{"id":118520,"date":"2026-01-28T16:45:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/?post_type=tribe_events&#038;p=118520"},"modified":"2026-02-05T11:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:41:20","slug":"illuminating-ai-series","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/event\/illuminating-ai-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Illuminating AI Series: How AI Catalyzes New Biodiversity Science"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"p2\">Investigating the Science Behind Artificial Intelligence<\/h1>\n<p class=\"p2\">The Illuminating AI series transforms cutting-edge research into accessible public conversations, showcasing the work of scientists at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State University, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) and Google AI for Nature.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">This initiative examines the science underlying today\u2019s AI headlines, guiding audiences through the technology that drives artificial intelligence while investigating its effects on the natural environment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">During Spring 2026, RENCI and NCMNS will co-produce three lunchtime learning sessions culminating in he <a href=\"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar?p=114923\">April 16 Science Caf\u00e9: Illuminating AI Night<\/a>. Sessions are all free and open to the public. Prior registration is required to join the live webinars.<\/p>\n<p><strong>February 24 from 12:00pm-1:00pm<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>How AI Catalyzes New Biodiversity Science<\/em> with Dr. Alex Jensen, Lab Manager for the Biodiversity Research Lab at NCMNS<\/p>\n<p>Join us in person in the SECU Daily Planet Theater or <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/live\/MsFSOpVUQ-M?feature=share\">watch the livestream on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>March 24 from 12:00pm-1:00pm<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>How AI Reveals Hidden Stories in Nature<\/em>,\u00a0<em>a virtual panel discussion featuring:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span role=\"presentation\">Angel Hsu, UNC Chapel Hill and the Data-Driven EnviroLab <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span role=\"presentation\">Roland Kays, NC State and the NC Museum of Natural Sciences<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span role=\"presentation\">Dan Morris, Google AI for Nature and Society<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Moderator, <a title=\"https:\/\/gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Frenci.org%2Fstaff%2Frebecca-boyles%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cchristopher.smith%40naturalsciences.org%7Cbbc6846a44804f820b7708de5e1cd017%7C7a7681dcb9d0449a85c3ecc26cd7ed19%7C0%7C0%7C639051675201189456%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=cUyPvPnLwGDOhXuP%2F77gt%2FmoLpY3zikpuMgejIfTmF4%3D&amp;reserved=0\" href=\"https:\/\/gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Frenci.org%2Fstaff%2Frebecca-boyles%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cchristopher.smith%40naturalsciences.org%7Cbbc6846a44804f820b7708de5e1cd017%7C7a7681dcb9d0449a85c3ecc26cd7ed19%7C0%7C0%7C639051675201189456%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=cUyPvPnLwGDOhXuP%2F77gt%2FmoLpY3zikpuMgejIfTmF4%3D&amp;reserved=0\" data-outlook-id=\"ab4a80d2-eac0-4693-9ba2-f411a350f066\">Becky Boyles<\/a>, RENCI at UNC Chapel Hill<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Register to join this live webinar(coming soon). This program is online only.<\/p>\n<p class=\"event-title\"><strong>April 16 from 6:00pm-8:00pm<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"event-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar?p=114923\"><em>Science Caf\u00e9: Illuminating AI Night<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>6:00pm-7:00pm:\u00a0Meet local scientists and interact with themed exhibits to learn about their exciting research<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">7:00pm, Science Cafe: Illuminating Artificial Intelligence: Using AI to increase the value of Museum specimens<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Our evening keynote pairs\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/renci.org\/staff\/chris-bizon\/\">Dr.\u00a0<span class=\"s2\">Chr<\/span><span class=\"s2\">is Bizon<\/span><\/a>, Director of Data Science and Analytics at RENCI and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/staff\/lily-hughes.php\">Dr.\u00a0<span class=\"s2\">Lily Hughes<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<span class=\"s3\">Research Curator of Ichthyology at the\u00a0<\/span>NC Museum of Natural Sciences and Research Assistant Professor at NC State University, highlighting how artificial intelligence illuminates our understanding of the Museum\u2019s ichthyology collections.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p2\"><em>The Illuminating AI series is a collaborative partnership between RENCI at UNC Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Investigating the Science Behind Artificial Intelligence The Illuminating AI series transforms cutting-edge research into accessible public conversations, showcasing the work of scientists at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State University, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) and Google AI for Nature. This initiative examines the science underlying today\u2019s AI headlines,&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/event\/illuminating-ai-series\/\">Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[3,12,13,164,6,14,15,25,47,29,8,247],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/118520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118520"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/118520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119091,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/118520\/revisions\/119091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118520"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=118520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}