Kayla Stevenson is an Applied Artificial Intelligence student at CECS with a strong interest in robotics and leadership, and she is actively involved in the National Society of Black Engineers, Leadership Knoxville Scholars, and Book Club. She enjoys connecting with students outside of CECS student employees, especially those who are passionate about leadership and campus involvement. Her favorite course was AI 201 (AI, Ethics, and Legal Frameworks) with Dr. Hedy Hurban, where examining the ethical implications of AI across different fields broadened her perspective on robotics and its real-world impact.
After graduation, Kayla plans to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan, where she will be pursuing a M.S. in Artificial Intelligence. Kayla hopes to research ways to increase the robustness of decentralized algorithms and improve the flexibility of swarm robots for space deployment; she also currently holds a return offer as an Aerospace AI/ML Engineer at Leidos. A fun fact about Kayla is that she loves to cook and bake—her favorite dish to cook is turkey tetrazzini, and her favorite thing to bake is brown butter red velvet cheesecake brownies.