Provost's Office

Phil Chodrow, assistant professor of computer science will examine large language models (LLMs) power modern chatbots and text generators. How do they work and what do they mean for human society? We’ll begin by describing next-token-prediction and reinforcement learning with human feedback, the two technical tasks that underlie contemporary LLMs. The full description of this talk can be found right here.

Sharad Joshi, associate professor in the Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies (NPTS) program, examines the multiple strategies through which terrorists exploit conditions created by natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis (amongst other such catastrophes). These strategies include participating in disaster relief activities with the expectation that it will lead to increased fundraising and enhanced recruitment. The full description of this talk can be found right here. 

Please join Anderson Professor of Environment and Biosphere Studies Molly Costanza-Robinson for a talk entitled “Sources and Ecological Consequences of Salting Vermont’s Streams.”

Talk Description: I will share work from an ongoing collaborative project in which we seek to understand the magnitude, source(s), and ecological consequences of elevated salt levels in Lake Champlain Basin streams.

For more information and to register please visit the Faculty at Home website.

Please join Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science Murray Dry for a talk entitled “The Presidency and the Constitution: The Founders’ Views and the State of the Office and its Powers Today.” Talk Description: This talk takes its points of departure from two books on the American presidency that were published in 2020. The first is “After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency”, by Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith. The authors provided a roadmap for reform of the presidency in the post-Trump era.

Join us for cider and cookies and meet the faculty and students of the New Directions Arts Festival. The Festival is an interdisciplinary performance with music, dance, visual art, and theatre, led by Dr. Matthew Evan Taylor (Music), Michelle Leftheris (Studio Art), Laurel Jenkins (Dance) and Michole Biancosino (Theatre).

A new project by Michelle Leftheris, Assistant Professor in Studio Art

An interdisciplinary performance with music, dance, visual art, and theatre. Student participants from will be featured from these classes: Intro to Dance, First Year Seminar: Collaborating Across the Arts, Digital Studio, Acting 1, Collaborative Improvisation, and How To Improvise. Led by Dr. Matthew Evan Taylor (Music), Michelle Leftheris (Studio Art), Laurel Jenkins (Dance) and Michole Biancosino (Theatre).

27 Breaths is a live music and movement piece created and performed by composer and musician, Mathew Evan Taylor, and choreographer and dancer, Laurel Jenkins. In close proximity Taylor and Jenkins Inhale/Exhale, Push/Pull, never simply breathe…

Shows at 2:15pm and 6:15pm.

27 Breaths is a live music and movement piece created and performed by composer and musician, Mathew Evan Taylor, and choreographer and dancer, Laurel Jenkins. In close proximity Taylor and Jenkins Inhale/Exhale, Push/Pull, never simply breathe…

Shows at 2:15pm and 6:15pm.

At this very moment,
You’ve breathed molecules
First produced by Cyanobacteria epochs ago
How does this make you feel?
Does it sound like this?

Shows at 2:00pm and 6:00pm.