Honors student work to be published

Seth Orvin

Seth Orvin, senior Schedler Honors College student and computer science major, has had a research project accepted for publication in Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (UReCA), the student journal associated with the National Collegiate Honors Council. It is published each November.

Orvin’s project, STEM Stereotypes Through the Lens of Generative Artificial Intelligence, utilized three text-to-image generative AI tools to investigate the influence of STEM stereotypes on image output. Ten STEM occupations representing a range of average incomes were selected. For each occupation, each AI tool generated ten images of a worker using the prompt “A color photograph of a ____, centered headshot, high quality.” Results showed that images generated by Image RX and SDXL 1.0 amplified gender and racial stereotypes, while Adobe Firefly generated results more proportional to the demographics of the US.
 
Orvin’s project grew out of an honors seminar course as part of the Justice and Equity Honors Network (JEHN) which was a year-long collaborative class with honors students at Arizona State University. Seth presented his project at the JEHN summer experience student poster symposium in Washington D.C. in June and will also be presenting at the upcoming National Collegiate Honors Council conference in Kansas City.