Come join MIDAS and invited presenters for a series of talks on AI and Sustainability. This event is free and remote.
While infrastructure, both static and dynamic, is the driver of modern global economy, it is also a significant contributor towards global climate change due to the increased emissions. Artificial intelligence (AI) provides a radical framework for mitigating emissions by improving efficiency in static infrastructure, as well as enhancing mobility in transportation through low-carbon transport options and reduction in overall travel time. Through this mini-colloquium, we hope to bring together researchers from varied fields employing AI on these strategies.

Our speakers for the event are:

Dr. Felix Creutzig (https://www.mcc-berlin.net/en/about/team/creutzig-felix.html) - Prof. Dr. Felix Creutzig is head of the working group Land Use, Infrastructures and Transport and Chair of Sustainability Economics at Technische Universität Berlin. He was lead author of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report and lead analyst of the Global Energy Assessment. His research focuses on conceptualizing and quantifying GHG emissions of cities world-wide, assessing opportunities for GHG mitigation of cities world-wide and building models of sustainable urban form and transport. 

Dr. Lynn Kaack (https://www.hertie-school.org/en/research/faculty-and-researchers/profile/person/kaack) - Dr. Kaack is Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Public Policy at the Hertie School. Her research and teaching focus on methods from statistics and machine learning to inform climate mitigation policy across the energy sector, and she also has an interest in climate-related AI policy. She is a co-founder and chair of the organization Climate Change AI, and a member of the Austrian Council on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, which is an advisory board of the Austrian Ministry for Climate Action. 

Priya L. Donti (https://priyadonti.com/) - Ms. Donti is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Computer Science Department and the Department of Engineering & Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, co-advised by Zico Kolter and Inês Azevedo. She is also a co-founder and chair of Climate Change AI, an initiative to catalyze impactful work at the intersection of climate change and machine learning. Her work focuses on machine learning for forecasting, optimization, and control in high-renewables power grids. Specifically, her research explores methods to incorporate the physics and hard constraints associated with electric power systems into deep learning models.

Dr. Moataz Mohamed (https://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/civil/people/faculty/moataz-mohamed#overview) - Dr. Mohamed’s research focuses on the systemic evaluation of transportation networks to achieve sustainable and resilient transportation systems. He is a strong believer of zero-emission, sustainable, resilient transit systems that support the rise of smart communities. His research focuses on the utilization of disruptive technologies in public transit networks with emphasis on electric and autonomous technologies. In particular, he investigates the operational efficiency of disruptive technologies in public transit networks with emphasis on; operational reliability, environmental assessment, and total cost of ownership. His research also investigates the systemic impacts of the transit system on utility grid and energy demand.