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Today, when we talk about the tech industry the narrative is owned by men. Despite facing systemic barriers and discrimination, women have made significant contributions to the tech industry and have played a crucial role in driving innovation and progress. However, their contributions, especially that of women of color have been long overlooked. In recognition of Women’s History month, we want to celebrate the stories of 10 remarkable women who have helped shape the world we live in today. Melba Roy Mouton Melba Roy Mouton made significant contributions to the fields of aerospace engineering and computer science. She was the first Black woman to work as a mathematician at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which later became NASA. Mouton was instrumental in developing mathematical models and computer programs that were used to analyze…

The Responsible Technology Coalition (RTC) is an interdisciplinary organization of students who are committed to seeing that technology is ethical and accountable. RTC was founded in 2022 by Michelle Ciccone, Colette Basiliere and Kevin Zheng.  Through collaborating with people from diverse industries and backgrounds, RTC comes together to emphasize the impact that technologycan have on society. The coalition is dedicated to the advancement of dialogue, policy, and practice around responsible technology at UMass and society at large. Join them at their next general meeting on Thursday, April 6 at 5:30 – 6:30pm in CICS 150/151.  Envelope

This research seminar is a place to make collegial connections and share research ideas with people working on topics related to learning equity or work equity. It is open to all Five College faculty, postdocs, and students.Monday, April 312:00 – 1:30pmIntegrated Science Building, Room 145Speakers:  Dr. Przemyslaw GrabowiczResearch Assistant Professor of Computer ScienceUMass AmherstPresentation Title: “Towards fair and explainable automated decision-making for hiring and student admissions”Dr. Ivon ArroyoAssociate Professor of Computer ScienceUMass AmherstPresentation Title: Coming soon Hosts: Dr. Shannon RobertsAssistant ProfessorMechanical & Industrial EngineeringBuju DasguptaProvost ProfessorPsychological and Brain SciencesRegister: https://bit.ly/3U0jXaICo-sponsored by the Computational Social Science Institute, Institute of Diversity Sciences, the Public Interest Technology Initiative and EQUATE Envelope

The School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University, with the New York Academy of Sciences, is seeking post-doctoral research scholars to join an interdisciplinary team in the area of AI and Society based at the New York Academy of Sciences. Successful candidates will work closely with an ASU faculty member and staff at the New York Academy to develop an individualized mentoring plan, including faculty from ASU’s College of Global Futures as well as others from its Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and other units. Fellows will participate in a curated education-and-training program consisting of mentorship from academics and teaching at ASU, internships with public, private, and non-profit partners, professional development training, and service-learning through the New York Academy of Sciences programming. Fellows’ time will be shared among New…

In collaboration with the Summit, the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have joined forces, with support from Omidyar Network and Craig Newmark Philanthropies, to launch a campaign to source digital public goods that can help combat information pollution and restore information integrity. This global initiative will identify and promote existing open-source digital solutions, as well as concepts for future solutions, that can be scaled to tackle the problem of mis-and disinformation at its roots.  The individuals, organisations, and teams behind selected digital public goods and concepts will receive financial support ranging from $5000 – $10000 USD and have their work highlighted at the Nobel Prize Summit with an aim to enhance their visibility, uptake, and ultimately, their impact. Beyond the Summit, concepts and solutions with particular impact potential…

In a few short months, many of us have heard of or tried ChatGPT, the large language model (LLM) that generates coherent texts on demand in a broadly accessible chat interface. Many opinions have been voiced about ChatGPT and other natural language intelligence systems, and crucially, how they may affect education and teaching in practice. Are LLMs an unstoppable force for cheating, a powerful tool for learning, or all or none of the above? In this panel we'll bring together multidisciplinary, research-based perspectives on these topics — UMass professors and an alum who are world-leading experts in the large language models, the impact of technology on education, and social implications of language technologies.  In the question period, we invite community members to share examples of what they've seen from ChatGPT in practice.  What have we learned…