Category Archives: Computer Science
In Brazil, hopes to use AI to save wildlife from roadkill fate – Moore County News Press
In Brazil, where about 16 wild animals become roadkill every second, a computer scientist has come up with a futuristic solution to this everyday problem: using AI to alert drivers to their presence.
Direct strikes on the vast South American country's extensive road network are the top threat to numerous species, forced to live in ever-closer proximity with humans.
According to the Brazilian Center for Road Ecology (CBEE), some 475 million vertebrate animals die on the road every year -- mostly smaller species such as capybaras, armadillos and possums.
"It is the biggest direct impact on wildlife today in Brazil," CBEE coordinator Alex Bager told AFP.
Shocked by the carnage in the world's most biodiverse country, computer science student Gabriel Souto Ferrante sprung into action.
The 25-year-old started by identifying the five medium- and large-sized species most likely to fall victim totraffic accidents: the puma, the giant anteater, the tapir, the maned wolf and the jaguarundi, a type of wild cat.
Souto, who is pursuing a master's degree at the University of Sao Paulo (USP),then created a database with thousands of images of these animals, and trained an AI model to recognize them in real time.
Numerous tests followed, and were successful, according to the results of his efforts recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Souto collaborated with the USP Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences.
For the project to become a reality, Souto said scientists would need "support from the companies that manage the roads," including access to traffic cameras and "edge computing" devices -- hardware that can relay a real-time warning to drivers like some navigation apps do.
There would also need to be input from the road concession companies, "to remove the animal or capture it," he told AFP.
It is hoped the technology, by reducing wildlife strikes, will also save human lives.
Bager said a variety of other strategies to stop the bloodshed on Brazilian roads have failed.
Signage warning drivers to be on the lookout for crossing animals have little influence, he told AFP, leading to a mere three-percent reduction in speed on average.
There are also so-called fauna bridges and tunnels meant to get animals safely from one side of the road to the other, and fences to keep them in -- all insufficient to deal with the scope of the problem, according to Bager.
In 2014, he created an app called Urubu with other ecologists, to which thousands of users contributed information, allowing for the identification of roadkill hotspots.
The project helped to create public awareness and even inspired a bill on safe animal crossing and circulation, which is awaiting a vote in Congress.
A lack of money saw the app being shut down last year, but Bager is intent on having it reactivated.
"We have more and more roads, more vehicles and a number of roadkill animals that likely continues to grow," he said.
Read the original here:
In Brazil, hopes to use AI to save wildlife from roadkill fate - Moore County News Press
Celebrating the Achievements of Women in Computer Science at Lewis University – Shaw Local News Network
In recent years, the growing field of computer science has seen a significant increase in the number of women pursuing degrees and careers. This trend is also reflected at Lewis University, where more and more female students are choosing to major in computer science.
Lewis University has been a leader in promoting women in computer science. Programs such as Girls Create with Technology introduce middle and high school girls to the thrilling potential of technology, sparking inspiration for future careers.
Lewis University actively works to dismantle the traditional barriers women often face in STEM fields. The institutions supportive environment ensures that women in computer science receive the encouragement and resources they need to thrive. By promoting inclusivity and opportunities, Lewis University empowers female students to engage, excel, and lead in computer science.
This commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in computer science is evident in the rise of female leaders within Lewis Universitys computer science department. These women have broken barriers and shattered glass ceilings, serving as role models for current and future students.
Women in the computer science program can influence the technological landscape in several crucial ways:
As a result, Lewis Universitys computer science graduates have been making notable contributions to the field. From developing cutting-edge software to leading successful technology-based businesses, women from Lewis University are shaping the future of computer science.
Join us in fostering an environment where diversity drives innovation. Start your computer science journey with Lewis University today.
Lewis University
One University Parkway
Romeoville, IL 60446
(815) 838-0500
Lewis university logo 2022
[Sponsored] Lewis University - For A Better World [Sponsored] Lewis University - For A Better World
Read more here:
Cisco Hiring Computer Science, Information Science Graduates – StudyCafe
Cisco Hiring Computer Science, Information Science Graduates
Cisco is hiring an experienced Software Engineer Selenium, Java Test NG framework & UI Testing & Test Process Knowledge at their Bangalore and Pune locations. You will be joining a team of energetic engineers to design and build a platform to onboard and manage APIs for all Cisco software products. The solution involves a web application that is used for API onboarding and management.
The complete details of this job are as follows:
The Ideal Candidate should be able to:
To Apply For This Job, Visit Official Website
Disclaimer: The Recruitment Information provided above is for informational purposes only. The above Recruitment Information has been taken from the official site of the Organisation. We do not provide any Recruitment guarantee. Recruitment is to be done as per the official recruitment process of the company or organization posted the recruitment Vacancy. We dont charge any fee for providing this Job Information. Neither the Author nor Studycafe and its Affiliates accepts any liabilities for any loss or damage of any kind arising out of any information in this article nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Join StudyCafe Membership. For More details about Membership Click Join Membership Button
In case of any Doubt regarding Membership you can mail us at [emailprotected]
Join Studycafe's WhatsApp Group or Telegram Channel for Latest Updates on Government Job, Sarkari Naukri, Private Jobs, Income Tax, GST, Companies Act, Judgements and CA, CS, ICWA, and MUCH MORE!"
More:
Cisco Hiring Computer Science, Information Science Graduates - StudyCafe
WashU Expert: DeFake tool protects voice recordings from cybercriminals – The Source – Washington University in St. Louis
A new tool developed by computer scientist Ning Zhang embeds distortions imperceptible to human ears into audio recordings to prevent them from being cloned by cybercriminals. (Image: Canva)
In what has become a familiar refrain when discussing artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technologies, voice cloning makes possible beneficial advances in accessibility and creativity while also enabling increasingly sophisticated scams and deepfakes. To combat the potential negative impacts of voice cloning technology, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenged researchers and technology experts to develop breakthrough ideas on preventing, monitoring and evaluating malicious voice cloning.
Ning Zhang, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, was one of three winners of the FTCs Voice Cloning Challenge announced April 8. Zhang explained his winning project, DeFake, which deploys a kind of watermarking for voice recordings. DeFake embeds carefully crafted distortions that are imperceptible to the human ear into recordings, making criminal cloning more difficult by eliminating usable voice samples.
DeFake uses a technique of adversarial AI that was originally part of the cybercriminals toolbox, but now were using it to defend against them, Zhang said. Voice cloning relies on the use of pre-existing speech samples to clone a voice, which are generally collected from social media and other platforms. By perturbing the recorded audio signal just a little bit, just enough that it still sounds right to human listeners, but its completely different to AI, DeFake obstructs cloning by making criminally synthesized speech sound like other voices, not the intended victim.
The project builds on Zhangs earlier work to thwart unauthorized speech synthesis before it happens. Zhang and the other two winners of the Voice Cloning Challenge, whose proposals focused on detection and authentication, illustrate the variety of approaches being developed to deter harmful practices and protect consumers from bad actors. The winners were selected by a panel of judges and will split $35,000 in prize money.
Originally published on the McKelvey School of Engineering website
See original here:
Wayne State researcher aims to improve coding peer review practices – Newswise
DETROIT Amiangshu Bosu, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science in the College of Engineering at Wayne State University, received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to formulate better practices involving peer code review.
Peer code review is a mandatory software verification practice among most open source and commercial software development organizations. In this practice, one or more peers inspect and approve a code change before integrating it into a project's repository. As developers spend significant effort daily on code review tasks, improving code review effectiveness is a high priority for these organizations.
Challenges limiting code review effectiveness include code learning difficulties with limited time and code context, misunderstandings among the participants over confusing suggestions, and interpersonal conflicts due to disrespectful feedback, Bosu explained. In the short term, these challenges increase required efforts, delay the outcomes, increase the likelihood of rejections and frustrate the participants. In the long term, these challenges degrade software quality, cause conflicts among the participants, demotivate an inappropriately written review's target, pose barriers to newcomers' onboarding, disproportionately impact minorities and even cause long-term developers to leave permanently. Despite several studies confirming these short and long-term consequences, practical solutions to these challenges remain nonexistent.
The five-year, $596,760grant from the NSFs Division of Computing and Communication Foundations will benefit Bosus study, Transforming Peer Code Review Environments for Code Learning and High-Quality Feedback.
The overarching goal of this project is to transform code review tools and workflows to address participants' challenges in understanding the code under review and communicate that understanding with others in unambiguous and constructive languages.
The project will work to improve code reviews using empirical methods, machine learning and natural language techniques to produce tools to be used in code reviews, said Bosu. The new knowledge and tools will be used as an educational platform that will support students and new programmers. The project will integrate the research into education by using the tools in classes and curriculum development, using the classroom setting to gain understanding of how to support developers in professional code-review ecosystems.
Bosu added that with the emergence of AI-based assistants such as ChatGPT and Github Copilot, developers are increasingly using AI to generate code.However, he says AI-generated code often includes errors, is of low quality and can have security defects. For that reason, manual verification techniques such as code review are becoming even more critical among software development pipelines.
CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation are a very prestigious award for early-career faculty, said Ezemenari M. Obasi, Ph.D., vice president for research at Wayne State University. Dr. Bosu is most deserving of this award for his research that aims to cultivate Wayne States prosperity agenda by developing best practices and fueling innovation that may impact areas from education, business, emerging technologies and beyond.
The grant number for this National Science Foundation award is 2340389.
# # #
Wayne State Universityis one of the nation's pre-eminent public research institutions in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visitresearch.wayne.edu.
See the article here:
Wayne State researcher aims to improve coding peer review practices - Newswise
A Winning Combination: Computer Science and Psychology Help Husky Chart Her Own Course – Michigan Technological University
Hunter Malinowski followed in the footsteps of family members who attended Michigan Technological University, but also found ways to blaze her own trail.
Malinowski made her Michigan Tech experience unique by pursuing dual degrees in computer science and psychology, and diving into research experiences. A meticulous planner, she also learned that embracing the unexpected can lead to exciting opportunities.
Malinowski visited Tech during her sophomore year in high school to explore degree options in person. At the time, she was set on a psychology major. I toured the psychology department and I really enjoyed it because they had a ton of cool research going on, she said.
The summer before her senior year of high school, Malinowski attended Women in Computer Science, a Michigan Tech Summer Youth Programs exploration, to get a taste of college life and other course options. I felt at home on campus. I liked the area and I thought the dining hall food was really good! Malinowski said.
In her ensuing years at Tech, Malinowski, now a graduating senior, has explored relationships between psychology and computer science, discovering how the two disciplines enhance each other.
The more Ive done with psychology and computer science, the more I realize how many connections there are, from designing a website to the user interface and user experience, Malinowski said. I want to go into the data science/machine learning field. I think theres a lot to be said about the psychology perspective for that.
Malinowski became part of the research community that excited her when she visited Tech as a high school student. She has conducted research with several faculty members in the Department of Computer Science and Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences, and received a research internship through the Pavlis Honors Colleges Undergraduate Research Internship Program (URIP). It goes to show how supportive the professors are here, which is one of the best parts of my college experience, she said.
My first year, I went to Dr. Shane Mueller during his office hours and asked if I could be involved with his research lab. I was able to work on a few projects on Explainable AI; it was wonderful to be able to have that experience starting my first year here at Tech! I was able to be a part of the URIP program the following year, and work on an independent project, Assessing the Effectiveness of Visual Explanations for AI, as well as present in the Undergraduate Research Symposium, with the guidance of Dr. Mueller, said Malinowski.
In summer 2023, Malinowski took on another research project on a topic thats near and dear to her.
I worked on a project with Dr. Briana Bettin, Dr. Laura Brown and Dr. Leo Ureel to create a College of Computing Resource Hub for students. This was one of my favorite projects, as it created a resource that was immediately useful to the community around me, Malinowski said. Theres a lot of disparity in pre-college programs in terms of computer science. I was lucky enough to have many choices for computer science programs in my high school, but not everyone has that same advantage or knows that they want to go into computer science.
My favorite part is analyzing the results of the research project. Its really interesting to be able to see all of the data and use it to gather insights and draw conclusions, she said. I think considering the impacts of the results is also fascinating, as it shows the ways the research can be used in the future.
In addition to her URIP award from Michigan Tech's Pavlis Honors College, Malinowski was also honored for her innovation and scholarship, with Pavlis naming her a University Innovation Fellow. In 2023, she was presented with the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Department Scholar Award.
Malinowski tapped her inner entrepreneur during her first year on campus, developing a startup idea linked to her passion for fashion. Recirculate The Future of Sustainable Fashion took third place in Michigan Techs Bob Mark Business Model Competition. The idea also received an MTEC SmartZone Breakout Innovation Award and an honorable mention in Central Michigan Universitys New Venture Challenge.
Being a part of Pavlis Honors College, I learned a lot about the innovation experiences at Michigan Tech and was very interested in exploring that pathway further. One of the key Pavlis Honors abilities is Welcome Challenge, so I figured I might as well step outside of my comfort zone and participate in the Bob Mark pitch competition, said Malinowski. I came up with an idea to reuse the old T-shirts that everyone has sitting around by turning them into T-shirt yarn and crocheting new pieces. I learned a lot about starting a business and different business topics, which was a very unique experience. Ultimately, I ended up focusing on other activities, but it was a learning experience I recommend to anyone remotely interested in entrepreneurship.
Malinowskis experiences led her to participate in other innovation opportunities, including the University Innovation Fellows program. Its probably one of the coolest programs Ive participated in! Above all, the Husky Innovate community is so welcoming, and there are advisors, professors and peers who will support you every step of the way, she said.
In summer 2023, Malinowski was presented with another opportunity: an internship aimed at making the internship experience more valuable for students.
Throughout my summer internship at Realogic Solutions, we began the development of InStep, a multifaceted platform one of those facets being improving the internship matching and onboarding experience for students and employers, Malinowski said. I learned a lot about the business process as a whole through speaking with stakeholders, gathering requirements and seeing the entire development process firsthand. I was able to learn new technologies, including using React for web development and Amazon Web Services for data management. We gathered feedback from potential users of the platform as well as reflecting on our own experiences finding internships, which helped us to optimize the platform for all users.
Along with a fellow Husky Kelsey Hagebusch, also a computer science major Malinowski continued to work part-time for the company over the academic year. She plans to continue her work with Realogic this summer, after earning her degrees.
I am a person who loves to plan ahead, said Malinowski. Before attending Michigan Tech, I planned my entire course schedule for the time I would be here, looked through the Involvement Link to pick what clubs I was interested in and set a number of goals I wanted to achieve at Michigan Tech. While I did follow through on a majority of the things I had planned for myself, some of my most fulfilling moments have been ones that were unexpected and unplanned. For example, this semester I was able to take Nature Psychology and Wheel Throwing (pottery, not throwing actual wheels, although that does sound fun!), which have ended up being two of my favorite classes Ive taken at Michigan Tech and if I had stuck to my original plan, I never wouldve been able to experience them.
Malinowski also found herself responding to a call to leadership as she became active on campus. Shes a former president of the Delta Zeta sorority, served as the 2020-21 College of Computing representative for Undergraduate Student Government and has served as president, treasurer and secretary of Tiny Knitz, a student group that crochets hats for premature babies. Besides those activities, Malinowski also volunteered for Copper Country Coders for two years and helped teach an online computing class to students in Bahrain in the 2021-22 academic year.
The majority of the leadership positions Ive taken on, I did not originally plan on holding, she said. Throughout my time on campus, I found organizations that I cared about and wanted to see continue to thrive and grow in the future. It wasnt something I went out of my way to find rather, it found me. When there are projects, clubs and people that you feel passionately about, it encourages you to spend a lot of time working to improve those organizations, which I was able to do through leadership.
Schedule juggling taught Malinowski other valuable life skills.
Time management is definitely an issue I have faced, and I know many others have faced as well, Malinowski said. Personally, I live by my Google Calendar and use it to block my time. There have been multiple instances where I have overcommitted myself.
Malinowski has packed unforgettable experiences into her time at Tech. Its hard to pick just one memory, she said. I think some of my favorite memories have been the little things. Ironing snow on our statue site with my sorority never in my life did I think I would have a need to iron snow. Spontaneous late-night trips to see the northern lights. Weekend trips to Drive-Thru Depot and Keweenaw Coffee Works. Attending summer music festivals with my friends from Tech All of those smaller things have truly added up to be the biggest moments.
There are more Tech memories in the making as Malinowski embarks on her next adventure: Shell start an accelerated masters program in data science next fall. Ill be continuing my education at Tech for another year. This summer, I plan to continue my work with Realogic Solutions and spend some quality time with family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, she said.
Originally, Malinowski planned on completing an accelerated masters degree in computer science at Tech. While I was here, I discovered that there was an accelerated masters in data science, which I dont believe existed when I began at Tech, and exactly matches my interests and career goals, she said. So, while I do still enjoy planning ahead, its definitely important to go with the flow sometimes or youll miss out on experiences!
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigans flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
Subscribe
A few members of my family have gone to Michigan Tech. I love hearing their stories. It makes going to Tech feel very special to me, as Im able to connect my family history to my personal experiences, said Malinowski. Heres her Tech family tree:
Grandpa: Dave Mueller 70 B.S. Electrical Engineering
Grandma: Betty Mueller 70 B.S. Business
Mom: Heidi Mueller 93 B.S. Mechanical Engineering
Aunt: Heather Christenson 97 B.S. Environmental Engineering
Read the original post:
John Hennessy to receive the National Science Board Vannevar Bush Award – Stanford Report – Stanford University News
John Hennessy (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)
Former Stanford President John Hennessy is the recipient of the National Science Boards (NSB) 2024 Vannevar Bush Award, which honors exceptional lifelong leaders in science and technology. NSB is the governing board of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and established this award in 1980 in memory of Vannevar Bush, who inspired the creation of the NSF.
We are thrilled to celebrate John Hennessy as this years Vannevar Bush Award recipient, said Dario Gil, the chair of the boards External Engagement Committee and senior vice president and director of IBM research. His pioneering advances in computer architecture and dedication to building the future STEM workforce not only reflect the ideals set forth by Vannevar Bush, but they also help spur our national economy and security.
I am deeply honored by this award, said Hennessy. I have been privileged to work with many outstanding students and faculty colleagues, and this award reflects the accomplishments we achieved together.
Hennessy is the Shriram Family Director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars, the largest university-wide, fully-endowed graduate-level scholarship in the world, which he co-founded with Phil Knight, MBA 62, philanthropist, American businessman, and co-founder of Nike Inc. In the School of Engineering, Hennessy is the James F. and Mary Lynn Gibbons Professor and professor of electrical engineering and of computer science.
Hennessy will receive the Vannevar Bush Award on May 1, 2024, during the NSF Awards Gala at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Hennessy joined Stanfords faculty in 1977 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering. In 1981, he drew together researchers to focus on a technology known as RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), which revolutionized computing by increasing performance while reducing costs. Hennessy helped transfer this technology to industry, co-founding the company MIPS Computer Systems in 1984.
His subsequent research focused on multiprocessor systems, including the DASH and FLASH projects, both of which pioneered concepts now used in industry.
Hennessy was appointed as the inaugural Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford in 1987, then went on to serve as chair of Computer Science (1994-1996), dean of the School of Engineering (1996-1999), and university provost (1999-2000) before being appointed as Stanfords 10th president. As president, he focused on increasing financial aid and developing new initiatives in multidisciplinary research and teaching. Universities need to be more outward looking how can they contribute to understanding and solving big problems like climate change? Hennessy said.
Hennessy was the founding board chair of Atheros Communications, one of the early developers of Wi-Fi technology, and has served on the board of Cisco and Alphabet (Googles parent company), where he is currently chairman of the board. He is the co-author, with David Patterson, of two internationally used textbooks in computer architecture. He and Patterson are currently finishing the seventh edition of their textbook.
John Hennessy in conversation with Knight-Hennessy scholars. (Image credit: Michaela Go)
During his early days in academia, Hennessy was chosen as part of the very first cohort of the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (now known as the NSF CAREER award). I loved being a graduate student, Hennessy said. It was that magic combination of finding something I loved doing and also aligned with the way my brain worked.
Motivated in part by a desire to provide other graduate students with a chance to experience that same magic, Hennessy co-founded Knight-Hennessy Scholars in 2016. With Knight-Hennessy Scholars, we are cultivating a growing global community of visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders committed to creating positive change in the world, he said.
Knight-Hennessy Scholars delivers engaging experiences that prepare graduate students from across Stanford to address complex challenges facing the world. The goal is to educate and train a multidisciplinary and multicultural community of scholars for leadership roles in academia, industry, government, nonprofits, and the community at large.
Knight-Hennessy scholars participate in theKing Global Leadership Programand receive up to three years offinancial supportto pursue a graduate degree program in any of Stanfords seven graduate schools.
Knight-Hennessy Scholars and this honor both reflect Hennessys dedication to learning and knowledge creation, and to helping develop the next generation of leaders who also share those passions.
Im a lifelong learner, he said. As Vannevar Bush said, science is the new frontier. There are still so many questions to resolve, especially on the nature of life and the universe.
This is adapted from a press release issued by the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation.
Continued here:
Tech Tools for the Future: Zebras, AI, and Girls in ICT Day – AccessWire
By Emma Reid
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 18, 2024 / I'm excited to announce that Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf will be joining our special Women Rock-IT broadcast to support International Girls in ICT Day, featuring women who have turned their passion for technology into rewarding and successful careers.
Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf is the Director of theTranslational Data Analytics Instituteand a Professor of Computer Science Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at the Ohio State University (OSU).
As a computational ecologist, Tanya's research is at the unique intersection of computer science, wildlife biology, and social sciences. She will speak on International Girls in ICT Day, hosted by Cisco Networking Academy's Women Rock-IT Program. The theme for this year's event is Are You AI Ready? And for those who may not be aware, AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, which is what Tanya is going to be sharing more about.
Q: What was your motivation to get into computer science, and what was your path to get there?
A: I always wanted to do math. I even declared that when I was five in front of my whole family. So I went straight for math, eventually realizing that the type of math I like is the math that's the foundation of computer science. I went on to do a theoretical computer science PhD, designing algorithms and doing proofs.
Along the way I met an ecologist who is now my husband and partner. He really charmed me with stories of industrious spiders and shy flowers and took me on nature walks to try to get me over my fear of bugs.
I intentionally switched from a very theoretical computer science PhD to designing computational methods for answering ecological questions.
A zebra's friend
Q: What inspired you to focus on using AI in conservation and what keeps you motivated in the face of the ongoing extinction crisis?
A: There is both the challenge and the inspiration that keeps me going.
The way I got started in conservation was really on a bet. I was working with biologists who study social behavior of animals such as zebras. I got really curious about how they know who a zebra's friend is.
After watching them take 20 minutes just to identify one individual zebra using the available technology at the time, the impatient engineer in me said that there had to be a better way of doing it.
They said, "you think you can do better?" And I said, "yeah, you want to bet?"
I literally bet my reputation on being able to identify an individual zebra from a photograph easily.
AI for conservation
The first algorithm we created was developed into an even better algorithm, which we are still curious about. But it turned out it could be very useful in conservation for things like tracking animals, counting them, and even figuring out who's a zebra or a sperm whale's friend without putting collars or satellite tags on them.
We realized that we needed to build that technology in a way that non-technical people could use, without becoming AI experts in the process.
And that's how Wildbook was born. Having started creating AI technology for conservation, we realized three things:
The challenge and urgency keep me going. And most importantly, there's something meaningful that we can do with AI.
How important are digital and AI skills?
Q: How important is it for people to include digital skills in their future education and professional development plans? And why is it so important?
A: I think AI is becoming very quickly a part of pretty much everything that we use and touch. So AI literacy is becoming the basic skill that should be taught in school and everybody should have.
It is particularly important in being able to solve complex problems like biodiversity conservation. Because it is not a problem that's going to be solved by AI alone or by humans alone. The answer truly is in partnership: the human-machine partnership.
And to be able to partner well with AI, we need to know what that partner is capable of and what's the best way to have that partnership. And that means having skills that allow us to use AI, to understand AI, and even more importantly, to understand the potential of AI.
Q: What is your advice for any young women starting out in computer science?
A: Not everybody has to do computer science, but anybody who wants to, should have an opportunity to do so. And even more, everybody should have an opportunity to explore it.
Computer science is about getting machines to affect the world. For example, with a few lines of text, we can create a 3D view of the brain with an MRI machine, or understand the past through an ancient genome, or predict the path of a hurricane. This creative process of coding is exciting to me.
Accessible AI and ML learning
Q: AI/Machine learning (ML) has been a subject of academic study for more than half a century. Why was last year such a milestone for this type of technology?
A: Last year it exploded, not because of the algorithm or the math, but it's about how you make that accessible.
Two things happened simultaneously. Firstly, there was a buildup of data available-with many caveats and asterisks that we're now revisiting. And secondly, modern machine learning is data hungry.
When you have the hardware to run these complex models and the data to feed it, you can start capturing the complexity of the world. But it would have been esoteric if not for this brilliant interface that allows everybody to interact with it.
And that's a huge lesson if you want to make any piece of technology useful. It's not about the technology itself, per se, it's about how you make it a partner, how you really make it accessible.
Observe. Experiment.
Q: Conservation of nature often faces complex questions about the natural world. Can AI help?
A: In Henri Poincar's book Science and Method, he says what we now call the scientific method consists of observation and experiment. And all that a scientist needs to do is look carefully at everything.
AI doesn't fundamentally change the scientific method. It is still observation and experiment. But just like the microscope, the telescope, or genome sequencing, it expands the types of things that scientists can look at.
The fundamental thing that ML and more broadly AI approaches do is extract complex patterns and complex relationships. So, we can not only look at more things, but we can also look carefully at the complexity of the world.
The role of public data
Q: Does publicly available data help in this quest?
A: There is a lot of publicly available data from digitized biological collections, field studies, and citizen scientists. But the most untapped data by far is from social media posts. People love taking pictures of nature, sometimes unintentionally capturing trees and grass, bugs and spiders.
There's a lot of information already there but it is disconnected and disorganized, so we're not taking advantage of it. And we need AI's help to get useful insights from all of it.
Q: Can AI help discover the undiscovered?
A: If we want to discover new things about the world, we need to take a completely different computational philosophical approach and a new design framework of algorithms.
How do we design interpretable, novelty-discovering, computational approaches that produce a testable hypothesis as an outcome?
Maybe you already have your massive species classification from an images model? Well, good for you! But we're interested in using these news tools and frameworks to discover something new. A new species? A new trait? A new relationship?
This is one of my favorite quotes from Ada Lovelace, who invented the notion of programming in the 1830s:
"We talk much of imagination. We talk of the imagination of poets, the imagination of artists etcetera. I am inclined to think that in general we don't know very exactly what we are talking about. It is that which penetrates into the unseen world around us, the world of science. It is that which feels and discovers what is, the real which we see not, which exists not for our senses. Those who have learned to walk on the threshold of the unknown worlds may then with the fair white wings of imagination hope to soar further into the unexplored amidst which we live."
Register now for the Women Rock-IT virtual event on April 25!
Are You AI-Ready? Unlocking nature's secrets: How AI & Data save wildlife and benefit humanity
Check registration page for your local broadcast time.
View original content here.
View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Cisco Systems Inc. on 3blmedia.com.
Contact Info: Spokesperson: Cisco Systems Inc. Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cisco-systems-inc Email: [emailprotected]
SOURCE: Cisco Systems Inc.
Continue reading here:
Tech Tools for the Future: Zebras, AI, and Girls in ICT Day - AccessWire
PVAMU receives new grant to help train students in computing to address social issues affecting rural communities – Northdallasgazette
PRAIRIE VIEW Prairie View A&M University has received a Responsible Computing Challenge award from the Mozilla Foundation, aimed at developing curricula that empowers students to think about the social and political context of computing.
Mozilla, most widely known for developing the Firefox browser, has made making the internet a force for good its mission. Through its Responsible Computing Challenge, Mozilla and its partners are educating a new wave of graduating technologists who will bring holistic thinking to the design of new technologies, fueling an industry-wide culture shift.
Dr. Marco Robinson, associate professor of history and assistant director of PVAMUs Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice, along with Dr. Sherri Frizell, professor of computer science, and Dr. Farrah Cambrice, associate professor of sociology, are bringing together computer science and social science/humanities students for interdisciplinary training in methodologies centered in computing to address social issues affecting rural communities, such as food insecurity and access to immediate healthcare.
Robinson explained, Students are expected to consider ethics in computing, developing innovative ways to use computing in solving social problems, and ways to center community welfare in their approach. At the heart of this work, students will collect survey data, hold small focus groups with community members, and facilitate county-wide townhall meetings. The course is partnering with rural communities and organizations in Waller County, where residents have limited access to resources, including fresh food, medical care, and WiFi.
We arent deciding what the communities needs are, said Robinson. Were asking what they need. We had an idea to develop an app to help connect people with food and healthcare, but if they dont have internet access, how will that help? Were in data collection right now. Its exciting to see computer science students out in the field, meeting the people their work will support, and to see social sciences students explore technology in their work.
PVAMU joins a cohort of 15 institutions across the U.S. that has received a total of more than $2.2 million. The courses and projects theyre undertaking blend traditional computing education with the Humanities, Library and Information Science, and Social Sciences to reimagine how computer science is taught. Awardees will explore topics like biased data sets, AI ethics, accessible computing, and more.
Dr. Ziyaad Bhorat, an RCC Fellow who will work alongside this cohort, said, AI and other computing technologies have an outsized impact on our lives, powering everything from banking to public services to law enforcement. As a result, we desperately need trustworthy AI systemsand responsible technologists who build them. These new awardees will help make this a reality.
Read more here: