SUNY Old Westbury is pleased to announce that Renu Balyan, an associate professor of computer and information sciences, has been selected as a 2026 Fellow in the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) Faculty Innovation Fellowship, a competitive national program that equips faculty leaders to develop high-impact initiatives that strengthen student pathways and align academic programs with today's workforce needs.
With her selection, Balyan is part of a cohort of 22 fellows from a diverse range of institutions across 15 states.
"The 2026 Faculty Innovation Fellows represent the best of higher education — faculty who are deeply committed to their students' success as demand for both AI-fluency and real-world experience continue to grow,” said Kristen Fox, CEO of the Business-Higher Education Forum. “This cohort brings together leaders ready to connect the transformational power of a college experience to the workforce and ensure institutions are working with agility to prepare graduates for a rapidly evolving world of work. We are proud to support them and look forward to the impact of their work."
The BHEF Faculty Innovation Fellowship is an in-depth, three-phase program that provides fellows with expert guidance, structured peer learning, and dedicated support to design, develop, and launch a capstone project, from concept through to real-world implementation. Fellows build leadership and change-management skills, forge new employer partnerships, and develop practices that extend beyond the classroom. The 2026 cohort includes 22 fellows representing 20 institutions across 15 states pioneering new and promising best practices in AI skills enablement and work-integrated learning experiences for students.
Balyan’s proposed BHEF capstone project “AI4ALL” focuses on bridging classroom learning and workforce needs by embedding applied AI skills and human-centered competencies across disciplines. The project aims to combine AI-integrated learning with paid work-integrated experiences, so students can apply AI to real-world challenges and gain the skills and experience needed for career success and engage employers as co-designers.
"’AI4ALL’ is about ensuring that every student, not just those with existing technical skills or professional networks, has the opportunity to develop applied AI skills and gain meaningful workplace experience," said Balyan. This fellowship will provide me an opportunity to turn that vision into a scalable pathway from learning to employment.”
Balyan comes to the fellowship with a growing reputation for her expertise in the field of artificial intelligence. Her career-long research and scholarly activities have related to natural language processing; data mining; machine learning; deep learning - including summarization, question-asking and question-answering; and the development of computational tools for health and educational applications. In 2026, she was awarded the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities recognizes the depth and quality of work of her scholarly pursuits.
Further, during the 2025-2026 year, she served among a select group of faculty members across the State University of New York in the inaugural class of system’s AI for the Public Good Fellows. The AI for the Public Good Fellows serve as a resource to SUNY’s colleges and universities by providing targeted support for faculty and staff working to update courses and learning activities to incorporate AI literacy, including the effective and ethical use of AI and teaching students to critically evaluate AI-generated content.
On campus, she is currently the director of AI initiatives within the campus’ Institute for AI & Ethical Innovation, which is leading conversations and development of the campus’ ongoing integration of artificial intelligence into its academic and administrative programs and processes.