2026 Knowledge ∞ Continuum: Celebrating 35 Years of CMIT

The Center for the Management of Information Technology (CMIT) at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce welcomed students, faculty, alumni, and industry leaders to Shumway Hall on Friday, May 1, 2026, for the 2026 Knowledge ∞ Continuum. Celebrating CMIT’s 35th anniversary, this year’s event explored the accelerating impact of artificial intelligence on labor, organizations, cybersecurity, data strategy, and decision-making, while also recognizing the leadership and legacy of R. Ryan Nelson, Murray Family Eminent Professor of Commerce, as he prepares to step down as CMIT director.

Opening the program, Anton Korinek, Professor of Economics in UVA’s Department of Economics and at the Darden School of Business, delivered a keynote on how AI is reshaping the future of labor. Drawing on his research in transformative AI economics, Korinek argued that current advances may represent a paradigm shift comparable to the Industrial Revolution, with implications for labor markets, education, social safety nets, and global economic structures.

“The most valuable skill in our economy will be to collaborate with AI systems.” — Anton Korinek

In a fireside conversation with Ryan Wright, Co-Director of AI Research @ UVA, Special Advisor to the Provost for AI Research, and Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Eminent Professor of Commerce, the discussion explored both the promise and disruption associated with increasingly capable AI systems, as well as the urgency of preparing organizations and policymakers for rapid change.

“I hope that we are all experimenting, and I hope that some of our experiments fail, because if they don’t, then it means we weren’t ambitious enough.”  — Anton Korinek, in conversation with Ryan Wright.

The morning continued with “Built by Students: AI Innovation from UVA’s  Hackathons,” a session highlighting how UVA students are already building practical AI-enabled solutions to real-world problems. CoRA (Course Research Assistant) was developed by Nathan Dela Paz (CS ’27), Kayla Kim (Data Science & CS ’27), Olivia Sun (McIntire ’27), and Elyse Undan (CS ’27) at our Center’s own sponsored Claude for Good Hackathon in November 2025. The AI-powered Chrome extension is used to streamline course discovery and registration research by aggregating reviews, summaries, and course insights directly within UVA’s enrollment system.

“I think what stood out to me the most about the Knowledge Continuum was the affirmation that, even in this period of changing technologies and industry landscapes, creativity, innovation, and curiosity nonetheless continue to persist. Ever over the course of one day, I was able to learn so much from the wisdom and experiences of my faculty and peers.” — Olivia Sun

Council, created by Luke Anderson (Engineering ’29) and Zave Greene (McIntire ’27) at HooHacks 2026, introduced a multi-agent “decision harness” designed to generate and evaluate diverse perspectives across complex decisions, helping users surface both consensus thinking and high-value outlier ideas.

“It’s critical that we are teaching students to think about the system they operate in and how to use AI to help them better understand that world around them to, I think, bring more agency into their summer internship, full-time job, overall life.” — Zave Greene

Kandi, developed by Pierce Brookins (McIntire ’28) and Nicole Shou (McIntire ’27) for Hack to the Beat, presented a wearable safety system for concerts and festivals that combines real-time hearing protection alerts with Bluetooth-based friend-finding technology in crowded environments. Elizabeth Cohen (McIntire ’26) also joined the student panel discussion that followed the pitches, sharing perspectives on how students are incorporating AI tools into their academic work, career preparation, and daily workflows.

Following lunch, the session “Are We Ready for the Next Generation of AI?” examined the operational and societal challenges emerging alongside increasingly autonomous AI systems. Jingjing Li, Andersen Alumni Associate Professor of Commerce and Director of the M.S. in Business Analytics Program at UVA, discussed the transition from AI as a productivity tool to AI as an organizational partner embedded within teams and workflows.

“In less than three years, we’ve seen AI [go] from just a chatbot to your delegates, and right now they’ve become your digital colleagues.” — Jingjing Li

Reza Mousavi, Associate Professor of Commerce at UVA, explored the rise of AI agents and the strategic questions organizations must answer before deploying at scale.

“We’re not talking anymore about what should be done with humans, what should be done with AI. We’re talking a lot more about how humans can create the conditions under which these AI agents operate.”  — Reza Mousavi

Chris Porter (A&S ’98, M.S. in MIT ’10), Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer at Fannie Mae, focused on frontier-model cybersecurity risks and the growing speed at which AI-enabled threats can emerge and propagate.

“Agents don’t go to sleep. They’re constantly attacking all the time.” — Chris Porter

Moderated by Chris Maurer, Associate Professor of Commerce at UVA, the session emphasized the importance of governance, evaluation, trust, and organizational readiness as AI capabilities continue to advance.

To close the day, Barb Wixom, Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), shared insights from Caterpillar’s enterprise data transformation journey. Centered on the concept of “data liquidity”—the ability to efficiently access, reuse, and recombine data assets—her presentation demonstrated how organizations that invest in data accessibility, governance, and infrastructure are better positioned to realize value from AI and digital initiatives. Using Caterpillar as a case study, Wixom highlighted the organizational alignment and long-term strategy required to move beyond isolated data projects toward scalable digital transformation.

“Realize your strategic ambitions with data by liquefying it.”  — Barb Wixom

The event also recognized members of the CMIT community whose work reflects the center’s ongoing commitment to leadership and innovation. Barb Wixom received the 2026 IT Leadership Award following her presentation. Elizabeth Cohen (McIntire ’26) was presented with the 2026 Emerging Leader in IT Award in recognition of her leadership in the classroom and engagement in student initiatives.

During the closing remarks, Ryan Wright shared the special announcement that the M.S. in MIT scholarship has been renamed the “R. Ryan Nelson M.S. in MIT Scholarship” in honor of Professor Nelson’s leadership and longstanding impact on generations of students, alumni, and industry partners. Gifts supporting the scholarship can be made here: R. Ryan Nelson M.S. in MIT Scholarship

The 2026 Knowledge ∞ Continuum reflected the broad reach of AI across business, education, research, and society, while reinforcing the value of bringing together faculty expertise, industry insight, and student innovation in one shared conversation. As CMIT celebrates 35 years and looks toward its next chapter, the event underscored a defining theme of the day: thoughtful leadership and collaboration will remain essential as organizations work to shape—not simply react to—the future of AI.

Thank you, Ryan Nelson for 35 years of innovative leadership at CMIT!