Using AI to Enhance Workforce Performance (including yours!)

The pace of change at work is accelerating—and AI literacy is quickly becoming a must‑have skill. In this APPA webinar, University of Cincinnati engineer and educator Sid Thatham shows practical, low‑risk ways facility leaders and campus teams can use today’s tools to boost productivity, sharpen decisions, and upskill for what’s next. Expect live examples, clear guardrails for privacy and ethics, and a concrete action plan you can start the same day.

What you’ll learn

• Fast wins with today’s tools: Leverage AI to pull data from documents; draft presentations with tools like Gamma; export data and create predictive views to support plant operations.
• AI literacy for every role: How to find transferable use cases, build prompt habits, and upskill teams—without needing to code.
• Risk, ethics, and privacy 101: What to share (and not), handling proprietary data, understanding tool limitations and hallucinations.
• The workforce lens: Why as many as 300M full‑time jobs worth of tasks could be exposed to automation—and what leaders can do to reskill now.

Who should attend

• Campus facilities leaders, supervisors, analysts, and anyone curious about using AI to reduce backlog, accelerate planning, and elevate service.

Sid Thatham is an Energy Engineer in the University of Cincinnati’s (UC) Department of Utilities and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the College of Engineering & Applied Science, where he teaches courses such as Effectiveness in Technical Organizations and Energy, Environment & Society. Sid is also an integral member of the AI Enablement team at the university, where he works towards advancing AI literacy. He co-leads the UC Faculty AI Readiness initiative, and his team has funded 17 AI research. He earned dual master’s degrees from UC—a Master’s in Chemical Engineering and an MBA—and is a longtime campus innovation leader.

A frequent public speaker, Sid has delivered multiple TEDx talks, including Measure Energy Better to Manage Energy Better (TEDxKothrud), A Meme a Day May Keep the Doctor Away (TEDxDayton), etc., and has presented on energy, culture, and technology at events across the region.  Sid is passionate about practical technology, workforce readiness, and student engagement.