Welcome back to Columbia and to Science Fair, Bwog’s weekly roundup of science events happening around campus. Try to brave the cold this week and learn from the fascinating speakers Columbia draws in. As always, email science@bwog.com if you want your event featured.

Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism

• Monday, February 2, 12:45 to 1:45 pm.
• Interchurch Center (Sockman Lounge), 475 Riverside Drive. Registration required.
• Can green capitalism actually save us from climate crisis? This talk unpacks the messy contradictions of the clean energy transition through the lens of lithium mining. While EVs and windmills are pitched as climate solutions, their supply chains tell a different story. Global North governments scrambling to “secure” critical minerals, Global South countries trying to leverage resources into real development, and Indigenous and environmental movements fighting against a new mining boom. Explore whether there’s a less extractive path to zero carbon transportation. More information.

Mapping AI: Hype

• Tuesday, February 4, 5 to 7 pm.
• Fayerweather Hall, Room 513, 1180 Amsterdam Avenue. Registration required.
• What even is AI? Is it sentient? (Spoiler: no.) What does “generative” actually mean? Chris Wiggins, Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics and Systems Biology, will help cut through the hype and explain what AI is and isn’t. After presentations and Q&A, you’ll help draft a map locating AI usage across Columbia and Barnard campuses. Great primer whether you’re AI-curious or AI-skeptical. Contact scienceandsociety@columbia.edu with questions. Hosted by the Center for Science and Society.

(Fun)damental Uses of AI in Math: Research

• Thursday, February 5, 1 pm to 6 pm.
• Schapiro CEPSR, 530 W. 120 St., Davis Auditorium (Room 412, 4th Floor). Registration required.
• How can AI actually be useful in mathematical research, and will it change the nature of math itself? With recent advances in LLMs, formalization/autoformalization, and customized AI toolboxes, these questions are suddenly very real. Hear from mathematicians working at the cutting edge of AI in math research and get a glimpse of what the future might hold. Part of the Frontiers in Data Science and AI initiative at Columbia’s Data Science Institute.

Elizabeth Lunbeck – The Machine in the Therapist: From Freud to ChatGPT

• Thursday, February 6, 1 to 3 pm.
• Fayerweather Hall, Room 413, 1180 Amsterdam Avenue. Registration required.
• ChatGPT therapists are rapidly gaining traction—embraced by the public and even some clinicians. Elizabeth Lunbeck argues that their appeal lies in solving a longstanding problem in psychotherapy: the analyst’s personality. AI “therapists” achieve the field’s goals of reliability and replicability while remaining improvisational and idiosyncratic. While observers situate these bots in the cognitive behavioral therapy world, Lunbeck suggests they come just as much from the heart of psychoanalysis itself. Free and open to the public. Contact scienceandsociety@columbia.edu with questions. More information.

ME Seminar: From Mars Helicopter to Multi-Modal Drones with Dr. Morteza Gharib

• Friday, February 6, 11 am to 12 pm.
• Engineering Terrace, 500 W. 120 St., Room 829 Mudd. Registration not required.
• The Mars Helicopter Ingenuity made history as the first powered flight in Mars’s thin atmosphere, but it also revealed limitations of using separate flying and driving vehicles for planetary exploration. Mory Gharib, Hans W. Liepmann Professor at Caltech, will share lessons from Ingenuity and introduce Morphobot (M4), a single robot that can both fly and drive. Learn about the aerodynamic and flight-control challenges of building multimodal systems for exploring other planets. More information.

Science Fair via Madeline Douglas