Dr. Shelia Cotten Research Focus

Research Focus: Dr. Shelia Cotten,
Associate Vice President for Research Development, Provost’s Distinguished Professor, Clemson University

Dr. Shelia Cotten has been the Associate Vice President for Research Development at Clemson University for the past five years. In this role, she strives to advance research at Clemson, expand interdisciplinary collaborations, oversee the Office of Research Development, and develop ways to enhance research infrastructure. She is a sociology and media/communication scholar who studies the impacts and use of emerging technologies. Her research has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, National Science Foundation, American Diabetes Association, and other organizations. Dr. Cotten’s most recent NSF grant, in conjunction with Claflin University and the College of Charleston, is focused on expanding research infrastructure across the state of South Carolina. On the ADAPT in SC project, she co-leads the Ethics and Acceptance of AI in Healthcare component. Colleagues from Clemson and the Medical University of South Carolina work together to help the full team understand the ways to integrate ethics into the design process, as well as examine acceptance and willingness to use AI in healthcare among the healthcare workforce and patients.

The AI ethics team within the AI-enabling Core is focused on understanding the acceptance and willingness of both healthcare professionals and patients to utilize AI technologies in healthcare. This understanding is vital as it influences the design, development, and adoption of these technologies. Key objectives include identifying AI ethics training courses (completed), conducting a scoping review on AI ethics (analysis completed; manuscript in editing stage), and administering a survey on AI acceptance among healthcare professionals (data collection began 7/23/25). The outcomes of these efforts will provide valuable insights into stakeholders’ perspectives on AI, which is essential for integrating AI technologies into healthcare effectively. The major activities are listed below:

• • Train the ADAPT Research Team in Ethical Issues in AI Design and Development
    • The World Health Organization (WHO) training for Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health is recommended for all ADAPT in SC participants.
  • Developing Model Card for Best Ethical Practices in AI Development in Health Care
    • Evaluating existing Model Cards to determine which one(s) may be the best fit for researchers on the ADAPT in SC project.
  • Provide Biomedical AI Ethics Consultancy for ADAPT Teams. 
    • Ethics team members are available and able to meet with each ADAPT project team to encourage the inclusion of ethical considerations directly related to their project(s). Thorough discussion, questions are encouraged, and additional guidance is offered. Six meetings have been held as shown in Table 1.
    • Leverage existing biomedical AI ethics framework
    • Provide exposure to the AI ethics framework through active engagement with research teams

• • Co-Host a South Carolina AI Biomedical Summit
    • Coordinate with ADAPT project management to include Ethics content in ADAPT Summit and Clemson-MUSC AI Hub summit
    • Develop and disseminate post-summit survey
    • Explore potential focus/topics of AI in healthcare challenges for future summits and the development of White Papers

The activities of the AI ethics team, including the ethics training course and consultancy, aim to enhance the ADAPT-team members’ understanding of the importance of ethics throughout the AI technology lifecycle. By publishing the results of the scoping literature review, the team seeks to broaden the impact of their findings on the acceptance and willingness of stakeholders to adopt AI technologies, reaching beyond just the ADAPT team. Additionally, initiatives such as the survey, AI Summit symposiums, and consultancy will improve AI literacy among healthcare professionals and patients, emphasizing the significance of ethics in AI applications. These efforts are crucial in addressing the rapidly evolving landscape of AI technologies and understanding user attitudes, which are essential for successful integration into healthcare.