MND 305 is a reporting class where each student picks a beat to cover for the various kinds of stories covered throughout the semester such as a beat news, explainer and enterprise piece.
Below is my profile story which I wrote about United AI, an artificial intelligence club started by two Syracuse University students.
United AI works to unite SU students, teaching students of every major what their classes do not
It was a warmer Tuesday evening than usual for Syracuse, although you wouldn’t know it from the windowless lecture hall in Newhouse where students gathered for their weekly meeting. The once-silent room began to overflow with laughter and chatter as greetings were exchanged.
The slide projected on the board read “United AI, please sign in,” with a QR code in the center. As attendees sat behind the lecture tables, two men circulated around the front of the room, sparking up conversations with people.
These two men, engineering students Orion Goodman and Tyler Neary, are the co-founders of the first student-led artificial intelligence organization at SU, United AI.
Since becoming a registered student organization in fall of 2025, the club has gained 193 members.
“Sometimes I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh, we keep growing,’” Goodman said. “We're gonna need to get an even bigger space. Right now we have a room with an 80 person capacity, and we have about 60 people on average at our meetings, so it’s quite a lot to handle.”
Goodman, a 22-year-old biomedical engineering major with an integrated learning major in neuroscience, began using ChatGPT 4 to help him study when it first came out in 2024.
The AI’s abilities left Goodman impressed and a little overwhelmed. It was able to solve complex physics and organic chemistry problems, and code like a professional software engineer.
“These are things that I'm studying to use in my profession, and all of a sudden there's this technology that can do them for me,” Goodman said. “Why am I studying this stuff? And then what will happen if this technology continues to advance?”
With lots of questions and little answers, Goodman saw a void that needed to be filled. He wanted to create a space for students to discuss and learn new skills in AI.
In January 2025, he shared his idea with his roommate, 21-year-old civil engineering major Neary.
Neary thought the club would be a good start in providing students with opportunities to learn about AI's fast-paced advancements that the SU curriculum could not keep up with.
Being educated in AI is becoming an industry standard. Major companies have begun telling universities, including SU, they are not going to hire students if they are not being taught AI.
“The students of Syracuse and these universities aren't stupid,” Neary said. “They're going to be upset about this, and want a place where you can discuss and engage yourself with the technology.”
In April, the duo decided to get a small group together for “test pilot meetings.” The 10-person group called almost every day that summer to build their faculty advising board, which consists of eight faculty advisors spanning six home colleges. They began recruiting students through cold outreach on LinkedIn in August.
Going into the fall, the process to become an RSO was changed and they were unsure if they would be able to do it, Neary said.
However, they received major support from SU faculty and secured a partnership with AI safety and research company Anthropic, giving them the push they needed. The club is now able to run semester-long project competitions where groups compete for portions of an $800 prize pool.
A new partnership with LaunchPad will allow teams who complete the projects to see if there is any potential profitability.
There are many opportunities for members to get involved beyond the projects, as well.
Kylie Sielski, a junior dual degree in applied data science and political science with a minor in global security studies, is a representative for the iSchool in the United AI College Council, which works to connect every discipline and school to United AI.
Sielski joined this semester to contribute to the larger conversation among college-aged people about AI’s impact on their futures.
“The conversation is up to us to get involved with and decide the fate of what AI will be in the future,” Sielski said. “I think there's something really powerful being at the forefront of that.”
Since joining, she has been inspired to explore new opportunities within AI on her own in order to share them with her peers at weekly meetings.
Sielski’s experience reflects Goodman’s vision to empower students of every major to learn and grow with this new technology.
While the club was originally Goodman’s idea, Neary is very proud of what they have accomplished so far.
“The most rewarding thing for me has been helping out people who, don't necessarily feel lost in this new world with AI, but feel confused or don't have a direction because they feel they're not getting the attention they deserve,” Neary said. “It's definitely the greatest thing I've ever done.”
