we say in the south, put your foot in everything you do. That means the way you do one thing is the way you would do everything.

[26:32] So do it well and also finish strong. That means that you go hard at whatever you're doing, and there are times that you need to, you know, do like Kenny Rogers.

[26:46] You need to know when to hold and fold. You might need to do that. But go hard until that times come, because, again, there is no wasted time. So therefore, you might start a path and say, hey, I'm trying to get into this AI.

[27:01] Or you may be AI expert, or you may be an AI expert, and you're not quite where you are, but keep going because it will be used at some point and you will learn from that experience.

[27:14] Don't give up. Business is not easy. That means you have to wear multiple, multiple, multiple hats. But I tell you that earning your own $5 is still worth the journey.

[27:29] So, with that being said, live well, be safe, treat yourself well, be kind to others, and let's keep innovating. Let's kick butt in America.

[27:42] Pamela Isom: Yeah, I'm with you. All right, so this has been great. Thank you again. So glad we got a chance to talk.