Professor Andrew Wu Honored For Research on How Generative AI Can Enhance Student Learning
Andrew Wu, associate professor of technology and operations at the Ross School of Business, researchers from Northwestern University, Google, and a team of global collaborators, earned first runner-up honors for the 2025 Gartner Eye on Innovation Awards in the Education in the Americas category.
This award recognizes colleges and universities that use technology to improve education. Judges review projects based on how the technology helps students and teachers and addresses challenges in education.
Wu’s research project, titled “Unlocking the Positive Impact of Generative AI in Higher Education,” includes faculty from 31 universities working together to develop and test a Google artificial intelligence teaching assistant called Faculty Twin. This agentic AI platform allows faculty members to design and implement specialized AI agents, digital characters who can interact with students, answer questions, and provide personalized mentorship or guidance by leveraging the expertise and teaching style of the actual professor.
“Our goal with this project is to build a consortium that rigorously assesses whether generative AI can be a positive force for higher education, and if so, help faculty discover the best ways to use AI tools to maximize their impact in the classroom,” said Wu.
Unlike standard AI tools that act as virtual teaching assistants, Faculty Twin acts as a digital version of a professor that can give advice, share knowledge, and mentor students. Faculty can also use the technology to design case studies with simulated company leaders, personalized practice exams, and role-reversal activities where students teach the AI new skills.
The goal is to help students apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to work through scenarios or problems and more clearly explain their approach. This process not only deepens classroom learning but also helps students prepare for the challenges they’ll face in the workplace.
The study is one of the largest of its kind, involving over 20,000 students across four semesters. Participating faculty are randomly assigned access to Faculty Twin. This allows the team to directly compare the impact on student engagement, learning, and satisfaction between AI-enabled classes and those without the technology.
“While our results are still preliminary, we’re already seeing some positive impact on student performance,” said Wu. “Students who use the AI tool are engaging more in classroom activities and thinking more deeply about the course material. Their feedback also shows higher satisfaction with their learning.”
The project encourages faculty to experiment with AI technology to fit the specific needs of their courses and students. By testing these different approaches, the team hopes to identify best practices and demonstrate how AI tools can positively impact teaching and learning. Wu and his collaborators also hope to widely promote the adoption of Faculty Twin and inspire further collaboration between universities and technology partners like Google.
