Welcome back to Columbia and to Science Fair, Bwog’s weekly roundup of science events happening around campus. We are having quite a science-y Sunday, and hope you are too! Have anything you’d like to discuss regarding STEM on campus? Email us at science@bwog.com. 

Additional Note: Bwog is looking for Columbia University students who participate in research on or around campus who would be interested in being interviewed. Email maggie@bwog.com if you or someone you know is interested!

Of Plants and People: Looking Through a Medicinal Plant Biotechnology Lens

  • Monday, March 2, 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm.
  • Hybrid event: Fayerweather Hall, Room 513, and online.
  • South Africa’s incredible biodiversity includes many plants used as traditional medicines. But the commercialization of this has to reckon with South Africa’s complex history and the knowledge of Indigenous communities. Nokwanda P. Makunga will share how various biotechnologies are being used to study medicinal plants in the Cape Floristic Region, with a focus on mechanisms that actually benefit Indigenous knowledge holders. Learn about the intersection of people, plants, traditional knowledge, and the bioeconomy. More information.

Gen AI Interactive Studio

  • Monday, March 2, 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
  • Milstein 105. No registration required.
  • In this undergrad targeted workshop, staff from Barnard’s Academic Technologies & Learning Innovation Services will answer questions and give guidance regarding generative AI tools. The workshop highlights exploration of various AI models and conversations about creativity and practical usage of AI. More information.

Petroleum in (and out of) the Visual Arts

  • Tuesday, March 3, 9:00 am to 12:45 pm.
  • Heyman Center Second Floor Common Room.
  • Oil is everywhere in the art world, from petroleum-based art materials to the fossil fuel money funding museums and the art market. In an era of climate collapse, how is the imperative to transition away from fossil fuels changing art institutions? Explore how artists, curators, critics, conservators, and restorers are working toward a world without oil, and how art shapes the cultural imaginaries that make oil dependence feel like freedom. More information.

Post-Earthquake Reconstruction: L’Aquila, Italy

  • Tuesday, March 3, 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
  • Italian Academy Teatro Room.
  • What does it actually mean to “rebuild” a city after a natural disaster? Experts working in L’Aquila since the catastrophic 2009 earthquake, plus others involved with post-disaster scenarios, will discuss the city’s current state, damaged and restored cultural heritage, the gradual revival of urban life, and L’Aquila’s new identity shaped by post-disaster aesthetics and construction. More information.

Mapping AI: Labor

  • Wednesday, March 4, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
  • Fayerweather Hall, Room 513, 1180 Amsterdam Avenue.
  • This workshop explores the multiple forms of labor exploitation in AI development, from underpaid classification work to intellectual property theft, murky vendor contracts, and AI’s impact on university labor. Continue work started in February on mapping AI and its manifestations at Columbia, now adding the kinds of contracts Columbia has with AI tool vendors, interventions around participant data used for training, and identifying data sources across the university! More information.

Introduction to Zotero

  • Thursday, March 5, 11 am to 12 pm.
  • Online via zoom, register here!
  • Do you do any type of research on campus? Even if it is just for a course research paper? You need Zotero! Zotero is the free and wonderful citation manager used by academics everywhere. Columbia Libraries hosts a helpful workshop to teach Zotero, and how it can be used to collect, organize, cite, and share course reading plus other research. The workshop will provide an introduction to the software and tips for utilizing it. More information.

Inside Information War: Building Societal Resilience Against Disinfo

  • Thursday, March 5, 4:15 pm to 5:45 pm.
  • International Affairs Building, Marshall D. Shulman Seminar Room, 1219. Registration REQUIRED by 4:00 pm on March 4.
  • Modern conflicts aren’t just fought with military force, they’re fought through information. Obama Scholar Valeriia Kovtun, who experienced Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine firsthand, and SIPA Professor Tamar Mitts, who researches digital media in conflict, will discuss how information flows shape public perception during crises. Explore emerging frontiers in wartime propaganda including AI-generated content, the challenges of detecting synthetic media, and what these dynamics mean for both democratic and authoritarian societies. More information.

Science Fair via Madeline Douglass