Club Updates (12.16.24):

We had an Introduction to AI convo early in the year 9/19, where we talked about the field of data science, and larger AI, and the impacts it will have across fields.

We did a collaboration with our environmental club on 10/8 with an alumni from our school, Flora Hamilton, who currently works at NASA, where she joined us to speak to the Data Science Club and Environmental Club at Cate about the powerful role data science plays in environmental science. She shared how her time at Cate, including her involvement with the STREAM team, was key to shaping her career path. Flora now works at NASA DEVELOP and the Natural Resource and Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at Colorado State University, focusing on projects that use remote sensing and machine learning to better understand vegetative landscapes. Her latest project? 'Using Satellite Observations to Assess Relationships between Snowpack and Wildfires in Colorado for Land and Water Utility Management. 

From there, we took her inspiration and participated using SB LTER Data Jam data to conduct an exploratory data analysis of sea urchin impact on kelp forests in coastal areas throughout Santa Barbara County.

We had a more intense technical discussion and workshop on neural network architecture on 10/24 (which expectedly had a lot of topics that were hard for some to grasp)

This 11/5, we had a joint club meeting with our school's Philosophy Club on AI Ethics and if AI is a net positive or negative for humanity. 

Just recently, on December 5, Lukas Ferrer ’11 returned to the Mesa to speak with the Data Science Club. Lukas shared his journey into the field of Data Science, emphasizing the trials and errors that shaped his career. After graduating from Cal Poly SLO with a degree in Biomedical Engineering, Lukas worked for Neuralink. However, he was laid off after proposing design changes to his superiors—changes that were later implemented by the company. Currently, Lukas works at a startup focused on building machine learning models for medical records. He explained the challenges of summarizing patient medical records, which can span thousands of pages, and the burden this places on doctors. His model automates this process, enabling quicker and more accurate insights into patient care. Lukas also highlighted the significant cost savings his technology offers. While an hour with a doctor can cost up to $400, his model operates for less than $5. His company’s mission is to make healthcare more affordable and efficient while enhancing data accuracy. Lukas shared how Cate played a pivotal role in shaping his character, academic journey, and creating core memories that he treasures to this day. He credited Cate with helping him overcome his learning disability and expressed his desire to give back by supporting current students in their own journeys.

He gave some tips moving forward:
Explore cost-effective solutions for AI development, such as utilizing Google Colab Notebooks to reduce GPU expenses.
Continue developing AI projects and gain experience working with real-world datasets.
Foster a mindset of curiosity, hope, and a desire to help others when approaching AI, rather than focusing on fear, anxiety, or skepticism.
Plan for a future Q&A session with Lukas—determine the logistics and topics to cover.