Science and tech talks in the Bay Area

A week-long series of talks, workshops, and hackathons exploring open-source artificial intelligence. The event brings together researchers, engineers, and developers to discuss advances in open-source AI models, tools, and methodologies, with hands-on sessions designed for participants at all experience levels.

A workshop on Catholic social teaching and artificial intelligence, exploring how the Church's tradition of humanistic philosophy engages with AI ethics and technology. Part of the Markey Center's monthly Faith Meets World series, this session includes interactive discussion and reflection opportunities for all participants.

A guided walking tour of UC Santa Cruz's Upper Campus Demonstration Site exploring forest health treatments and wildfire resilience. Participants will learn about the Wildfire Vegetation Management Plan and techniques including thinning, handwork, mechanical treatment, mastication, and chipping designed to lower wildfire risk and support ecosystem recovery. The approximately one-mile walk is led by university experts and supported through a CAL FIRE Forest Health Grant. Comfortable hiking boots recommended; shuttles provided from Barn Theater Parking Lot.

Learn to write effective prompts for AI image generation in this hands-on workshop. AI expert Bridget Burke teaches visual basics, style selection, and prompt-writing techniques to help you create clearer, more accurate results with tools like DALL-E and Midjourney. Explore how to describe layout, mood, and visual style; compare simple versus detailed prompts; and learn what to check before sharing or printing. No art, design, or technical skills required—just curiosity and imagination. This is Class 1 of a 3-part series.

Author and Education Programs Director at Monterey Bay Aquarium Katy Scott reads and signs her illustrated children's book about a hermit crab's 24-hour journey through a tide pool ecosystem. Through the crab's search for a new shell, readers learn about tide cycles, marine adaptations, predator-prey relationships, and the interconnected life of tide pool creatures. Scott brings expertise from nearly 15 years developing STEM education programs at one of the world's leading aquariums.

What does it take to turn research into a company? A panel explores the journey from Stanford lab to startup commercialization, featuring Brian Bartholomeusz, Managing Director of Innovation Transfer at Stanford's TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy; Caraiosa O'Farrell, a Stanford founder; and a representative from StartX's energy vertical. The conversation covers idea validation, early-stage challenges, and how to navigate Stanford's entrepreneurial ecosystem for founders at any stage—from hackathon prototype to company launch.

A talk demystifying El Niño and its local impacts, followed by an open community forum on preparedness and resilience. Learn what to expect from this climate pattern and how Oakland residents can prepare.

Learn about the diversity of pollinators in the Bay Area and how native plants and gardening practices can support them. Margaret Flaherty, a California Native Plant Society member and certified California Naturalist, draws on her experience volunteering at Native Here Nursery and leading ecological restoration projects in the Berkeley hills. She brings practical knowledge from her recent Ecological Restoration Field class and her work teaching plant biology to local students.

How can climate data drive real-world solutions? A panel discussion on turning climate insights into actionable opportunities, featuring Giancarlo Savini (Carbon Removal Partners), Kevin Kopczynski (Congruent Ventures), and Ajay Gupta (CLAI Ventures). The discussion explores how investors evaluate climate solutions, what evidence validates promising ideas, and what it takes to move from prototype to adoption. Aimed at hackathon participants seeking to connect technical work to customer needs, commercial viability, and measurable climate impact.

A guided multi-course dining experience exploring sustainable food systems from production to plate. Hosted by Stanford Climate Week Executive Director Naomie Chien and JC Arce, Founder & CEO of Tidefield, with participants from the Mercedes-Benz BeVisioneers fellowship, the event pairs curated dishes with conversations about agriculture, climate, science, and technology. Farmers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and chefs discuss environmental challenges across the food value chain and emerging solutions, examining topics from agricultural climate footprint to the role of consumer behavior and culinary innovation in building sustainable food systems.

A screening of *Oceania: Journey to the Center*, an award-winning documentary following Kiribati elder Tekinati Ruka as she explores her nation's history, cultural strength, and response to predicted sea-level rise. The 75-minute film will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Natalie Zimmerman, who spent 10 years developing relationships in Kiribati, and Impact Producer Lindsay Gordon. The film addresses climate realities facing the Pacific Island nation, which scientists predict may become uninhabitable within a decade, and explores pathways to climate resilience.

As solar, wind, and battery storage displace conventional generators, the grid loses the stabilizing inertia that once came free from spinning mass. This interactive session explores how inverter-based resources can help maintain grid stability, what their limits are, and how reactive power support fits into the picture. Stanford IEEE's Power & Energy Society will walk through real-world grid events and their lessons, with live demos and open discussion. No power systems background required; open to all majors.

Gabriele Vajente, Deputy Head of System Science and Engineering at the LIGO Laboratory (Caltech), explores gravitational waves and what we've learned from a decade of detections. Ten years after LIGO first detected gravitational waves from colliding black holes, the field has become central to modern astronomy. Vajente will discuss how LIGO detects these ripples in space-time, discoveries about black holes and neutron stars, and future directions for gravitational-wave science.

Dr. Becca Robinson, Education Director at the SETI Institute and outreach lead for NASA's Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) mission, discusses solar mysteries and recent discoveries in solar physics. She will share how a serendipitous research moment led to new understanding of the Sun's atmosphere, and explain how MUSE will help observe magnetic explosions, predict space weather events, and improve forecasting of auroral displays and signal disruptions. The talk follows a 7:30pm social hour with snacks.

A full-day family event exploring AI's impact on child development, education, and human connection. The program features research presentations and founder conversations on how generative AI is reshaping childhood learning; panels on skills children need for an AI-driven world; workshops including a philosophy discussion ('Can a robot be a friend?') led by The Paradox Lab; an exhibition on brain development co-created with illustrator Linda Liukas; and a startup showcase where families can try emerging AI products for children. Speakers and workshop leaders include researchers, educators, and builders from leading institutions and startups.

A public science talk on sea lion biology, behavior, and global diversity hosted by the Marine Mammal Center, a leading marine research and conservation organization in the Bay Area. Learn about these charismatic marine mammals, their ecological roles, and the challenges they face in ocean ecosystems worldwide.

A live demonstration of how used cooking oil is transformed into soap through circular economy principles. Attendees will watch the soap-making process in action, learn about the environmental impact of cooking oil waste, explore the science behind the transformation, and discover ways to support sustainable solutions from everyday materials. The session explores both the practical methodology and the broader concept of converting waste into useful products.

Meet tarantulas in their natural habitat as summer turns to fall. Led by naturalist Alex Collins, this hands-on program explores why these arachnids emerge during mating season and offers a chance to observe them up close. Drop-in, no registration required; adult participation needed.

An intimate, facilitated philosophical dialogue on how AI is changing everyday life. Resonance Salons bring together people across tech, art, care, and community for Socratic-style conversation on rotating monthly themes. Each session includes guided group discussion and a creative share—music, writing, poetry, or other forms of expression. Dinner and drinks provided.

A free dinner and fireside chat exploring how advocacy, research, infrastructure, and public policy can advance environmental justice. Speakers include Khalid Osman (Stanford, environmental justice and equitable water infrastructure), Cynthia Leung (WeaveGrid, utility-scale solar and clean energy), Arieann Harrison (Marie Harrison Community Foundation, Bayview environmental advocacy), Gabbie Listana (San Francisco Youth Commission), and Roberto Torres (San Francisco Environment Department). The event addresses meaningful community collaboration, the interplay between different disciplines, and how students in engineering, law, business, policy, and the arts can contribute to a just, sustainable future.

Launch event for the new Center for Global Maternal and Child Health, a collaborative initiative between the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences and the UCSF Bixby Center for Reproductive Health. The symposium showcases maternal and child health research and programs across UCSF with lightning round presentations, roundtable discussions, and opportunities for cross-campus collaboration. Lunch provided.

A technical talk on learning dexterous robotic manipulation through simulation and human demonstrations. Joe Dong, co-founder and CTO of Chestnut Robotics, presents two complementary approaches: training in simulation using reinforcement learning with the open-source Aero Hand, and learning from human demonstrations via a matched wearable capture interface. The talk covers hardware design, MuJoCo simulation, sim-to-real transfer, motion capture, contact sensing, and engineering tradeoffs in connecting robot embodiment with training data and simulation environments.

Kapil Ramachandran of Columbia University's Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease presents recent findings on neuroproteasomes and spatial control of neuronal proteostasis. Hosted by Lennart Mucke, MD, at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease.

UPenn Assistant Professor Daniel Rock examines how AI is reshaping scientific research by shifting computational and labor bottlenecks. Part of a university seminar series on AI's impact on science and research methodology.

How can policy, law, and institutional design advance equity during periods of social and political constraint? This session explores research-informed levers for creating more equitable developmental pathways for children, families, and communities. Speakers include Wendy Ellis, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Community Resilience at George Washington University, and Laura Huerta Migus, Director of Fellowship Alumni Engagement at Ascend at the Aspen Institute, with moderation by Katie Albright, Executive Director of UC Berkeley's Equity and Excellence in Early Childhood program.

Urban planner Jesse M. Keenan, Associate Professor of Sustainable Real Estate and Urban Planning at Tulane University, discusses his book *North: The Future of Post-Climate America*. The talk explores how climate change is reshaping where and how Americans live, documenting population shifts that are transforming cities, electoral politics, and regional geographies of risk and opportunity. Keenan examines how markets and public institutions shape human mobility, analyzing communities' capacity to adapt as climate impacts accelerate and Sun Belt migration patterns shift. The event frames climate adaptation through the lens of everyday people caught between fast-moving markets and slow-moving governments, exploring both climate-driven relocation and emerging zones of opportunity for sustainable living.

Nori Nakata, Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, presents recent research on reservoir evolution during enhanced geothermal system (EGS) development. Using seismic networks and distributed acoustic sensing data from Cape Station and Utah FORGE, Nakata examines microearthquake stress drops, fracture network imaging, and focal mechanisms to understand subsurface stress changes and fracture activation. The work integrates seismic and aseismic slip observations to connect individual earthquakes to reservoir-scale processes and improve geophysical monitoring of geothermal development.

A hands-on tutorial on compiling and debugging code on WAVE, Santa Clara University's High Performance Computing Center. The session opens with an informational presentation from WAVE support staff, followed by supervised practice time and direct Q&A with the technical team. Bring a laptop to access WAVE during the workshop.

A workshop on supporting clients impacted by violence and trauma, led by Orchid Pusey, Executive Director of Asian Women's Shelter. Designed for legal professionals engaged in pro bono work, the session draws on clinical and advocacy expertise to equip participants with trauma-informed approaches to client care. Held in connection with Domestic Violence Awareness Month and National Pro Bono Week.

Dr. Archana Raja, Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's Molecular Foundry, discusses how artificial intelligence accelerates the discovery and characterization of quantum materials. She'll present experimental work on topological phase transitions in van der Waals heterostructures, including isotope-controlled switching in HfTe5, then introduce LEAP (Low-Energy, AI-Informed Phase Transitions), a UC AI Science at Scale initiative coordinating theory, experiment, and simulation to target topological materials for energy-efficient electronics. She'll demonstrate Struct-R1, an agentic system that navigates materials structure space through physics-grounded reasoning loops, and LEAP-Bench, a benchmark testing whether AI agents can reason from raw experimental data to scientific conclusions suitable for laboratory deployment.

Brian Trippe, Assistant Professor of Statistics at Stanford, discusses calibration methods for generative models with applications to protein structure prediction. Generative models often produce realistic samples while underestimating probabilities of important modes—a problem Trippe addresses by framing calibration as constrained optimization. He presents surrogate objectives enabling low-variance gradient estimates for stochastic optimization, demonstrating results across hundreds of simultaneous constraints and models with up to nine billion parameters. The talk includes applications for assimilating thermodynamic measurements into generative models of protein structure Boltzmann ensembles.

Orion Weiner explores the mechanisms of collective cell migration, drawing parallels between swarms and flocks to understand how cells coordinate movement. Part of Stanford's Biology Seminar Series.

A physics colloquium featuring Alexander Sushkov. This lecture is part of UC Berkeley's regular colloquium series in the Department of Physics, open to the university community and interested public.

A fireside chat on artificial intelligence's dual role in energy systems—driving new demand for power while enabling cleaner, more reliable, and efficient infrastructure. Richard Newell, former CTO of Sustainability Solutions at C3 AI, discusses concrete AI applications in energy, 'physical AI' for grids and infrastructure, AI's reshaping of software deployment, and promising opportunities at the AI-energy intersection, in conversation with John Weyant, Stanford professor and energy systems analyst. The discussion explores lessons from past energy transformations and how students and early-career professionals can contribute to this emerging field.

A conversation on collective action and resistance in the age of AI, examining how technology reshapes privacy, free expression, and accountability. Meredith Whittaker, Signal President and former AI Now Institute director whose research shaped global AI policy, discusses the surveillance practices and power concentration embedded in modern AI alongside Professor Lowry Pressly, who specializes in the ethical and political dimensions of AI and surveillance. The discussion explores how individuals, corporations, and government can be held accountable for technology's growing influence on society.

Learn plant terminology and identification techniques in a hands-on, informal workshop led by Lucy Ferneyhough, assistant director of the UCSC Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Participants are encouraged to bring plants to examine together and suggest topics for future sessions. Sessions held the 4th Monday of each month, 5:30–7:30pm at the Horticulture 2 meeting hall.

A practical guide to eliminating hallucinations, optimizing computational resources, and deploying secure, trustworthy, and compliant AI systems. Rush Shahani discusses concrete steps for building reliable AI in production environments.

Experimental astrophysicist Dr. Julie Rolla explores how NASA's work extends far beyond space exploration. Drawing on her experience in ultra-high energy neutrinos, dark matter, AI-driven detector design, and climate-focused satellite applications, she discusses how space science drives advances in medicine, climate science, technology, and emergency response. From telemedicine tools to Mars missions that reveal planetary evolution, NASA's breakthroughs quietly benefit everyday life while inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.

How does the brain construct our conscious visual experience? Michael Silver, Professor of Optometry, Vision Science and Neuroscience at UC Berkeley and director of the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, explores how vision is an active inference shaped by attention, expectations, goals, and past experience—closer to a controlled hallucination than a camera. He will discuss how psilocybin research is revealing how the brain generates these inferences and illuminating the nature of consciousness itself. Includes Q&A.

​Abstract: ​"Bend is a proof language whose programs run as fast as C on one core, and in parallel on GPUs. Its checker verifies proofs in seconds, so you can write large programs that are proven correct and still fast. I'll show how it works, and how its core relates to Lean." ​Speaker: https://x.com/VictorTaelin Bend: https://bend-lang.com ​The SF Lean meetup: Weekly presentations and discussions about formal methods, software verification, AI, and math. Beginners welcome! ​Website: https://sflean.group/ Join our Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/bXNPhQyjfe Host: Adi Baradwaj More info: https://luma.com/0zs5pdkz

A two-day conference on market and consumer research — how insights teams work, and what AI, behavioural science, and UX methods are doing to the discipline. Greenbook runs it across three stages, sixteen hosted roundtables, and some sixty sessions, with live technology demonstrations and a startup pitch competition alongside the talks. Speakers include Stanford professor Byron Reeves; Kristen Griffith, insights director at Clorox; Rob Gaige, global head of marketing insights at Reddit; Kendra Shapiro, who leads consumer insights and UX research at Ancestry; Mike Carlon of Charter Communications; and Maya Kantak of Rocket, with further speakers from Microsoft, Visa, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Airbnb. Part of the programme is reserved for client-side researchers.

An annual summit on artificial intelligence and leadership hosted by ODSC (Open Data Science Community). The event brings together data scientists, AI practitioners, technology leaders, and business professionals to explore emerging trends, applications, and implications of AI systems. Held at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport. Pre-registration required; paid attendance.

ODSC AI West 2026 is a multi-day conference bringing together practitioners, business leaders, and AI professionals to explore reskilling opportunities, emerging technologies, and leadership strategies in an AI-driven economy. The summit features keynotes, expert panels, and topic-focused sessions on AI applications, workforce transformation, and organizational strategy. Hosted by the Open Data Science Community at Hyatt Regency SFO.

The Open Data Science Conference (ODSC) AI West 2026 brings together data scientists, machine learning engineers, and AI practitioners for workshops and hands-on training led by industry experts. The conference features technical sessions on AI research, applications, and emerging tools, with opportunities to learn from leading practitioners across academia and industry. Multi-day program with keynotes, breakout sessions, and networking.

Learn how to build an end-to-end agentic geospatial pipeline using satellite and weather data on AWS and Wherobots. This technical talk covers practical approaches to processing geospatial intelligence at scale, combining machine learning with geospatial analysis. Hosted at AWS Builder Loft.

A research seminar on landslide hazard assessment and forecasting across scales—from individual tree root systems to national risk mapping. Ben Mirus, Research Geologist at the USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center, presents recent work on the national landslide susceptibility map, annual frequency estimates, seasonality patterns, and the critical zone continuum linking atmosphere, biosphere, and groundwater to slope stability. Drawing on post-Hurricane Helene response efforts and long-term site monitoring, the talk addresses knowledge gaps in predicting when and where landslides will occur.

Sidra Hamidi, Assistant Professor at Trinity College, presents her book *After Fission: Recognition and Contestation in the Atomic Age* (Cambridge University Press, 2026). Challenging the assumption that nuclear status is merely a technical matter, Hamidi argues that states actively contest how their nuclear capabilities are recognized globally. Drawing on diplomatic history of India, Israel, Iran, and North Korea, she examines the Non-Proliferation Treaty's legal structure, technical ambiguities in nuclear testing, and debates over rights in the global nuclear regime. Her work illuminates how powerful states like the US recognize or reject states' desired nuclear status formulations—with implications for negotiating with countries like Iran and North Korea.

From Reliability to Resilience: Risk-Informed Asset Management for the Energy Transition. Lina Bertling Tjernberg, Visiting Professor at Stanford University and Professor of Power Grid Technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, discusses advances in reliability-centered asset management, probabilistic risk assessment, and predictive maintenance for sustainable power grids. Drawing on two decades of research and industry application, including her leadership at Sweden's national transmission system operator, Bertling Tjernberg explores how risk-informed decision-making can support the transition to electrified, resilient energy infrastructure.

A series of four seminars on advances in genome engineering for stem cell biology and therapeutic development. Featured speakers include James Gardner (UCSF) on normothermic perfusion systems for ex vivo human biology, Dan Wagner on single-cell phenotyping in CRISPR-edited embryos, Michelle Gbenedio on organoid development, and Alex Pollen on experimental techniques for village culture organoids. Sessions run Oct 13–Dec 8, 2026 at UCSF.

A hands-on workshop on designing AI-integrated assignments that promote critical thinking, reflection, and deeper learning. Participants will redesign one of their own assignments and leave with a ready-to-use version. Led by Wendy Lee, Associate Professor in the College of Science at San Jose State University.

A practical seminar on generative AI models, tools, platforms, and workflows designed to accelerate scientific research. Vivek Natarajan, AI researcher at Google DeepMind, will discuss new applications and methodologies for AI-guided research. Followed by a networking reception.

How does hydrodynamics emerge from the dynamics of discrete quantum particles? Matthew P.A. Fisher, professor of physics at UC Santa Barbara and member of the National Academy of Sciences, explores this question in open quantum systems of bosons, examining how spontaneous symmetry-breaking transitions separate quantum from classical dynamics. He will discuss observations of these transitions in cold atomic gas experiments and the role of information-theoretic quantities in characterizing dynamical phases.

A panel discussion on how U.S. universities must restructure to address 21st-century threats, particularly the ecological crisis. Convened by the UCSC Earth Futures Institute, a group of world-class visionaries presents findings on what knowledge society needs and how higher education must reorganize to generate it. Designed for UC students, faculty, administrators, and community members concerned about the role of universities in managing existential challenges.

AI-generated code now arrives faster than validation pipelines can process, breaking the balance between code production and quality checks. This meetup brings together engineers rebuilding feedback systems for the agent era. Speakers and panelists will discuss why this gap matters for change success rates and recovery time, how pairing robust delivery pipelines with sub-minute validation improves efficiency, and how running only relevant tests keeps compute costs down. Hosted by Bond AI with a panel discussion, audience Q&A, and peer networking.

Ayesha S. ​Mahmud is an Associate Professor of Demography in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. She is a demographer whose research broadly examines the interplay between population change, environmental factors, and infectious disease dynamics. The event is moderated by Elora Shehabuddin, Professor of Gender Studies at UC Berkeley.

A Halloween-themed interactive investigation into a broken development environment, hosted by AI Valley and Flox. Attendees follow clues through suspicious dependencies and environment issues to diagnose what went wrong—with talks and live demos from Justin Castilla (Flox), Jessica Garson Beauchemin (Runpod), Amin Karbas (Resolve AI), and Dan Gross (FriendliAI). The event combines technical problem-solving with food, drinks, and networking; costumes encouraged.

An evening of AI research and insights featuring Dr. Ed Chi, discussing the future of personalized universal agents. The event includes a reception with opportunity for networking.

A conversation on how engineering teams integrate AI into their workflows beyond code generation. Tanmai Gopal (CEO, PromptQL) discusses how customer context and team knowledge shape AI-assisted work; Iba Masood (Optimal AI) covers AI code review, quality, security, and measurement; Joe Maionchi (co-founder, RocketRide.ai) addresses moving AI prototypes to reliable production, including testing, debugging, and maintenance. Aimed at engineering leaders attending GitHub Universe.

Physicist and public intellectual Pervez Hoodbhoy examines recent signs of social and political change in Pakistan, asking whether they represent a genuine retreat from religious fundamentalism or a more limited and uncertain shift. Drawing on decades of activism for science and rationalism in South Asia, Hoodbhoy discusses his latest book *Pakistan: Origins, Identity and Future*. Moderated by Munis D. Faruqui, Director of the Institute for South Asia Studies and Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies at UC Berkeley.

The Information's annual summit for women in tech, media, and finance — what the initials stand for — held over two days at a Yountville resort. The format is onstage interviews with chief executives across the three industries, together with panels, breakout sessions, and networking; published topics include AI agents, the changing shape of SaaS, robotics, crypto financing, and AI in creative work. Tuesday runs as an evening reception and dinner, with the main interview programme on Wednesday. Speakers had not been announced at the time of listing.

A talk on how AI is transforming the modern software engineering stack. Hosted by Mobile Monday Silicon Valley at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

A hands-on workshop on physical AI for engineers and developers, exploring how artificial intelligence applies to robotics and embodied systems. Hosted by Nebius and Voxel51 at Silicon Valley AI Hub.

Dr. Catie Cuan, founder of ART Lab (AI Robot Technology) and pioneer in choreorobotics, explores what happens when artificial intelligence moves beyond screens into physical robots. Drawing on her background in dance and robotics, she argues that movement is not merely functional but expressive—shaping emotion, trust, and human connection. Through examples including robots trained to improvise, respond to human gestures, and move collectively, Cuan demonstrates how choreography informs the design of intuitive, responsive, and human-centered machines. Part of UC Berkeley's Design Field Notes lecture series.

Frontier AI systems face real-world challenges at scale: GPU failures, cascading outages, and non-deterministic behavior threaten reliability. This session explores operational lessons from 2026's high-impact AI infrastructure incidents, featuring infrastructure leaders, SREs, and MLOps engineers discussing practical architectures for cluster resilience, inference under pressure, and redefining SLOs for probabilistic systems. Topics include mitigating compute failures, designing fallbacks and circuit breakers, measuring reliability in AI systems, and blameless postmortems from major 2026 outages. Hosted by Bond AI and Rootly.

A screening of the 70-minute documentary Remathau: People of the Ocean featuring Dr. Nicole Yamase, the first Micronesian to earn a PhD in Marine Biology and reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The film explores her historic dive alongside themes of identity, culture, and belonging, reconnecting with the resilience of her people and the ocean navigation wisdom of earlier generations. Yamase, Director of Impact at OneReef, leads efforts to advance ocean science, conservation, and community-led stewardship across Micronesia. Hosted by Stanford's Doerr School of Sustainability.

A technical talk on building software factories using coding agents, harnesses, and verification systems. Attendees will learn how AI-driven coding tools are being integrated into production workflows and what engineering practices enable scaling from experimental agents to reliable systems.

A lecture on Frank Netter's groundbreaking medical illustrations and the intersection of art and science in medical education. Dr. Wen Shen, an endocrine surgeon with a master's degree in the history of medicine, explores Netter's career and his profound influence on how physicians visualize and understand the human body. Part of the Orlo H. Clark Lectureship series.

How does compassion differ across cultures? Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Associate Professor of Psychology at Santa Clara University, presents research on how people in the United States, Ecuador, Mexico, China, and Germany understand compassionate responses to suffering. Drawing on hypothetical scenarios and real experiences of bereavement, she shows that cultures systematically differ in whether they favor sharing in someone's pain, helping them toward positive emotions, or balancing both. These differences persist in real grief experiences, suggesting people from different backgrounds may need different kinds of support while grieving. The lecture explores what true compassion means across cultural contexts.

A lightning-talk meetup for Bay Area biosecurity professionals covering pandemic prevention technology, AI evaluation for biorisks, and synthetic DNA screening. Featured speakers include Jonas Sandbrink (CEO, BioTrust) on trusted access credentials for frontier biology, and Misha Gurevich (CEO, Aerolamp) on far-UVC technology. Hosted by Tessa Alexanian and Joey Bream in their personal capacities. The evening includes a meet-and-mingle, talks with Q&A, and informal discussion over snacks.

Prof. Thomas Targett separates fact from fiction in depictions of outer space, examining how Hollywood's portrayals in Star Trek, Star Wars, and other films and television shows compare to actual astronomy. A fun and informative exploration of where science and entertainment intersect.

The Future of Decision-Making Conference examines how AI-enabled systems are reshaping high-stakes decision-making across military commands, intelligence analysis, crisis management, and clinical settings. Hosted by Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, the conference brings together scholars, practitioners, and operational experts to discuss cognitive surrender, military decision-making and AI, and featured research presentations. Topics include how reliance on machine outputs reshapes professional judgment and how AI is changing command decisions in practice. October 28, 2026.

An in-person summit for enterprise IT leaders, technical decision-makers, and infrastructure architects scaling agentic AI systems at scale. Hear from enterprise leaders deploying and debugging AI agents in production, exchange technical strategies on inference economics, memory and context infrastructure, AI factory architectures, and agentic workload orchestration. VentureBeat curates a focused peer-networking environment designed for meaningful one-on-one conversations across industries and access to proprietary research on how enterprises are scaling agentic AI.

A conference bringing together customer experience leaders and AI experts to explore the intersection of AI and business strategy. Speakers include James Green and Hemant Taneja, alongside industry practitioners and researchers examining how organizations are deploying AI systems and rethinking customer engagement in an AI-driven landscape.

A Stanford HAI conference exploring the societal implications of rapid AI advancement, centered on workforce and labor concerns. Keynote speakers include Fei-Fei Li (Founding Director, Stanford HAI), James Landay (Denning Director, Stanford HAI), Jeff Dean (CEO, DiscoveryLoop), and Audrey Tang (Cyber Ambassador-at-large, Taiwan). The conference addresses widespread anxiety about AI's impact across sectors, examining questions of human worth and place in a shifting technological landscape.

Regenerate Conference explores the intersection of ranching and grassland bird conservation. Hosted by Point Blue Conservation Science, the conference brings together land managers, conservationists, ranchers, and ecologists to discuss sustainable grazing practices and habitat restoration that support bird populations and ecosystem health across working rangelands.

A talk on early childhood development measurement and monitoring. Susanne Martin Herz, MD, PhD, will discuss the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED), how developmental trajectories can be tracked similarly to physical growth metrics, and how the GSED and D-score inform population-level health monitoring and program design. Part of UCSF's Grand Rounds series exploring global health advances and research.

RNA cleavage is essential for processing and regulating all classes of RNA. Current methods profiling genome-wide RNA cleavage are biased towards cytoplasmic events and ignore compartmentalized differences. We have recently coupled subcellular RNA fractionation with degradome profiling to detect genome-wide nucleoplasm- and cytoplasm-enriched RNA cleavage in Arabidopsis thaliana . Using this enhanced profiling data we are studying RNA processing, including microRNAs, as well as RNA modification-mediated effects of RNA cleavage-mediated post-transcriptional regulation of the plant transcriptome. Our most recent results on miRNA processing and RNA modification-mediated regulation of the plant transcriptome will be presented. Speakers: Brian D. Gregory, Professor (Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania)

Economic historian Jan de Vries, Ehrman Professor Emeritus of History at UC Berkeley, presents his newly published book *Life, Death, & Migration in the Early Modern City*, which explores urban demographic dynamics, migration patterns, and social life in a German city around 1700. De Vries is a pioneering scholar of Dutch economic development during the industrial revolution whose work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of early modern European urbanism and economic change.

A seminar on Europa's dynamic ice shell and its potential to support life. Martin Kihoulou, a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at UCSC and recent Ph.D. in Physics of the Earth and Planets, presents evidence for tectonic-like activity on Jupiter's moon—including dilation bands and subduction zones driven by orbital cycles. He explores how vertical transport of chemical compounds across Europa's ice shell might create transient habitable conditions in the subsurface ocean, while addressing inconsistencies between observed surface age and current thermo-orbital models.

A hands-on build night focused on developing open-source alternatives to paid creative tools using ComfyUI. Participants will collaborate on projects competing for a $10K grand prize. Hosted at Frontier Tower.

How are surveillance technologies and data systems transforming U.S. immigration enforcement, and what are the stakes for civil liberties and democratic oversight? This panel examines the convergence of AI-assisted identification, inter-agency data-sharing, and on-the-ground policing practices. Panelists include David Hausman (UC Berkeley Law, Deportation Data Project), Caitlin Patler (UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy), and Jennifer Urban (UC Berkeley Law, Samuelson Clinic), moderated by Deirdre Mulligan (UC Berkeley School of Information, former Principal Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer). Part of the Matrix On Point discussion series.

How does AI infrastructure concentrate power and extract wealth? Geographers Dillon Mahmoudi (University of Maryland Baltimore County) and Alan Wiig (University of Florida) argue that the AI economy is fundamentally material and geographic—anchored to specific territories by data centers, energy demands, and land availability. They analyze two forms of monopoly rent: control of location and network proximity (extracting value from proximity to data and low latency), and control of computation itself (concentrated in a handful of firms charging tribute for access to scarce training capacity). Drawing on financial filings, industry reports, and fieldwork in Northern Virginia's Data Center Alley, they show how what appears as agglomeration economy is actually rent extraction through strategic fixity of capital in digital infrastructure—and how rising fixed-capital requirements are driving a profitability crisis in the sector.

Dr. Alan Wiig, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Florida, examines how data centers shape cities and urban life. His research explores the intersection of urban geography and infrastructure, investigating the physical form, economic function, and political dimensions of AI data centers as they reshape metropolitan landscapes, labor markets, and resource systems.

How can machine learning transform compiler design to finally fulfill the promise that began with FORTRAN—generating high-performance, architecture-agnostic code across CPUs, GPUs, and specialized accelerators? Saman Amarasinghe, Thomas and Gerd Perkins Professor of EECS at MIT and leader of the Commit Compiler Research Group, traces the history of compiler abstraction, explores how AI is reshaping traditional optimization, and examines whether the next generation of compilers can make hardware disappear once again. Amarasinghe's lab has developed StreamIt, Halide, TACO, Tiramisu, and numerous other influential languages, compilers, and tools.

Learn about indoor air quality, children's environmental health, and practical strategies for creating healthier home environments. Representatives from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 will discuss common indoor air pollutants and asthma triggers—smoke, mold, dust, and pests—and explain how to use the Air Quality Index (AQI) to plan safe daily activities. Space is limited; reservations required.

A lecture on scientific explorations of neonatal pain and early life adversity. Dr. Kanwaljeet J. S. Anand, professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and director of the Stanford Child Wellness Lab, will discuss his research journey toward changing the paradigm for neonatal anesthesia and analgesia, and his ongoing work on child wellness and early life adversity. The lecture is followed by a reception.

An exploration of how enterprise AI adoption is reshaping infrastructure, security, and data practices across organizations. The event features presentations and discussions on emerging AI applications and their operational impact.

Paul Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Molecular Metabolism Lab at The Rockefeller University, presents research on how brown fat—the metabolically active tissue that converts energy to heat—affects human health and disease. Using large patient cohorts and novel imaging methods, Cohen's lab investigates the genetics and biology of brown fat to understand its role in metabolic health and its potential to mitigate obesity-linked diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. A systems-based approach to understanding a fundamental lever in human physiology.

Dan Yamins of Stanford University presents on AI and data-driven methods in science. Part of AI + Data for Science, a weekly Wednesday seminar (4:30–5:30 pm) organized by Emmanuel Candès, Balasubramanian Narasimhan, Brian Wandell, and Gordon Wetzstein. Open to Stanford and non-Stanford attendees.

Carina Hong, founder of Axiom Math, discusses AI systems for mathematical reasoning at Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Speaker Series. The series features entrepreneurs and innovators sharing insights on building and scaling ventures.

Build your own AI agents for real estate workflows — transaction coordination, acquisitions, property search, and construction — using Genspark's AI workspace. Led by Corey Griffin, a real estate business owner who has deployed 10 agents for his own company, this hands-on session walks you through setting up agents that plan, research, and execute work autonomously. No experience needed; bring your laptop and a free Genspark account (created before arrival). Designed for realtors, investors, contractors, title professionals, and business owners curious about AI agent capabilities.

A Medical Humanities Research Workshop exploring the intersection of medicine, culture, and human experience. Speaker Bryant Lin, MD, a primary care physician, educator, and researcher at Stanford University, discusses how the humanities inform and transform medical practice and understanding. Part of Stanford School of Medicine's ongoing Medical Humanities Research Workshop Series, supported by the Humanities Center, Division of Literatures, Cultures & Languages, and Department of Anthropology.

A hands-on workshop featuring real robotics demonstrations and practical AI applications, hosted by Nebius and Voxel51. Attendees will engage directly with physical AI systems and explore how machine learning integrates with robotics hardware.

How data infrastructure and database systems are evolving to support autonomous AI agents in production. The talk covers data freshness, parallel request handling, access control, and metadata discovery across the data stack. Speakers include Savannah Whitman (VeloDB) on enterprise AI agents querying databases; Sijie Guo (StreamNative) on agent runtime failures and cost control; Jaz Ku (PuppyGraph) on mapping relationships across thousands of tables; and Adi Wabisabi (Datastrato) on scoping agent access to user permissions. The event concludes with a panel and Q&A.

A hands-on workshop on running AI models locally on your own computer. Participants will learn how to deploy and manage AI systems independently, without relying on cloud services or external platforms. Ideal for anyone interested in AI infrastructure, self-hosting, and practical machine learning applications.

A hands-on workshop in microfluidic cell-free manufacturing—a technique for producing proteins and biologics outside living cells. Participants will work with microfluidic systems to understand the principles and applications of cell-free protein synthesis, a growing field in synthetic biology and biotech manufacturing.

A ProductTank SF meetup focused on building products designed for AI agents. ProductTank is a global community for product managers and builders to discuss emerging challenges and opportunities in product development. This session explores how to design, develop, and ship products that leverage agent-based AI systems, covering product strategy, user experience, and technical implementation for agent-driven applications.

A talk on strategies for securing autonomous AI systems and managing emerging security threats in the field. Hosted at Orrick.

Dr. Priti Patel, Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer at John Muir Health, discusses how AI tools are transforming patient care and workforce efficiency in healthcare systems. Drawing on her background as a family physician and clinical informaticist, Dr. Patel will explore where AI adds value in healthcare today, practical implementation strategies, and the ethical guardrails necessary for safe and responsible deployment.

Two leading astronomers discuss the frontiers of space science in a laid-back, Q&A-friendly setting. Nick Rodd, a Divisional Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley Lab and former CERN faculty member, presents the latest developments in dark matter detection. Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute and co-host of the weekly podcast Big Picture Science, explores the search for extraterrestrial life. Part of the global Astronomy on Tap series, this is the revival of San Francisco's monthly chapter. No science background required.

Opening night celebration of Scaling Intelligence, an exhibition of 11 commissioned artworks exploring creative possibilities at the intersection of AI, machine learning, and artistic practice. Selected through a global open call, participating artists developed works with Modal cloud computing credits and support from Gray Area and Modal, investigating how different forms of intelligence might connect, interact, and sense the world. Projects range from satellite imagery and microbial visualization to neural network exploration and watershed mapping. Featured artists include Cezar Mocan, Colin O'Donnell & Justine Sun, Dela Cruz & Will Gardiner, Grayson Earle, Iana Chugunova, Ira Greenberg, Kristina Pulejkova, Miguel Novelo Cruz, Parag Mital, Rashed Haq, Sasha Sorokina, and Spencer Chang. The exhibition runs through November 1.

What blindspots shape our everyday conversations? Zachary Reese, professor of psychology at the University of San Francisco, explores the hidden dynamics of human connection: how we calculate sentence endings, build shared reality, and unconsciously follow patterns to make others laugh. Drawing on his research, Reese reveals why people hesitate to share good news (fear of seeming to brag) and avoid mentioning similar experiences (fear of stealing the spotlight)—behaviors that paradoxically undermine connection. He'll present findings from speed-friending studies on first-encounter anxiety and close with practical, research-backed strategies for deeper, more authentic conversations. The evening includes arrival time, lecture, and Q&A.

Meet 15+ research labs at UC Santa Cruz presenting posters and demos about undergraduate research opportunities. Labs will discuss their work and research experience across disciplines.

The 4th annual Collaborative Learning Experience on Reproductive Justice brings together medical students, law students, social work students, undergraduates, and others for a day of transdisciplinary learning. Co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley–UCSF Joint Medical Program, UC Berkeley Gender & Women's Studies, the School of Social Welfare, and the Center on Reproductive Rights & Justice, the workshop integrates perspectives from medicine, law, social work, and gender studies to explore reproductive justice as a framework connecting health, rights, and systemic inequality.

The EaRTH Center's 5th Annual Research & Translation Forum convenes researchers, clinicians, and innovators around the theme 'Shaping Health Futures: Leveraging Emerging Technologies to Advance Chronic Disease and Pediatric Research.' The day-long program features research presentations, an environmental health poster session, and collaboration opportunities among Center members and awardees. Hosted at UCSF Mission Bay.

Speaker: Tarje-Nissen Meyer Professor in Environmental Intelligence, University of Exeter Abstract: Soils are among Earth’s most vital ecosystems: they provide 99% of humanity’s calories, store more carbon than vegetation and the atmosphere combined, regulate water, and host most terrestrial biodiversity. Yet soil health remains poorly characterised because key properties such as bulk density, porosity, carbon, moisture, texture and horizon depth, vary at centimetre-to-metre scales, while conventional sampling is destructive, costly and sparse. Seismology offers a non-destructive, inexpensive and scalable way to image these subsurface properties. I will present work by our non-profit Earth Rover Program spanning field experiments on three continents, development of low-cost high-frequency MEMS sensors and AI-based inference, and results showing seismic mapping of bulk density, soil horizons and temporal moisture variation, with promising implications for improved soil-carbon stock estimates.

South Korea's nuclear export journey spans three landmark projects—KEDO in North Korea, Barakah in the United Arab Emirates, and Dukovany in the Czech Republic—each shaped by different international conditions and policy environments. Dr. Eunjung Lim, visiting scholar at Stanford's Asia-Pacific Research Center and professor at Kongju National University, traces how Korea's nuclear capabilities evolved across nonproliferation cooperation, energy development, and commercial competition. As AI and data centers drive renewed interest in nuclear power, she examines whether Korea's future may require returning to a core lesson: the centrality of international cooperation in nuclear policy and energy security.

How are observatories adapting to survive mounting pressures from wildfires, light pollution, satellite megaconstellations, and federal budget cuts? Dr. Teznie Pugh, Superintendent of McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas at Austin, explores the field's response, arguing that modern astronomy requires training in advocacy, communication, and policy alongside excellent science. She examines coalitions among observatories, environmental and climate scientists, conservation groups, and elected officials, and draws lessons from satellite negotiations, light pollution regulation, and wildfire mitigation strategies.

How can data visualization deepen scientific investigation and communication? Eric Rodenbeck, founder of Stamen Design, discusses collaborations with UCSF scientists and researchers, including the Atlas of Emotions with Paul Ekman and the Dalai Lama, the UCSF Health Atlas with Dr. Debby Oh, and Brain Cartography with Dr. Edward Chang. He explores how maps, interfaces, and visual systems can reveal complex data, expose unexpected relationships, generate new questions, and help researchers and broader audiences understand science differently.

A half-day summit on infrastructure for autonomous AI agents, featuring 10 live product and technical demos from selected teams, a keynote on connected and collaborative AI systems, and a panel discussion on the infrastructure requirements for agentic applications. Speakers and judges include Dan Ndombe (Docker), Brett Liu (Sixty Degree Capital), Benny Liao (Acorn Pacific Ventures), and Vandon Duong (DCVC). Topics span agent runtime, tool use, multi-agent orchestration, context and memory systems, inference and serving, and evaluation and security. The curated room of approximately 80 attendees includes founders, engineers, researchers, investors, and enterprise leaders building in the agentic AI space.

A multi-session conference for forward-deployed engineers, founders, and operators working in AI. The program features keynotes, breakout sessions, and fireside chats exploring emerging practices, technical challenges, and industry trends in AI deployment and engineering. Designed for practitioners navigating rapid AI adoption across organizations.

A lecture on the global prevalence and societal costs of violence, examining why interpersonal violence—homicide, intimate partner violence, and severe physical punishment of children—imposes far greater societal damage than wars and terrorism, and what evidence-based interventions can reduce these harms. James D. Fearon, Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor of Political Science at Stanford and Senior Fellow at the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, presents research showing that while wars are geographically concentrated, nearly all countries face high rates of homicide and assault affecting women and children—yet these rates are demonstrably reducible through targeted programs and social movements.

A hands-on workshop exploring how multiplayer AI can streamline product development workflows—from backlog to spec to implementation to team review. Participants will learn how to turn tickets into shareable specs, work with AI bots to build features, and capture team decisions for future context. Led by Anuhrut Gupta, Product & Applied AI Lead at PromptQL. Bring your laptop and a backlog item (sample data or authorized materials welcome). Dinner and non-alcoholic drinks provided.

In late Ming and early Qing China, a major Buddhist revival coincided with growing fascination for theater. Mengxiao Wang explores how performance became a vehicle for Buddhist philosophy and enlightenment, examining the intersection of religious practice and dramatic art in early modern China. Wang is a scholar of Chinese intellectual and cultural history with expertise in Buddhism, literature, and theater.

A conversation on the history of data and algorithms, tracing how data has been used as a tool and weapon—from the US Census and Victorian eugenics through facial recognition and AI systems today. Matthew L. Jones, Smith Family Professor of History at Princeton, discusses his book *How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms* (cowritten with Chris Wiggins), examining how technical capabilities shaped power relations among states, corporations, and people. Tom Mullaney, Stanford University, offers comments.

A practical talk on zero trust security strategies applied to AI systems, covering model protection, data security, and autonomous agent safety. Hosted by Cloudflare, a leader in cloud security infrastructure.

Open Source AI Week is a multi-day conference featuring expert-led tech talks, workshops, bootcamps, and crash courses on building and deploying AI systems. This session showcases three leading platforms: Temporal (workflow orchestration), Arize (ML observability), and Databricks (data and AI infrastructure). Designed for developers at all levels seeking to deepen their skills in open-source AI tools and methodologies.

Janet Poole of the University of Toronto examines the life and work of modernist writer O Changhwan (also Ch'oe Myŏngik), a Pyongyang-based author whose fiction documented urban life and decolonization hopes in early 20th-century Korea. Poole, a specialist in Korean literary modernism and translator of mid-century Korean writers, contextualizes O's work within her broader research on Korean modernist responses to colonialism and the political division of Korea after 1945.

A technical dinner exploring how recursive self-improvement is changing software development and AI systems. Hosted at Qualia Contemporary Art.

Explore how to have more productive conversations with AI tools by treating them as thought partners rather than vending machines. Facilitated by Chris Heuer, IBM futurist and author of *Conversations With My AI*, this workshop introduces a seven-part conversation framework, then guides participants through a real practice session with their own AI on something they're actually working on. You'll learn to ask better questions, provide necessary context, and leverage AI to think more clearly without outsourcing your own judgment. Bring a laptop or phone with access to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or similar, and one real problem or creative project you're stuck on.

A Halloween-themed practical workshop on using AI agents, combining food and hands-on lessons on agent-based systems and their real-world applications.

A conversation with April Snow, CIIS alum and licensed psychotherapist, on reframing high sensitivity as a strength rather than a problem. Drawing from her clinical practice and lived experience as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), Snow explores practical frameworks for accepting sensitivity, managing an overwhelmed nervous system, nurturing your inner world, and thriving in daily life, work, and relationships. She also addresses supporting Highly Sensitive Children. Hosted at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Explore the science of fear at the Exploratorium's Halloween event. Ralph Washington, Jr. traces the history, culture, and myth behind our aversion to insects in 'Creepy, Crawly, Curious: The Science Behind Our Bug Fears' (7:00 pm), while the evening features hands-on exhibits on survival instincts, a cow eye dissection, and demonstrations across the galleries. Dance to darkwave, post-punk, and cumbia with Los Goths Co., and enter the annual costume contest.

A candid panel on women's reproductive and pelvic health, covering fertility, contraception, menopause, endometriosis, PMDD, PCOS, pelvic-floor dysfunction, and healthcare navigation. Featuring Dr. Jasmine Pedroso (OB-GYN and fertility specialist at Kindbody), Dr. Joy Brotherton (minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon at Marin Fertility Center and Sutter Health), and Dr. Karen Hodges (pelvic health physical therapist and UCSF/SFSU graduate). The second half is open to anonymous audience questions—no topic is off-limits.

A presentation on astrobiology and the search for life beyond Earth by Natalie Batalha, professor and director of UC Santa Cruz's Santa Cruz Center for Astrobiology. Batalha explores how Earth's geological history offers clues about the origin and evolution of life, examines icy moons in our solar system that may harbor hidden oceans, and discusses the billions of planets orbiting distant stars. The talk covers how scientists are developing tools to search for signs of life on nearby worlds and connects fundamental questions about life's origins with the search for extraterrestrial life. The presentation will be followed by a live Q&A.

A comprehensive conference on heart rhythm disorders and arrhythmia management, featuring world-renowned cardiologists and electrophysiology experts. Plenary sessions explore digital health, wearables, and emerging technologies in arrhythmia care. Three parallel tracks with rapid-fire sessions cover mechanisms of cardiac fibrillation, inherited arrhythmias, catheter ablation strategies, and stroke prevention. Designed for physicians, nurses, advanced practice providers, fellows, residents, and students seeking CME/CEU credits. Free in-person registration for Stanford-affiliated attendees; professional registration available at sliding scale ($90–$390). Hosted by Stanford University.

A technical seminar on bilevel optimization methods for training agentic AI systems that combine language models with retrieval, tool use, and memory management. Quan Xiao, PhD candidate in electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University, will present a first-order penalty formulation for joint optimization of LLM parameters and agentic-system design variables, with applications to retrieval-augmented reinforcement learning and multi-hop question-answering tasks.

Serena Connolly, Professor and Chair of Classics at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, examines Emperor Hadrian's overlooked commitment to science and technology alongside his better-known philhellenism. Drawing on substantial evidence, she argues that Hadrian's intellectual interests in science and technology were shaped by personal inclination and imperial precedent stretching back to Augustus. Connolly's research spans Roman social and political history, women and non-elites in the Roman world, and the history of science and technology. She is the author of *Lives Behind the Laws* and *Wisdom from Rome*, and is completing *Learned Emperors: Science, Technology, and Power at the Roman Imperial Court*.

Prof. Tania Roy (Duke University) presents her group's memory-centric hardware co-design for edge AI, spanning devices, circuits, and architectures. Topics include in-sensor computing with optoelectronic synaptic pixels, in-memory computing with Flash-based content-addressable memory and CMOS-compatible memristors, and reliability of amorphous oxide semiconductors. Roy explores how emerging hardware—optimized for edge constraints rather than conventional CMOS scaling—can enable efficient LLM inference and fine-tuning at the device edge.

Julien Monardo of the University of Bristol presents research on scalable nonparametric methods for estimating consumer demand in differentiated product markets. The talk addresses methodological challenges in industrial organization and applied microeconomics, part of UC Berkeley's Agricultural and Resource Economics Friday Seminar Series.

A dissertation defense on advancing pangenome references and genome inference methods. Asri presents Secphase, a tool for correcting read mappings in genome assembly; HMM-Flagger, a reference-free detector of structural misassemblies; and pangenome-aware approaches to variant calling. The work contributes to the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium's mission of representing human genetic diversity and mitigating reference bias in genomics research.

USF's second Enterprise AI Summit brings together industry leaders, researchers, and practitioners to explore applications of AI in enterprise settings. The event spotlights USF's MS in Data Science and AI program and Data Institute, featuring talks on AI research, career pathways, and industry trends. Designed for students, professionals, and anyone interested in understanding how AI is reshaping business and technology.

A talk on how algorithmic innovation is being deployed to create healthier futures through artificial intelligence in medical practice and research. Hosted as part of Klinikum+, an initiative exploring AI's role in healthcare.

A weekend hackathon exploring whether formal methods are ready for production software. Participants will build a piece of production software and formally verify it, working hands-on to test the practical applicability of formal verification techniques in real-world development.

Stranger Builds is a one-day in-person hackathon (October 31) followed by seven days of remote development, challenging builders to ship new software and find real users. Participants compete for $10,000 in cash prizes and credits, with challenges announced during the event. The hackathon brings together engineers, designers, and makers to build AI agents, apps, and other creative projects, supported by sponsors Base44, Fetch.ai, Vonage, and Shelled AI. Part of NERDCONF's global network of 25,000+ builders.

A guided nature walk and craft activity exploring plant galls—the bizarre growths created by insects, mites, and other organisms on plants. Led by Martha Cerda, this program combines botanical inquiry with creative play: after learning about gall ecology during a short forest walk, participants design and wear their own gall-inspired costume accessories, then parade them along the trail. All ages welcome; parent participation required. Drop-in, no registration needed.

A community conversation on lung cancer in the Asian American community, with clinical and research perspectives. Dr. Velotta, a thoracic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente, will discuss clinical insights alongside patient experiences. Dr. Lin, a clinical researcher and lung cancer patient at Stanford University, will share both research findings and her personal experience. The discussion covers prevention, diagnosis, treatment, research advances, and lived experiences, with a focus on raising awareness and encouraging open dialogue about lung cancer in Asian communities.

A guided birdwatching walk exploring migratory and resident waterbirds at Crab Cove, led by naturalist Kevin Dixon. Participants will learn how local birds—from plovers to herons—are adapted to Bay habitats and seasonal food sources. Binoculars provided; beginners welcome. Ages 6+.

Join the San Jose Astronomical Association for a hands-on solar observation event featuring white-light and hydrogen-alpha telescopes revealing sunspots, prominences, and the Sun's chromosphere. A short introductory talk at 1:30 pm will cover how the Sun works and the role of magnetic fields in solar activity. Attendees can observe the Sun safely through specially filtered equipment, ask questions about solar astronomy, and learn about the scale of the solar system. Bring your own filtered telescope to share views with others. Come prepared for outdoor conditions with hat, sunscreen, and water.

What if Earth came with a user manual? David Gottfried, founder of the Living Building Challenge and author of *Regen360*, argues that humanity's environmental crisis stems not from a lack of care but from a broken operating system. He introduces the Earth Code, a practical framework for regenerative living and systemic change. Gottfried explores how rethinking our relationship with planetary systems can address climate, biodiversity, and resource challenges.

OSA Con 2026 brings together engineers, architects, and builders working at the intersection of open source data infrastructure and AI. The conference features deep technical talks on AI workloads and data management, agentic analytics platforms, real-time analytics, shared data lakes, and emerging open-source architectures. Speakers include Lisa Cao (Databricks) on AI agents writing Apache Spark pipelines, Wei-Chin Call (Grafana Labs) on benchmarking AI agents for debugging, Jason Smith (Google) on serverless eventing for AI data pipelines, Aditi Pandit (IBM) on the Presto C++ engine, and Alex Merced (Dremio) on agentic lakehouses, alongside sessions on AI-generated code licensing, infrastructure dashboards, data lock-in, RISC-V Kubernetes clusters, and AI-powered analytics for gaming. November 2, 2026, AWS Builder Loft, San Francisco.

How did Taiwan transform from an agricultural colony into an economic power in half a century, and how did it export that success globally? This talk traces the history and impact of the 'Taiwan model' of agrarian development—the land reforms, farmers associations, and improved crop varieties that Taiwan's authoritarian government promoted at home and throughout Africa and Southeast Asia during the Cold War. Drawing from Chapter 4 on Taiwan's agricultural missions to the Republic of Vietnam, the speaker explores how Taiwanese agricultural technicians and scientists framed their practices as proof of the Republic of China's modernity while seeking to maintain its contested international legitimacy and domestic martial-law rule.

Dr. Jofish Kaye, Director of Research for New Product Development at Inflection AI, discusses how people across cultures experience and trust AI systems. Drawing on surveys of chatbot users in the US, India, and South Africa, he explores varying engagement styles, the limits of AI as a synthetic respondent, and how models erase dissent. Kaye will conclude with approaches to building AI that works collaboratively with humans, recognizing possibilities in partnership over solo capability. Hosted by UC Santa Cruz Computational Media.

AgentCamp is a community-led unconference where early adopters of AI agent technologies gather to share experiences, challenges, and solutions. The program opens with lightning talks on agent engineering, AI memory, AI loops, and LLMs, followed by attendee-proposed breakout sessions across three rounds. Designed for builders, entrepreneurs, and anyone curious about practical AI applications, the event emphasizes peer learning and real-world use cases. Hosted by TechEquity AI, a nonprofit democratizing access to AI knowledge, as part of the broader TechEquity AI Summit series.

Emergent excitations from topological and correlated quantum systems can drive new phase instabilities and enable novel device concepts. Dr. Chenhao Jin, Assistant Professor of Physics at UC Santa Barbara, discusses recent efforts to investigate excitations in semiconducting moiré superlattices using ultrafast imaging techniques that capture their complete space-time evolution. He will present how space-and-time-resolved transport simultaneously captures and separates multiple collective excitations, distinguishing emergent excitations from conventional ones and revealing their role in phase stability and transitions.

Learn how to accelerate data analysis using low-code tools, Generative AI, and Agentic AI workflows. Dr. Reza Fazel-Rezai, Senior Science and Education Application Engineer at MathWorks, will demonstrate how to import, explore, visualize, and model data with minimal coding, how Generative AI assists with code creation and troubleshooting, and how Agentic AI can plan analysis steps, execute code, validate results, and iteratively refine outcomes. Includes live demonstrations and practical examples. Hosted by Professor Pascale Garaud at UC Santa Cruz.

A seminar on sliced optimal transport (SOT) and its applications to statistical modeling and Bayesian inference. Dr. Khai Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science at Texas A&M University, will discuss computational methods for optimal transport—a framework for comparing and interpolating probability distributions—and present sliced-regularized OT as an efficient approximation technique. The second part covers new applications including distributional determinantal point processes for clustering, with examples in image processing and single-cell data analysis. Hosted by Professor Yunyi Shen.

Jonathan Pritchard discusses trait causal models and methods for combining genome-wide association studies (GWAS), genetic perturbations, and observational 'omics data to understand human biology. Part of Stanford's Biology Seminar Series.

A physics colloquium featuring Chung-Pei Ma. The specific topic will be announced closer to the event date. Hosted by UC Berkeley Physics at Lecture Hall #1, Physics North.

What remains constant in energy technology investment, and what has fundamentally changed? Philip Deutch, Partner and Co-Head of Energy Transition at NGP Energy Technology Partners, draws on nearly three decades of experience as one of the nation's most active energy tech investors to examine the enduring drivers of energy innovation and the new forces reshaping the sector. Part of Stanford's flagship Energy Seminar series at the Precourt Institute for Energy, which brings perspectives from academics, entrepreneurs, utilities, nonprofits, and industry leaders.

The 16th annual Lundberg Institute Lecture explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping pediatric care and how families seek medical information, with a focus on the future of the doctor-patient relationship. Alan Greene, M.D., pediatrician and co-founder of DrGreene.com, discusses the implications of AI for both physicians and parents, moderated by George Hammond, author of *Conversations With Socrates*.

The Stanford Medicine Children's Health Center for IBD and Celiac Disease Research Symposium brings together faculty, trainees, postdocs, students, and researchers to discuss the latest advances in diagnosing, managing, and treating pediatric inflammatory bowel disease and celiac disease. The day-long program features translational research presentations and clinical discussions at the forefront of both fields, with opportunities to learn about innovations in therapy and patient care. Researchers are invited to submit abstracts.

TechEquity AI Summit 2026 features keynote talks and hands-on AI agent workshops. The event explores applications of generative AI across industries and skill-building in emerging AI tools and methodologies. Free to attend.

A faculty panel and workshop exploring AI's role in education, moderated by Pranav Anand (Faculty Director, Humanities Institute; Professor of Linguistics). Panelists include Leilani Gilpin (Computer Science and Engineering), Zac Zimmer (Literature), Lauren Lyons (Philosophy), and Adam Smith (Computational Media). The discussion addresses how AI impacts critical thinking, learning outcomes, and entry-level careers; questions of ethics, equity, and institutional policy; and whether students should embrace, avoid, or selectively use AI. Following the panel, attendees will join small-group workshops to brainstorm institutional responses and pathways forward. The first in a proposed series on AI and education.

A hands-on workshop introducing Snowflake Data Cloud, covering platform navigation, data organization, access management, querying structured and semi-structured data, and built-in AI/ML capabilities. Led by Dave Doan and Richie Bachala, Senior Delivery Manager and Senior Manager of Applied Engineering at Snowflake, respectively. Part of the TechEquity AI Summit, a series of events combining keynotes, panels, and technical workshops designed to democratize AI knowledge and applications.

A book launch talk on the strategic gaps between AI ambitions and organizational readiness to deploy automation effectively. Stefanie Hutka, design leader and author of *What Your Machines Should Do: The Science and Strategy of Human-Centered Automation*, examines what she calls the "Automation Strategy Gap"—the distance between companies' AI plans and their actual capability to implement them usefully. Drawing on human factors, cognitive science, and management theory, she argues that automation accelerates existing organizational systems and beliefs, making it essential to map your organization's foundational assumptions before automating anything. Essential for anyone navigating AI roadmaps and deployment strategy.

A recurring cognitive science reading group for Bay Area enthusiasts. Members vote on and collectively read papers or books related to cognitive science, then gather to discuss. Hosted at Frontier Tower, open to anyone interested in the field.

A science talk on shark biology and behavior, debunking myths about these animals as villains. Learn how large sharks actually eat, their lifespans, migration patterns, and ecological roles. Presented by Wonderfest, a Bay Area science education nonprofit.

The 14th Structural Proteomics Symposium brings together world leaders in structural biology, mass spectrometry, cryo-electron tomography, computational structure prediction, and integrative modeling. Following the 2025 Milan meeting (130+ participants), this West Coast premiere promises an exceptional lineup of keynotes, cutting-edge research presentations, and collaboration opportunities spanning crosslinking, hydrogen-deuterium exchange, covalent labeling, limited proteolysis, native mass spectrometry, and top-down approaches. Hosted by the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at UCSF.

An in-person tutorial on using WAVE, Santa Clara University's High Performance Computing Center. The session begins with an informational presentation followed by hands-on practice time and Q&A with the WAVE support staff. Bring a laptop to access the system.

A public forum reviewing California's tech policy developments from the past legislative session. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Chair of the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, leads discussion with an expert panel of civil society leaders on landmark legislation addressing AI transparency, consumer data privacy, algorithmic accountability, and online safety. Speakers examine how recent state laws protect individuals, hold tech platforms accountable, and establish ethical standards for emerging technologies, while exploring future legislative priorities and the collaboration between lawmakers and advocates.

Clinical Mind AI is a Stanford-developed international platform that uses AI-simulated patient encounters to strengthen clinical reasoning education across health professions. Marcos Santiago Rojas Pino and Thomas Caruso discuss the platform's design principles, its implementation across institutions and languages, and how it supports instructor-centered clinical simulation. The talk also explores Clinical Mind AI as research infrastructure for studying learning processes—examining how learner interactions generate evidence about reasoning, hypothesis formation, and feedback integration—and addresses broader questions about building AI systems that preserve educator agency, enable multilingual collaboration, and advance the evidence base for AI-supported health professions education.

Christopher Gardner, a Stanford nutrition scientist, presents three decades of rigorous research comparing popular diets to identify what actually works. Gardner's twin study became the basis for a Netflix docuseries. Part of the Stanford Department of Medicine's Grand Rounds series.

A lecture examining how data are constructed rather than discovered—exploring the philosophical, methodological, and political dimensions of data creation in research and society. Hosted by UC Berkeley.

What more-than-human modes of knowing and world-making can guide ecological thought and practice in an era of ecological crisis? This panel brings together art, science, and environmental philosophy to explore field-based knowledge, speculative science, and critical aesthetics beyond human exceptionalism. Dimitris Papadopoulos (UC Santa Cruz, History of Consciousness) and María Puig de la Bellacasa (UC Santa Cruz, environmental humanities and science studies) lead the conversation, joined by philosopher and artist Mark Nash discussing Felix Guattari's ecosophy and art as singularization, alongside Donna Haraway, Karolina Karlic, and Kriti Sharma. Field Notes emphasizes place-based observation, relationality, and post-Anthropocene ecological thinking.

A hands-on afternoon hackathon where participants build a Company Brain—an AI-powered knowledge system that connects organizational documents, tools, and institutional knowledge. The program opens with a keynote by Stephen Chin (VP of Developer Relations, Neo4j) on GraphRAG patterns and production systems, followed by two hackathon rounds with live demonstrations and judging. Designed for developers, engineers, startup founders, students, and anyone exploring agent-based AI systems. Hosted by TechEquity AI at Snowflake's Silicon Valley AI Hub in Menlo Park.

Part of the TechEquity AI Summit, this half-day program combines a keynote on GraphRAG patterns with a hands-on 90-minute workshop on AI Gateway architecture and governance. Learn core concepts including build-vs-buy tradeoffs, cost visibility, rate limiting, and sensitive data redaction using Snowflake AI Gateway as a primary case study, with comparison to alternatives like LiteLLM, Kong, and Cloudflare AI Gateway. Speakers: Okhtay Azarmanesh, Principal AI/ML Architect at Snowflake, and Stephen Chin, VP of Developer Relations at Neo4j. No prerequisites beyond familiarity with AI agents and LLMs.

A workshop on integrating AI tools into academic work, career planning, and daily life. Designed for students navigating rapid AI development and seeking practical guidance on deploying these resources effectively.

A panel discussion on craft, materiality, and digital technology in the age of computation. MacArthur Fellows Katherine Behar, Nick Benson, Hideo Mabuchi, and Camille Utterback—artists and technologists working at the intersection of making, robotics, and digital systems—explore what traditional craft offers in a moment of paradigm-shifting technological change, and what is gained or lost when embodied creative practice meets machine intelligence. Moderated by Vanessa Chang. Part of the MacArthur Fellows at 45 series.

Stanford researchers Jon Saad-Falcon and Avanika Narayan present their work on Intelligence per Watt (IPW), a unified metric measuring how efficiently AI models deliver capabilities relative to power consumption. As data center energy demands surge, the research examines which tasks require frontier-scale cloud models versus local alternatives, tested across 20+ models and 8 accelerators on 1M real-world queries. Learn how efficiency measurements help researchers, builders, and policymakers decide where AI should run when supply outpaces power availability, and which queries create genuine value versus where gaps remain. Followed by research discussion and networking.

Wildfires and smoke are the fastest-growing environmental threat in the US and globally. Marshall Burke, professor of Global Environmental Policy at Stanford's Doerr School of Sustainability, reviews advances in measuring smoke constituents and quantifying short- and long-term health impacts from smoke and fire exposure. He estimates that short-run smoke exposure causes tens of thousands of deaths annually, with that number likely to grow due to climate change. Burke discusses prescribed burning as a leading intervention strategy, presenting evidence that meeting California's prescribed burning targets could meaningfully reduce smoke exposure.

A one-day summit exploring the data systems and infrastructure that power AI training. Attendees will hear from practitioners running some of the most ambitious training runs, discussing their architectures, technical tradeoffs, failures, and lessons learned. Designed for AI builders, engineers, researchers, and those working on the systems enabling large-scale model training.

Khiara M. Bridges, Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at UC Berkeley, discusses her book *Expecting Inequity: How the Maternal Health Crisis Affects Even the Wealthiest Black Americans*, which examines why wealthy Black Americans face dramatically higher maternal mortality than their white counterparts. Drawing on ethnographic research at a San Francisco obstetrics clinic serving affluent patients, Bridges explores the reproductive choices and healthcare decisions class-privileged Black people make to survive the ongoing maternal health crisis. A nationally recognized expert on race, class, and reproductive rights, Bridges brings legal scholarship and anthropological insight to this urgent public health challenge. Moderated by Charles Briggs, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Co-Chair of the Berkeley Center for Social Medicine.

A technical lecture on quantum interconnects and modular quantum processors. William D. Oliver, Henry Ellis Warren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and Chief Engineer at Google Quantum AI, presents recent advances in entanglement distribution via directional photon emission and absorption in superconducting qubit systems coupled to microwave waveguides. The talk covers demonstrations of high-fidelity single-photon control, remote entanglement generation between physically separated qubit modules, and driven dissipative entanglement schemes designed to enable scalable, modular quantum information processing.

A weekly seminar on AI and data-driven methods across the sciences. Ruijiang Li (Stanford University) presents this week as part of a series organized by Emmanuel Candès, Balasubramanian Narasimhan, Brian Wandell, and Gordon Wetzstein. Open to Stanford and non-Stanford attendees.

Celine Halioua, founder and CEO of Loyal, a clinical-stage veterinary medicine company developing drugs to extend healthspan and lifespan in dogs, discusses her path to founding and scaling a biotech startup. Part of Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series, which features founders, investors, and industry leaders on disruption and startup building.

Data for AI meetup exploring open versus proprietary approaches to data infrastructure in the age of AI agents. Topics include open table formats (Iceberg, Delta, Hudi), semantic standards, catalog federation, and the trade-offs between interoperability and vendor lock-in. Practitioner talks and case studies from data engineers, AI/ML engineers, and platform architects on production experiences with open standards, agent deployment patterns, and when walled gardens make sense.

A hands-on workshop exploring how biological signals can be translated into robotic movement and synthesized sound. Artists Scott Kildall and Kal Spelletich—collaborating with over 50 years of combined experience in experimental art and technology—will demonstrate their bio-art practices: Kildall transforms environmental data and fungal signals into sculptural sound installations, while Spelletich creates interactive robotic sound machines from plants. Participants will engage with working prototypes, learn electronics and data harvesting techniques, and develop strategies for their own bio-related art projects. No technical prerequisites required. Part of Gray Area's Patch Bay weekly series for media artists and creative technologists.

What can millions of museum specimens tell us about biodiversity and climate change? The California Academy of Sciences holds nearly 46 million specimens — plants, insects, fossils — each a data point in Earth's biological story. Over recent years, large-scale digitization efforts including high-speed scanning, DNA barcoding, and global databases have transformed these century-old collections into searchable tools for tracking how species shift under climate change, guiding coastal restoration, and informing conservation policy. Academy scientists Dr. Terry Gosliner, Dr. Sarah Jacobs, Chris Grinter, and Crystal Cortez join Chief of Science Dr. Shannon Bennett for a panel discussion on how digitization and community science are turning historic collections into powerful conservation tools.

AIAS+ 2026 brings researchers, founders, and students together to explore AI applications in scientific discovery across disciplines. The three-day conference features frontier talks, seven workshops, and collaborative roundtables—Nobel and Turing laureates, founders, and students at the same table. Participants share work in progress, present selected projects on the main stage, and build collaborations designed to last beyond the event. Hosted by the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, the conference emphasizes problem-solving over disciplinary silos, with daytime conversations, shared meals, and evening receptions. Early-stage work and individuals attending solo are equally welcome. Register at aiasplus.org.

BoxWorks Dev Summit is a two-day conference for developers, technical leaders, and builders working with intelligent content management and AI. Thursday features keynotes from Aaron Levie (Box), Jensen Huang (NVIDIA), and Lip-Bu Tan (Intel), followed by technical sessions and interactive demos in the Expo Hall Dev Zone. Friday offers hands-on programming workshops and technical deep dives on building with Box, AI, and leading AI tools. The summit includes peer networking and developer community connection. November 5–6, San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

An exploration of bioelectricity across molecular, membrane, and cellular scales, featuring scientific presentations from leading researchers. The 2026 Philomathia Day honors Associate Professor Karthik Shekhar, John F. Heil Jr. Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley. Speakers include Stephen Brohawn, Na Ji, Olga Dudko, Kranthi Mandadapu, Bill Jia, Eric Mulhall, and Christoph Haselwandter. The day includes breakfast, lunch, and an evening reception.

A two-day conference on how product, design, research, and engineering teams actually work together, built as one cross-functional agenda rather than separate tracks per discipline. Speakers include Rachel Been, SVP of design at Expedia Group; Sneha Narahalli, who heads product and UX at Sephora; Richard Dalton, chief design officer at Verizon; Shobha Diwakar, VP of ads product and engineering at Snap; Ashley Nutter, SVP of product and design at CNN; Purvi Shah, who leads UX design, research, and accessibility at Target; and Maz Brumand, VP of product at Ōura. Keynotes and case studies run alongside hands-on workshops, a partner expo, and evening socials.

A one-day summit for engineers, founders, and product leaders building and deploying voice agents in production environments. The program covers practical technical and operational challenges: latency, turn-taking, interruptions, handoff, observability, orchestration, and compliance. Confirmed speakers include Kaan Karakas (Delphi), Vyoma Gajjar (ServiceNow), Pete Warden (Moonshine AI), Jessica Powell (Audioshake), and others. Sessions include opening keynotes, technical talks, hands-on workshops, lightning talks, and direct access to 20+ vendor booths. Attendees will gain architecture patterns, evaluation frameworks, and lessons from real deployments—what worked, what broke, and what changed after launch.

A day of talks and fireside chats on AI infrastructure and security from The Velocity Room, a technologists' membership community. Tom Edwards, EY's Americas consumer AI lead, on what it takes to scale generative and agentic AI across an enterprise; Zane Niyazbekov of AWS infrastructure supply on the land, power, and water behind a hyperscale data center; Christine Boles, a 33-year Intel veteran who ran its federal and industrial edge-computing business, on edge compute and physical AI in industry; Joseph Bisaccia of Behavior Frontiers on standing up an AI function under HIPAA; and Cal Al-Dhubaib of Rubrik on keeping AI systems from becoming autonomous insiders. A security session, a community AMA built from questions gathered over lunch, and a closing happy hour round out the program.

A geophysics seminar featuring Allan Rubin, Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University and Professor in Environmental Intelligence at the University of Exeter. Topic details to be announced.

A behind-the-scenes tour of Matter of Trust's Eco-Home and Edible Urban Garden, a demonstration space showcasing practical, accessible solutions for sustainable city living. Explore how renters and urban residents can make their homes more environmentally friendly. Hosted by SPUR Urban Center.

Part of UC Berkeley's Leo Simon Ag & Natural Resource Thursday Seminar Series. Dalia Ghanem of UC Davis presents research on agriculture and natural resources. Title to be announced.