JOEL STURMAN (Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI)) hails from New York City and received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University respectively. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in Computer Science and holds the first Computer Science degree ever granted by Cornell and the third nationwide.  Joel spent a number of years as a research scientist and Supervisor of Advanced Software Technology at Bell Telephone Laboratories.  He served as a Director of Software Technology at Harris Corporation and as Manager of the Computer Science Research Program at the General Electric Research and Development Laboratories.  Since his retirement from GE he as served as a visiting Professor at the State University of New York at Albany and as an Adjunct Professor at Union College in Schenectady, New York.  He has served three terms as an elected member of the Board of Education in New Providence, New Jersey, and has been an appointed member of the Union County School Boards Association.  He was appointed by the NJ State Legislature to the “State Task Force on Business Efficiency of the Pubic Schools” where a number of the Task Force’s recommendations have resulted in significant changes to NJ State Education Law.  In addition to his current activities at the Shepherd’s Center he is also an instructor at Senior Adventures In Learning.