AI, LLMs and the mobilization of large data sets are reshaping research, work, learning, and daily life. They are exerting influence on politics, media, business decisions, resource allocation, and education. This graduate course will apply a feminist, critical race STS lens to understand the operation and uses of AI in research. We will examine what historical impacts, cultural factors, and forces of oppression may be operating in AI and directing data flows.
Take a deep breath in. Go ahead. Now let it out… In that breath is 4 billion years of Earth's history. This was the beginning of Dr. Dawn Sumner's talk at the UCD Feminist Research Institute. Dr. Sumner is the FRI director and a geobiologist who currently conducts research about oxygen levels, cyanobacteria, and microbial mats in Antarctica. Her opening invited the audience to reflect on our interconnected relationship with geological time, one of the themes of the talk.
Asking Different Questions in Climate Science is a seminar for climate scientists and researchers more broadly who seek to integrate equity more deeply into their research. Participants will learn how to more deeply integrate socio-cultural factors into their work. Topics covered include how historic bias still influences current scientific practices and how to address this, conducting meaningful community-engaged research, working with tribal nations, improving modeling through deeper incorporation of equity, and other relevant areas.
Our fifth annual 2024 FRI Transformative Research Symposium on May 10, 2024 was a success! Thank you to all of our presenters, FRI staff, and attendees.
FRI Undergraduate Advisory Board and staff member Elaina Legg presented a poster at the UC Davis 34th Annual Undergraduate Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities Conference on April 28.
Take a look at what we've been up to by reading her abstract and checking out by her poster!
FRI is proud to present Future Faces of Research. This new series features the voices of undergraduate students writing about their experiences doing justice and equity focused research. The inaugural piece is written by Ellie Legg, FRI undergraduate researcher.
What values define the way the Feminist Research Institute strives to operate? This was the question the FRI team explored this past year. We landed on three words: humility, collaboration and liberation. These emerged from a process modeling the methods of Max Liborion’s CLEAR Lab, an anti-colonial & feminist lab. We started by sharing stories about a moment that made us glad to be a part of FRI or another learning/activist/professional community.
