Past Events

  • 2024 Feb 26

    Lunch with CRCS - February 26, 2024

    11:25am to 12:30pm

    Location: 

    SEC 2.2112

    Join CRCS Fellows and Faculty for lunch! The goal is to provide a space and opportunity for researchers to discuss common challenges and approaches to research with societal application. Feel free to bring your questions and ideas to share and problem-solve. We look forward to seeing you!

    Please RSVP here by February 22, 2024 so that we order enough food!

    Read more about Lunch with CRCS - February 26, 2024
  • 2024 Feb 12

    Suresh Venkatasubramanian (Brown University)

    11:30am to 12:30pm

    Location: 

    Science and Engineering Complex

    Talk Title: The moral salience of the algorithmic lens

    Our world today is filtered through the algorithmic lens -- a vast assemblage of algorithmic tools and data that mediate our experience of life, work, and health. This lens reveals and distorts: it forces the world into forms that are machine-readable, and in doing so renders some aspects sharper, and makes others invisible.

    The algorithmic lens requires precision, and data. It seeks to optimize, and does so at scale. But to render ourselves amenable to the algorithmic lens, we make choices --...

    Read more about Suresh Venkatasubramanian (Brown University)
  • 2023 Nov 06

    Tawanna Dillahunt (University of Michigan)

    11:00am to 12:00pm

    Location: 

    SEC LL 2.221

    Talk title: Reimagining Tech Design: Crafting Inclusive Futures Through Alternative Narratives

    Talk Abstract: Technology permeates nearly every facet of our lives—it shapes our health and well-being, transforms our work and workplaces, and revolutionizes transportation and education. However, this digital transformation has been far from equitable. Studies reveal that job seekers and entrepreneurs from lower-income and underrepresented ethnic groups are often excluded from the...

    Read more about Tawanna Dillahunt (University of Michigan)
  • 2023 Oct 23

    Sara Beery (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

    11:00am to 12:00pm

    Location: 

    SEC LL 2.221

    Talk Title: Generalization vs Specialization in Computer Vision for Ecology

    Talk Abstract: There are explicit tradeoffs between generality and specificity in computer vision methods with respect to designing impactful end-to-end solutions for ecological challenges — computer vision systems that are general purpose but optimal for each stakeholder, taking into account cost, human effort, and risk. We explore these tradeoffs across several...

    Read more about Sara Beery (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
  • 2023 Sep 18

    Catherine D'Ignazio (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

    11:00am to 12:00pm

    Location: 

    SEC 2.122

    Talk Title: Participatory AI/ML for Grassroots Data Science

    Critiques of big data, artificial intelligence and the political economies of platforms have been mounting in recent years, with scholars exposing their biased algorithms, extractivist logics and discriminatory outcomes. How, then, can those of us who work with AI, data science and technology use such tools in the service of equity, justice and liberation? Drawing from my forthcoming book Counting Feminicide: Data Feminism in Action (MIT Press, 2024), I describe a case study of building participatory...

    Read more about Catherine D'Ignazio (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
  • 2023 Sep 11

    Nika Haghtalab (UC Berkeley)

    11:00am to 12:00pm

    Location: 

    SEC 2.122

    Talk title: A unified framework for robustness, fairness, and collaboration in machine learning

    “Pervasive needs for robustness, multi-agent collaboration, and fairness have motivated the design of new methods in research and development. However, these methods remain largely stylized, lacking a foundational perspective and provable performance. In this talk, I will introduce and highlight the importance of multi-objective learning as a unifying paradigm for addressing these needs. This...

    Read more about Nika Haghtalab (UC Berkeley)
  • 2023 Apr 24

    Peter James (Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health)

    11:15am to 12:15pm

    Location: 

    SEC LL2.224

    Talk title: Computational Challenges in Environmental Epidemiology: Embedding Spatial Data Science, Mobile Health Technology, and Deep Learning into Prospective Cohort Studies

    Abstract:  The places in which we live, work, play, and age influence our health behaviors, our mental health, our cognitive function, and our chronic disease risk. However, the majority of research on spatial factors and health has relied on residential addresses to assign exposure, questionnaire data to measure health behaviors and health outcomes, and coarse and nonspecific indices to estimate...

    Read more about Peter James (Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health)
  • 2023 Apr 03

    Valerie Pasquarella (Harvard Forest and Google)

    11:15am to 12:15pm

    Location: 

    SEC LL2.224

    Talk Title: A pragmatists' guide to machine learning for Earth observation imagery

    Abstract: Our planet is constantly changing as a result of ecological and socioeconomic interactions across a variety of spatial and temporal scales. A growing number of Earth observation datasets provide regularly repeated synoptic measurements that enable us to map and understand landscapes as the dynamic systems...

    Read more about Valerie Pasquarella (Harvard Forest and Google)

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