Story and photos by Logan Jackson
- Henry Birkmeier – sophomore constitutional democracy and political science double major
- Research Mentor: Scott LaCombe, an assistant professor in the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy
Henry Birkmeier was introduced to the impact of research last year through the ASH Scholars program. He’s building on that work this summer through the Cherng Summer Scholars program.
Birkmeier’s project centers on artificial intelligence (AI) policy diffusion, examining how federal AI policies influence state policymaking and how AI policies spread from one state to another. He began the project last fall as an ASH Scholar.
“Our early discussions focused on what type of policy diffusion we wanted to explore, and AI is such a timely topic, so it made sense to pursue research in that space,” said Birkmeier, a sophomore constitutional democracy and political science double major. “There also aren’t many policies yet, so it’s an exciting time to see how it’s growing. Through the ASH Scholars program, we did a lot of coding of those policies, researching them and learning more about who promotes each policy.”
Birkmeier said policy diffusion often begins in states with large economic footprints before spreading to other states. His research hypothesis is that AI won’t follow the same policy diffusion pattern.
“AI is such a widespread thing and it’s largely intangible,” Birkmeier said. “How do you legislate something like that? We have some statistics that we use when doing our ASH presentations that showcase how quickly AI is moving. For example, it took two-and-a-half years for Instagram to reach 100 million active users. It took ChatGPT about two months to reach that same number of users. It’s a space that’s constantly evolving and changing, so it’s tough to keep up with.”
Birkmeier is going through around 550 adopted and proposed policies tied to AI, which were coded during his work as an ASH Scholar. The ASH Scholars program is a collaborative undergraduate research initiative supported by the Honors College, the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. Each ASH team consists of six students who work closely with a faculty team on an established research project. Birkmeier was part of the State Politics team, one of a handful of teams sponsored by the Kinder Institute. That team is led by Scott LaCombe, an assistant professor in the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy.
“Dr. LaCombe has done a ton of research tied to policy diffusion, and it’s really rewarding to be able to work with him further on this project,” Birkmeier said.
LaCombe is also serving as Birkmeier’s research mentor for the Cherng Summer Scholars program, a nine-week research or creative scholarship program for Mizzou students pursuing the Honors Certificate. The program is supported by a gift from Peggy and Andrew Cherng and allows students to participate in individually designed projects under the mentorship of a Mizzou faculty member. Students also take part in a weekly seminar course and present their research findings during Mizzou Office of Undergraduate Research’s Summer Forum.
“This is such a great program, and I’m fortunate to be part of it,” Birkmeier said. “It’s been interesting to hear about the different projects and learn more about what my peers are working on. We’re in the same college and part of the same program, yet we’re all doing completely different things. It’s cool to see.”
Birkmeier is hoping to create a few graphs of where the policy diffusion is occurring. He is using data visualization software to organize the coded policy data and identify patterns in how AI policies spread.
“I’m doing a lot of reading at the moment, and I’m excited to pull everything together,” Birkmeier said. “This has been a fascinating project and one that will hopefully lead to some interesting discoveries.”