Joe Faith, D.Eng.

Joe Faith, D.Eng., is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at Harding University, where he serves as the lead architect of the Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence program launched in Fall 2025. In addition to his role at Harding, Professor Faith is a Lecturer of Data Science at North Carolina State University, an Adjunct Instructor of Computer Science at Wake Technical Community College, and a Dissertation Research Advisor at The George Washington University.

Professor Faith's research focuses on applied machine learning and deep learning, with particular emphasis on healthcare applications, sequential decision-making, and the integration of large language models into educational practice. His doctoral dissertation, Chronic Kidney Disease Progression Prediction Using Transformer Models, introduced a Transformer-based deep learning architecture that outperformed industry-standard recurrent neural networks by 9% in accuracy, leveraging a custom loss function designed to enable earlier patient interventions. His broader scholarly interests span reinforcement learning, generative AI, AI ethics, and the pedagogy of teaching machine learning from first principles.

Professor Faith is the author of MIS: A Field Guide, a foundational textbook bridging business and technology now adopted in Harding's curriculum, and has served as technical editor and advanced copy reviewer for multiple AI and data science titles, including Hands-On APIs for AI and Data Science: Python Development with FastAPI and Business AI in Python & TensorFlow. He co-presented research on integrating large language models into introductory data science courses at the 2025 Symposium on Data Science and Statistics in Salt Lake City, and his perspectives on AI in education and society have been featured in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Business, KATV, and THV11.

Beyond his teaching and research, Professor Faith is a professional member of AI and Faith and sits on the Leadership Council for Collaborative AI in Higher Education through boodleAI. He is also a member of Harding's Honors College Advisory Board and was named a Faculty Innovation Scholar for 2024–2025.

Professor Faith holds a D.Eng. in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning from The George Washington University, an M.S. in Data Science from Eastern University, and an M.S. in Information Systems and a B.B.A. in Information Systems (summa cum laude) from Harding University.