2025 Schedule
Thursday, September 18
Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103
Howard E. Woodin ES Colloquium Series: AI and Climate - Superpowers for Good or Drivers of Destruction?
A conversation with:
Tim Profeta, Senior Fellow, Duke Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability and Visiting Instructor at Middlebury College, fall 2025
Vee Syengo ‘25.5, Computer Science and English major, Climate Action Fellow.
Wilson
Opening Session: AI and the Pleasure of Inventiveness
President Baucom in Conversation with Meghan O’Rourke
President Ian Baucom talks with acclaimed writer, and his former student, Meghan O’Rourke on the transformations AI is bringing to higher education. Drawing on O’Rourke’s New York Times opinion piece, and their institutional AI adoption experiences, they examine tensions between AI as enabler versus threat to human creativity and learning.
Wilson
Faculty Panel: AI in the Middlebury Classroom
Facilitator: Michelle McCauley, Executive Vice President and Provost, Middlebury College
Panelists: Allison Stanger, Thor Sawin, Roberto Lint Sagarena, Michael Linderman, German Reyes
Middlebury faculty share their experiences thoughtfully integrating AI into their teaching practices, discussing implementation strategies, benefits, challenges, and broader implications for student learning and academic integrity. The panel will discuss insights from recent research on student AI use at Middlebury, offering comprehensive faculty and student perspectives on these emerging technologies.
Wilson
Keynote: The Past, Present, and Uncertain Future of Artificial Intelligence
Melanie Mitchell, Professor at the Santa Fe Institute
AI expert Dr. Melanie Mitchell from the Santa Fe Institute examines how current AI works, its true “intelligence,” and future prospects. From photo recognition to essay writing, she explores AI’s expanding role and what our expectations and concerns should be for near- and long-term developments.
Friday, September 19
Breakfast
Grab-and-go breakfast items available for attendees
Wilson
AI and Global Security
Ian Stewart, Executive Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Ian Stewart will examine pathways through which advancing AI may threaten international peace and security and will explore the mitigation of these risks. This will include examination of AI in relation to strategic competition between the U.S. and China. He will also explore how AI may be leveraged as a tool to support rather than undermine international peace and security.
Wilson
Building the Future Workforce: An Industry Perspective on AI and Human Potential
Parker Harris, CTO of Slack and Cofounder of Salesforce
Parker Harris ’89 shares insights from leading a major cloud computing company through the AI revolution. He explores workforce displacement, skill development, and the evolving relationship between human creativity and machine intelligence, examining opportunities and responsibilities of large-scale AI adoption. Professor Sunder Ramaswamy will facilitate questions and discussion with Parker Harris.
Wilson
Lunch Session: Alumni Panel
Join Middlebury alumni for lunch while hearing about their professional and personal AI experiences. Facilitated by Professor Hector Vila, hear from Mario Ariza ’09, Mike Berkley ’95, Mohan Renganathan ’96, Julisa Salas ’10, and David Ellis ’09 as they share diverse perspectives on AI in practice.
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AI and Art: Facets of Humanity
Laura Splan and Minne Atairu
In a conversation moderated by media theorist and curator Natasha Chuk, two artists explore human-AI coexistence through distinct approaches. Atairu uses algorithmic reconstructions to visualize erased histories; Splan employs AI-assisted modeling exploring biotechnology and body aesthetics. Both probe humanity across flesh, code, and daily patterns while using AI as a collaborative tool and provocation.
Wilson
From Words to Numbers and Back Again: A Gentle Introduction to Language Model Internals
Professor Laura Biester (Computer Science) provides an accessible technical introduction to language modeling without requiring extensive math or computer science background. She covers language modeling history, explains how today’s models generate text, and connects technical processes to responsible AI use questions.
Wilson
Keynote: Coexisting with AI
Kay Firth-Butterfield, CEO of Good Tech Advisory
AI ethicist Kay Firth-Butterfield discusses how humans and AI can coexist amid widespread hype. From enhanced work to job displacement concerns, she explores what humans must do now to ensure AI serves us—shifting from “what AI will do” to “what humans want AI to do.”
Wilson
Closing dinner: Coexisting with AI at Middlebury
Lead: Matt Lawrence, Associate Professor of Sociology, Middlebury College
Participants: Phil Chodrow, Zara Contractor, Isabelle Langrock, Michelle Leftheris, Obie Porteous, German Reyes, Andrea Vaccari, Hector Vila, and Sarah Lohnes Watulak
Discuss how AI may transform our collective living and working. Join dinner conversations about AI possibilities and challenges we need to engage personally, in teaching and learning, and institutionally. Sponsored by the Collaborative in Conflict Transformation. Please RSVP here for this dinner