Artificial intelligence brings historical figure to life as RPI celebrates bicentennial

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is celebrating its bicentennial year by honoring two very special guests. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman from the class of 1997. The other person being honored is an often overlooked historical figure that built a famous New York City bridge.

The special speech was delivered by the actor who plays the part of Emily Roebling in the hit HBO drama “The Gilded Age.” Liz Wisan, the actor said, “For sure, I’m endowing the words as if they are her own.”

Emily Roebling’s husband, Washington, was an RPI grad from the class of 1857. When Washington fell ill, it was his wife, a self-taught engineer, who took over for her husband overseeing one of the greatest engineering feats, the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge. The dialogue delivered Friday was more than just a flawless acting job.

“It is probably one of the most exciting projects I’ve done. We did it about in three weeks,” explained Jim Hendler, the Director of the Future of Computing Institute at RPI.

Hendler, a data scientist, turned to artificial intelligence to help bridge the past with the present and bring Roebling into the future. “We wanted to catch her style. We wanted it to be generating answers that sounded like what she would say,” Hendler said.

His team spent weeks thumbing through documents, looking at letters penned by Roebling, and finding newspaper articles in the University’s archives.

The treasure trove of data was digitized and fed into a computer program that generated a graduation speech and authentic answers to make Roebling’s words come alive more than a century later. “To really make this work, we had to know more about her,” Hendler added.

Antoinette Maniatty, the head of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at RPI, added an extra layer of context. “I have a relationship through Washington Roebling through my great-great grandmother, who was his sister,” she stated.

Through her family history, Maniatty found Emily was a woman ahead of her time. “Not only was she a literal bridge builder, but very figuratively, she knew how to connect with people. And how to bring them around to respecting her,” Maniatty added.

Bridge building skills that carried into the 21st Century. “Women have a lot to offer. They have a different perspective, and they can see problems sometimes men don’t see. Women are very good bridge builders,” Maniatty said.

RPI’s innovative thinking bridged technology with human achievement, and helped Roebling create history once again as she received the school’s first ever posthumous honorary degree. The school’s Colloquy on Friday afternoon also included an engaging conversation between both special guests Wiseman and Roebling. Individuals from two different eras, who share the same passion for ingenuity and discovery.