Fall 2026 Workshops

Registration form

This workshop series is offered by the CUNY AI Lab, a joint initiative among the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, Graduate Center Digital Initiatives, the Mina Rees Library, and the Teaching and Learning Center.

Full workshop descriptions are available on our events page.

All events, unless otherwise noted, are held in the New Media Lab (Room 7388.01) at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Please note:

Both series are scaffolded. Participants new to the Sandbox should plan to start with the September 17 session; participants new to the command line and/or Git should plan to attend both the September 22 and September 29 Vibe Coding workshops.
The co-working sessions (October 29, November 17, and December 3) are drop-in — no registration required.
Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop so they can set up a workflow on their own machine and continue working after the session. Workstations are available upon request.

Full Name

Email Address

Please use your CUNY Login email, e.g. jane.doe12@login.cuny.edu (firstname.lastname followed by the last two digits of your EMPLID).

Department

Academic Level/Title PhD Student Master's Student Faculty Other

Which workshop(s) would you like to register for?

CUNY AI Lab Sandbox series — from model comparison and system prompts to knowledge collections, skills, and tools.

Getting Started with the CUNY AI Lab Sandbox

Thursday, September 17, 2:30–4:00 pm

Introduces the CUNY AI Lab Sandbox and the possibilities it offers for experimenting with generative AI in teaching and research. We’ll explore the models available in the Sandbox, compare their affordances, and introduce system prompts to shape how a model behaves throughout a conversation.

No prior experience with the Sandbox is required.

Building Custom Models with Knowledge Collections

Thursday, October 1, 2:30–4:00 pm

Moves from a system prompt to a custom model grounded in your own materials: create a model card, select and configure a base model, and learn how knowledge collections let AI models retrieve information from uploaded syllabi, readings, assignments, research materials, and datasets.

Prerequisite: participation in the introductory Sandbox workshop.

Extending Custom Models with Skills & Tools

Thursday, October 15, 2:30–4:00 pm

Extends custom models beyond prompts and documents with skills and tools: encode repeatable procedures and give models capabilities such as web search, querying files, running code, or generating images.

Prerequisite: participation in the earlier Sandbox workshops.

Vibe Coding series — AI-assisted coding from foundations to a prototype to your own project.

Vibe Coding I: Foundations

Tuesday, September 22, 2:30–4:00 pm

Introduces the fundamentals of using AI tools to develop a digital project, including core concepts behind LLM-assisted coding, setting up a development environment, working in Terminal or PowerShell, and using Git and GitHub to track changes.

No prior coding experience is required.

Vibe Coding II: Building a Prototype

Tuesday, September 29, 2:30–4:00 pm

Moves from the fundamentals of AI-assisted coding to building a small digital project. We’ll work through prompting, project planning, iterative development, and troubleshooting as we collectively build a sample project.

Prerequisite: participation in Vibe Coding I, or prior familiarity with the command line and Git/GitHub.

Vibe Coding III: Bring Your Own Project Clinic

Tuesday, October 13, 2:30–4:00 pm

Bring a digital project you’re building (or an idea you want to get off the ground!) and spend the session working on it with support from facilitators. Projects can be at any stage.

Prerequisite: participation in Vibe Coding I and II, or comparable experience working with AI coding tools, the command line, and Git/GitHub.

Will you need access to a workstation? Yes No, I will bring my own laptop

Are there any specific topics you would like covered in these workshops?

(We consider all requests, but may not be able to address every topic.)