Announcing SAIL 2024
2024-10-07 - 2024-10-10
Save the Date!
The Summit for AI Institutes Leadership 2024 is set for October 7-9 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Expo Day is scheduled for October 10.
Join us for these four days of collaboration, innovation, and knowledge sharing!

Dynamics AI Seminars
2024-10-18 - 2025-05-31 | University of Washington
Dynamics AI Seminar Series
2024-2025
See dynamicsai.org for details, including mailing list signup and recordings!

ARNI Distinguished Seminar Series
2024-11-01 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York)
ARNI Distinguished Seminar Series
We are excited to announce the inaugural seminar for the ARNI Distinguished Seminar Series. This will be the first in a series of seminars focused on cutting-edge topics in AI research, innovation, and applications.

Jim DiCarlo
Peter de Florez Professor, Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Director, MIT Quest for Intelligence
Location: Zuckerman Institute – Kavli Auditorium (9th Floor)- 3227 Broadway
Date and Time: November 1st at 3:00pm
Zoom: Link
Title:
Do contemporary, machine-executable models (aka digital twins) of the primate ventral visual system unlock the ability to non-invasively, beneficially modulate high level brain states?
Abstract:
In this talk, I will first briefly review the story of how neuroscience, cognitive science and computer science (“AI”) converged to create specific, image-computable, deep neural network models intended to appropriately abstract, emulate and explain the mechanisms of primate core visual object identification and categorization behaviors. Based on a large body of primate neurophysiological and behavioral data, some of these network models are now the most accurate emulators of the primate ventral visual stream — they well-approximate both its internal neural mechanisms and how those mechanisms support the ability of humans and other primates to rapidly and accurately infer object identity, position, pose, etc. from the set of pixels (image) received during typical natural viewing.
Because these leading neuroscientific emulator models — aka “digital twins” — are fully observable and machine-executable, they offer predictive and potential application power that our field’s prior conceptual models did not. I will describe two recent examples from our team. First, the current leading digital twins predict that the brain’s high level visual neurons (inferior temporal cortex, IT) should be highly susceptible to “adversarial attacks” in which an agent (the adversary) aims to strongly disrupt the normal neural response (here, neural firing rate) to any given natural image via small magnitude, targeted changes to that image. We verified this surprising prediction in monkey IT neurons. Second, we show how we can turn this result around and extend it: instead of making adversarial “attacks”, we propose using digital twin models to support non-invasive, beneficial brain modulation. Specifically, we show that we can use a digital twin to design spatial patterns of light energy that, when applied to the organism’s retina in the context of ongoing natural visual processing, results in precise modulation (i.e. rate bias) of the pattern of a population of IT neurons (where any intended modulation pattern is chosen ahead of time by the scientist). Because the IT visual neural populations are known to directly modulate downstream neural circuits involved in mood and anxiety, we speculate that this could provide a new, non-invasive application avenue of potential future human clinical benefit.

TILOS Seminar: How Transformers Learn Causal Structure with Gradient Descent
2024-11-20 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Halicioglu Data Science Institute Room 123, 3234 Matthews Ln, La Jolla, CA, 92093, United States
Zoom: https://bit.ly/TILOS-Seminars

NSF OAC Office Hours
2025-01-17 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom webinar
NSF’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) Concierge Team is hosting virtual office hours starting January 17. Get details about your no-cost access to national advanced computing resources!

Registration is now open for these sessions:

January 17, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
January 31, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
February 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
February 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
March 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT
March 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT

Drop in to the office hours to discover how you can leverage cyberinfrastructure resources made available to U.S.-based researchers at no cost. These sessions will feature offerings from the NSF-funded Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, and the NSF-funded Cloudbank resource. Learn about the opportunities available to you and get your questions answered by experts on the various initiatives. Register now!

ICICLE Open House
2025-01-21 13:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | UC San Diego, Halicioglu Data Science Institute, Room 123, 3234 Matthews Lane, La Jolla, CA, 92093, United States
Learn about the AI Institute for Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE)! Explore ICICLE’s various use-inspired science projects and NextGen & Educational Fellow Initiatives.
This event is open to the public. Register by January 15.
View the event flyer for more details.

AI-ALOE Webinar: Introducing the National Tutoring Observatory
2025-01-22 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom webinar
Don’t miss this exciting webinar with Professor Rene Kizilcec from Cornell University!
Are you curious about the intersection of tutoring, AI, and the future of learning? This talk will introduce the mission and approach of the National Tutoring Observatory (NTO) and share some ongoing work in the Future of Learning Lab.
We are looking forward to learning how tutoring has become a key response to pandemic learning losses, the role of high-quality teaching data in advancing AI for education, and discovering how the NTO leverages real-world teaching recordings and cutting-edge AI to shape the future of education.
Learn how we’re tackling one of the most pressing challenges in education today. Register now!

AIVO Communications Office Hours
2025-01-24 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom webinar
Why Attend?

Find out how to get a feature article placed in AIVO News or on the AIVO website
Get advice on your messaging for feature articles and press releases
Request a review of your draft communications
Get help drafting a communications plan
Request writing or editing support for your Institute’s communications
Ask a communications-related question

Monthly Schedule – Winter & Spring 2025

Friday, January 24, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern
Friday, February 21, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern
Friday, March 21, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern
Friday, April 18, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern
Friday, May 16, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern

Calendar invitations will be sent upon request to aivo@ucdavis.edu.
Join Info

Join Zoom Meeting: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/5102616773?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 510 261 6773
Passcode: [REDACTED]
One tap mobile:

+16699006833,,5102616773#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US (San Jose)
+16694449171,,5102616773#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US

TILOS Seminar: Unlearnable Facts Cause Hallucinations in Pretrained Language Models
2025-01-29 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Halicioglu Data Science Institute Room 123, 3234 Matthews Ln, La Jolla, CA, 92093, United States

NSF OAC Office Hours
2025-01-31 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom webinar
NSF’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) Concierge Team is hosting virtual office hours for the AI Institutes. Get details about your no-cost access to national advanced computing resources!

Registration is now open for these sessions:

January 31, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
February 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
February 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
March 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT
March 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT

Drop in to the office hours to discover how you can leverage cyberinfrastructure resources made available to U.S.-based researchers at no cost. These sessions will feature offerings from the NSF-funded Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, and the NSF-funded Cloudbank resource. Learn about the opportunities available to you and get your questions answered by experts on the various initiatives. Register now!

AI-SDM Seminar Series: AI Assurance for Public Good
2025-01-31 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom webinar
The AI Institute for Societal Decision Making (AI-SDM) is excited to host several AI scientists and directors from MITRE at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) on Friday, January 31, 2025!

Seminar Title: AI Assurance for Public Good
Seminar Speakers from MITRE:

Ozgur Eris, Managing Director of the AI and Autonomy Innovation Center
Christina Liaghati, Manager of the Trustworthy & Secure AI Department and MITRE ATLAS Lead
Ben Wellner, Chief Scientist for Generative AI

Seminar Date & Time: Friday, January 31, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm, Eastern Time
Seminar Locations:

Newell-Simon Hall, Room 4305 (fourth floor), CMU
Zoom (Click to register for the meeting.)

In-Person Meetings with MITRE Speakers:
MITRE speakers will also be available to meet in person at CMU throughout the day with anyone who is interested. Sign up for a meeting time slot. (Catered lunch will be provided to those who select the lunch time slot.)

More about the AI-SDM Seminar Series

Visit the Featured AI-SDM Events webpage to learn more about this seminar, see the upcoming seminar schedule, and register for upcoming seminars.

Upcoming AI-SDM?Seminars:

Friday, February 14, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Valerie Chen
Friday, February 28, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Aviral Kumar
Friday, March 21, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Terri Adams
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Deb Roy
Friday, April 11, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Rayid Ghani
Friday, April 25, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Tom Griffiths
Friday, May 9, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Giacomo De Nicola

TRAILS Conference - AI at Work: Building and Evaluating Trust
2025-02-03 - 2025-02-04 | The George Washington University, 1918 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C., VA, 20052, United States
The Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law and Society (TRAILS) invites AI thought leaders, researchers, and advisors from industry, policy, and academia to join us for AI at Work: Building and Evaluating Trust.

February 3-4, 2025
The George Washington University

Washington, D.C.

This two-day event will explore ethical frameworks and guidelines for AI systems, strategies for building trustworthy AI governance within organizations, supporting AI and/as Workers, and tools to help address the challenges of AI at work across all sectors.

This event is open to the public, though pre-registration is required to attend, as seating is limited.

To view the agenda and register, visit trails.gwu.edu/trailscon-2025.

Event Details

Keynote panels include guests from IBM, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Meta, Microsoft Research, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Qualcomm, Trustible, Unanimous AI, and many more.

Conference tracks include: Trustworthy AI Governance Within Organizations, AI and Career Trajectories, AI and/as the Worker, and Connecting Trustworthy AI Research to Operational Practices.

Keynote Panels:

Making Evaluation Make Sense: Designing Evaluation Measures for AI Systems Users Can Understand and Trust
AI as Work: Expanding Participation in AI Design, Development, and Evaluation
Who Participates in Participatory AI, and How Can We Make it More “Participatory”?
AI in the Work-World

Breakout Session Highlights:

Increasing AI Diversity in the Workforce
Overcoming Organizational Challenges When Adopting NIST Risk Management Framework
Supporting Good AI Governance Practices Within Organizations
Exploring Real-World Tools and Theories for Addressing the “AI at Work” Challenges
Imagining the Future of AI and Workers: A Strategic Foresight Workshop

Register now!
For more information about this event and TRAILS in general, please contact Mallory Smith, Director of Outreach and Strategy at mallory.smith@gwu.edu.

TILOS-SDSU Seminar: Challenging Estimation Problems in Vehicle Autonomy
2025-02-12 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Gold Auditorium at San Diego State University, 473 Avenue of the Art, San Diego, CA, 92115, United States
Zoom: https://SDSU.zoom.us/j/88253557555

National Advanced Computing Resources Office Hours
2025-02-14 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom webinar
Get details about your no-cost access to national advanced computing resources during virtual office hours for the AI Institutes!

Registration is now open for these sessions:

February 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
February 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
March 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT
March 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT

Drop in to the office hours to discover how you can leverage cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources ((CPU, GPU, Cloud computing cycles) made available to U.S.-based researchers at no cost. These sessions will feature offerings from the NSF-funded Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, and the NSF-funded Cloudbank resource. Learn about the opportunities available to you and get your questions answered by experts on the various initiatives. Register now!

AI-SDM Seminar Series: Effective Human-AI Interactions in an Evolving AI Landscape
2025-02-14 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom webinar
Join the next AI Institute for Societal Decision Making (AI-SDM) seminar on Friday, February 14, 2025!

Effective Human-AI Interactions in an Evolving AI Landscape

Abstract: The evolving AI landscape means that models have the potential to support human decision-makers and users in a wide range of fields and applications. And yet, human-AI interactions in many deployment contexts still face practical challenges. In this talk, we discuss how to design and evaluate these interactions in two common paradigms. The first half focuses on predictive decision-making, and the role of explanations in facilitating appropriate reliance on AI recommendations. The second half explores more complex settings where AI are “copilots”, highlighting gaps in existing evaluations and proposing a new in-the-wild framework. We conclude by discussing common themes across paradigms and lessons learned for building effective human-AI interactions.

Speaker: Valerie Chen, PhD Student, Machine Learning Department, CMU
Valerie’s research aims to improve human-AI interactions by leveraging insights from practical user studies to design new interactive systems. Her research sits at the intersection of ML, NLP, and HCI. Valerie is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a former intern at MSR’s Fairness, Accountability, Transparency & Ethics in AI group, and was selected as a Rising Star in Data Science.

Date & Time: Friday, February 14, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm, Eastern Time
Locations:

Newell-Simon Hall, Room 4305 (fourth floor), CMU
Zoom (After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email with information about how to join the meeting.)

More about the AI-SDM Seminar Series

Visit the Featured AI-SDM Events webpage to learn more about this seminar, see the upcoming seminar schedule, and register for upcoming seminars.

Upcoming AI-SDM Seminars:

Friday, February 28, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Ananya Rao
Friday, March 21, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Terri Adams
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Deb Roy
Friday, April 11, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Rayid Ghani
Friday, April 25, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Tom Griffiths
Friday, May 9, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Giacomo De Nicola

AIVO Communications Office Hours
2025-02-21 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom webinar
Why Attend?

Find out how to get a feature article placed in AIVO News or on the AIVO website
Get advice on your messaging for feature articles and press releases
Request a review of your draft communications
Get help drafting a communications plan
Request writing or editing support for your Institute’s communications
Ask a communications-related question

Monthly Schedule – Winter & Spring 2025

Friday, February 21, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern
Friday, March 21, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern
Friday, April 18, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern
Friday, May 16, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern

Calendar invitations will be sent upon request to aivo@ucdavis.edu.
Join Info

Join Zoom Meeting: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/5102616773?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 510 261 6773
Passcode: [REDACTED]
One tap mobile:

+16699006833,,5102616773#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US (San Jose)
+16694449171,,5102616773#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US

USDA's 101st Agricultural Outlook Forum
2025-02-27 - 2025-02-28 | Crystal Gateway Marriott, 1700 Richmond Highway, Arlington, VA, 22202, United States
Meeting Tomorrow’s Challenges, Today
Hybrid Event • February 27-28, 2025 • Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington VA
The Agricultural Outlook Forum (AOF) is USDA’s largest and premier annual gathering. The breadth and timeliness of the AOF programs have consistently drawn a diverse group of participants, including producers, processors, policymakers, government officials, and non-governmental organizations. It routinely attracts more than 1,800 people in person and several thousand virtual attendees from the U.S. and around the world.
The 2025 AOF Program will feature a presentation on the latest outlook for agricultural markets and trade by USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer, many distinguished guest speakers, and 30 breakout sessions covering a wide range of timely agricultural, food market and environmental issues. Onsite attendees will also have the opportunity to visit exhibit booths showcasing the important missions and activities of various USDA agencies, as well as recent USDA-funded innovations.
Two pre-Forum field trips will also be available, but please note that space is limited for each trip. See details.
Register now to secure your spot at the 2025 Forum and engage with industry leaders and experts.
Don’t miss the opportunity to contribute to the conversations shaping the future of agriculture!

Featured Speakers

Seth Meyer, USDA Chief Economist
Jeff Schmid, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Jim Pillen, Governor of Nebraska

Forum Fees for In-Person Participation

Full Conference: $525
(Fees include in-person and virtual access to all Forum sessions and recordings, lunch and dinner on Thursday, lunch on Friday, coffee breaks, and Wi-Fi.)
Thursday Only: $325
(Fees include in-person access to Thursday sessions, virtual access to all Forum sessions and recordings, lunch and dinner, coffee breaks, and Wi-Fi.)
Friday Only: $200
(Fees include in-person access to Friday sessions, virtual access to all Forum sessions and recordings, coffee breaks, and Wi-Fi.)

There is no charge for attending the Forum virtually.

Hotel Reservations
A dedicated website is available for Forum attendees to book hotel rooms at the Crystal Gateway Marriott. Reservations must be made by February 5, 2025, to secure a discounted rate.
To reserve your room, please visit the AOF 2025 room reservation site.
Questions
For questions, please contact INFINITY at kconstance@infinityconferences.com or 800-869-1551, ext. 138.

National Advanced Computing Resources Office Hours
2025-02-28 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom webinar
Get details about your no-cost access to national advanced computing resources during virtual office hours for the AI Institutes!

Registration is now open for these sessions:

February 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
March 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT
March 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT

Drop in to the office hours to discover how you can leverage cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources (CPU, GPU, Cloud computing cycles) made available to U.S.-based researchers at no cost. These sessions will feature offerings from the NSF-funded Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, and the NSF-funded Cloudbank resource. Learn about the opportunities available to you and get your questions answered by experts on the various initiatives. Register now!

AI-SDM Seminar Series: Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Coordination for Disaster Response
2025-02-28 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom webinar
Join the next AI Institute for Societal Decision Making (AI-SDM) seminar on Friday, February 28, 2025. Register now!

Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Coordination for Disaster Response

Abstract: Using robots in disaster response scenarios can improve situational awareness and search effectiveness. Heterogeneous robots, each with different sensing and motion capabilities, can be coordinated to gather information more efficiently than a single robot or a homogeneous team. This talk will cover two key aspects of heterogeneous multi-agent coordination for disaster response.

Speaker: Ananya Rao, PhD Student, Robotics Institute, CMU
Ananya Rao is a PhD candidate at CMU’s Robotics Institute, advised by David Wettergreen and Howie Choset. Her work focuses on multi-agent exploration of extreme environments, particularly on planning for search and rescue and planetary exploration. She has a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Robotics from CMU. Her work has been published at several top-tier robotics conferences and received the Best Paper Award at the International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS) in 2021.

Date & Time: Friday, February 28, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m., Eastern Time
Locations:

Newell-Simon Hall, Room 4305 (fourth floor), CMU
Zoom (After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email with information about how to join the meeting.)

More about the AI-SDM Seminar Series

Visit the Featured AI-SDM Events webpage to learn more about this seminar, see the upcoming seminar schedule, and register for upcoming seminars.

Upcoming AI-SDM Seminars:

Friday, March 21, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Terri Adams
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Deb Roy
Friday, April 11, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Rayid Ghani
Friday, April 25, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Tom Griffiths
Friday, May 9, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Giacomo De Nicola

ARNI Distinguished Seminar Series: Marlene Berhmann
2025-02-28 15:30 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join ARNI on Friday, February 28, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time for a hybrid seminar, featuring Dr. Marlene Behrmann!
The Development, Hemispheric Organization, and Plasticity of High-Level Vision
Locations:

Zuckerman Institute
Kavli Auditorium, 9th Floor
Columbia University
3227 Broadway, New York, NY 10027
For access to the Zuckerman Institute, please email Lena Mei @ lm3440@columbia.edu 24 hours prior to the event.
Join Zoom

Abstract:

Adults recognize complex visual inputs, such as faces and words, with remarkable speed, accuracy and ease, but a full understanding of these abilities is still lacking. Much prior research has favoured a binary separation of faces and words, with the right hemisphere specialized for the representation of faces, and the left hemisphere specialized for the representation of words. Close scrutiny of the data, however, suggest a more graded and distributed hemispheric organization, as well as differing hemispheric profiles across individuals. Combining detailed behavioral data with structural and functional imaging data reveals how the distribution of function both within and between the two cerebral hemispheres emerges over the course of development, and a computational account of this mature organization is offered and tested. Provocatively, this mature profile is more malleable than previously thought, and cross-sectional and longitudinal data acquired from individuals with hemispherectomy reveal how a single hemisphere can subserve both visual classes. Together, the findings support a view of cortical visual organization (and perhaps, the organization of other functions too) as plastic and dynamic, both within and between hemispheres.
ARNI Distinguished Seminar Series Flyer

Center for Digital Agriculture Conference 2025: Precision Livestock Management
2025-03-05 08:00 - 18:00 (America/Chicago) | iHotel and Illinois Conference Center, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1900 S 1st St, Champaign, IL, United States
The Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA) is hosting their annual conference on March 5, 2025, at the iHotel and Illinois Conference Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Join the CDA for an insightful exploration of the current landscape and future potential of precision livestock management technologies. This conference will bring together a diverse group of experts from industry, government, and academia to share knowledge, discuss lessons learned, and collaborate on advancing innovations in the field. Together, we’ll explore how these technologies can continue to evolve to help feed and clothe the world’s growing population. Learn more and register: https://digitalag.illinois.edu/cda-con-2025/

TILOS Tutorial on AI Alignment
2025-03-06 08:30 - 12:15 (America/Los_Angeles)

TILOS Seminar: Synthetic Tasks as Testbeds for Attributing Model Behavior
2025-03-12 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Halicioglu Data Science Institute Room 123, 3234 Matthews Ln, La Jolla, CA, 92093, United States

National Advanced Computing Resources Office Hours
2025-03-14 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Halifax) | Zoom webinar
Get details about your no-cost access to national advanced computing resources during virtual office hours for the AI Institutes!

Registration is now open for these sessions:

March 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT
March 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT

Drop in to the office hours to discover how you can leverage cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources (CPU, GPU, Cloud computing cycles) made available to U.S.-based researchers at no cost. These sessions will feature offerings from the NSF-funded Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, and the NSF-funded Cloudbank resource. Learn about the opportunities available to you and get your questions answered by experts on the various initiatives. Register now!

Athena Lunch Series Panel: Coffee Chat with a PI
2025-03-20 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Duke University, Wilkinson Building, 534 Research Drive, Durham, NC, 27705, United States
Featuring Principal Investigators (PIs) Maria Gorlatova and Bhuvana Krishnaswamy
Find out about their career journeys and challenges and hear the advice they would give young students and professionals. Come prepared with questions for the panelists and an exciting conversation!
This hybrid event is open to the public. Register now!
March 20, 2025
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Duke University (Wilkinson 419) & Zoom
Learn more about the Athena AI Institute.

AIVO Communications Office Hours
2025-03-21 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom webinar
Why Attend?

Find out how to get a feature article placed in AIVO News or on the AIVO website
Get advice on your messaging for feature articles and press releases
Request a review of your draft communications
Get help drafting a communications plan
Request writing or editing support for your Institute’s communications
Ask a communications-related question

Monthly Schedule – Winter & Spring 2025

Friday, March 21, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern
Friday, April 18, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern
Friday, May 16, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00–2:00 p.m. Eastern

Calendar invitations will be sent upon request to aivo@ucdavis.edu.
Join Info

Join Zoom Meeting: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/5102616773?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 510 261 6773
Passcode: [REDACTED]
One tap mobile:

+16699006833,,5102616773#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US (San Jose)
+16694449171,,5102616773#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US

AI-SDM Seminar Series: The Role of Uncertainty in Decision-Making During High Consequential Events
2025-03-21 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Halifax) | Zoom webinar
Join the next AI Institute for Societal Decision Making (AI-SDM) seminar on Friday, March 21, 2025, featuring Terri Adams, PhD! Register now.

The Role of Uncertainty in Decision-Making During High Consequential Events

Abstract: With the increased risk of natural disasters, efforts are underway to improve all aspects of emergency response. Regardless of the type of disaster, whether health or weather-related, there are high degrees of uncertainty associated with the unfolding of each event. As emergency managers, first responders, and the public seek to maximize their response to disasters, it is essential to understand the impacts of uncertainty on decision-making. This seminar will explore the impact of uncertainty on decision-makers during high consequence events.

Speaker: Terri Adams, Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Associate Dean of the Office of External Affairs, Howard University
Terri Adams, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Howard University. She currently serves as the Associate Dean of the Office of External Affairs, responsible for the research portfolio at the Graduate School. Dr. Adams also serves as the Deputy Director of the NOAA Cooperative Science Center in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (NCAS-M) at Howard University and Director of the Howard University Initiative on Public Opinion. Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine issues with theoretical and practical implications.
Dr. Adams’ specific research interests include emergency management, behavioral responses to severe weather and climate, and the impact of trauma and disasters on individuals and organizations. Her work centers on individuals’ and organizations’ decision-making processes in the face of crisis events. She is the author of Policing in Natural Disasters: Stress, Resilience, and the Challenges of Emergency Management, which takes a critical review of the challenges faced by first responders before, during, and after natural disasters.

Date & Time: Friday, March 21, 2025 | 2:00 – 3:30 pm, Eastern Time
Locations:

Gates and Hillman Centers, Room 8102 (eighth floor), Carnegie Mellon University
Zoom (After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email with information about how to join the meeting.)

Register now!
Dr. Adams will also be available to meet throughout the day with anyone who is interested. Sign up for a time slot. (If you choose the lunch time slot, you’ll get catered lunch!)
More about the AI-SDM Seminar Series

Visit the Featured AI-SDM Events webpage to learn more about this seminar, see the upcoming seminar schedule, and register for upcoming seminars.

Upcoming AI-SDM Seminars:

Friday, April 25, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time | Tom Griffiths
Friday, May 9, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time | Giacomo De Nicola

TILOS Seminar: Single location regression and attention-based models
2025-03-27 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Halicioglu Data Science Institute Room 123, 3234 Matthews Ln, La Jolla, CA, 92093, United States
Title: Single location regression and attention-based models
Speaker: Claire Boyer, Université Paris-Saclay
Abstract: Attention-based models, such as Transformer, excel across various tasks but lack a comprehensive theoretical understanding, especially regarding token-wise sparsity and internal linear representations. To address this gap, we introduce the single-location regression task, where only one token in a sequence determines the output, and its position is a latent random variable, retrievable via a linear projection of the input. To solve this task, we propose a dedicated predictor, which turns out to be a simplified version of a non-linear self-attention layer. We study its theoretical properties, by showing its asymptotic Bayes optimality and analyzing its training dynamics. In particular, despite the non-convex nature of the problem, the predictor effectively learns the underlying structure. This work highlights the capacity of attention mechanisms to handle sparse token information and internal linear structures.
Zoom: https://bit.ly/TILOS-Seminars

National Advanced Computing Resources Office Hours
2025-03-28 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Halifax) | Zoom webinar
Get details about your no-cost access to national advanced computing resources during virtual office hours for the AI Institutes!
Register now.

Drop in to the office hours to discover how you can leverage cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources (CPU, GPU, Cloud computing cycles) made available to U.S.-based researchers at no cost. These sessions will feature offerings from the NSF-funded Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, and the NSF-funded Cloudbank resource. Learn about the opportunities available to you and get your questions answered by experts on the various initiatives.

AI Unlocked: Empowering Higher Education through Research and Discovery Workshop
2025-04-02 - 2025-04-03 | The Westin Denver Downtown, 1672 Lawrence St, Denver, 80202, United States
Advance your AI skills and collaboration in higher education!
The “AI Unlocked: Empowering Higher Education through Research and Discovery” workshop provides access to cutting-edge computational resources and expertise.
Hosted by the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot User Experience Working Group, the workshop offers an introduction to AI fundamentals, hands-on experience with pre-configured AI tasks, and guidance for tailoring AI models to your projects.
April 2-3, 2025
The Westin Denver Downtown
Denver, CO
Registration is open to researchers, students, faculty, and practitioners, especially those from Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). The workshop is designed for individuals across all disciplines and career stages in higher education.
Travel support is provided, and virtual options are available.
Apply now and learn more via the AI Unlocked page. Applications close January 31, 2025.
