Abstract:

Computational sustainability is a new interdisciplinary research field with the overarching goal of developing computational models, methods, and tools to help manage the balance of environmental, economic, and societal needs for a sustainable future. I will provide an overview of computational sustainability, with examples ranging from wildlife conservation and biodiversity, to poverty mitigation and materials discovery for renewable energy materials. Our research leverages the recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) in deep learning, reasoning, and decision making. I will highlight cross-cutting computational themes, how AI enriches sustainability sciences and conversely, how sustainability questions enrich AI and computer science.

Bio:

Carla Gomes is a Professor of Computer Science and the Director of the Institute for Computational Sustainability at Cornell University. Gomes received a Ph.D. in computer science in the area of artificial intelligence from the University of Edinburgh. Her research is in artificial intelligence with a focus on large-scale reasoning, optimization, and learning. She is a fellow of AAAI, ACM, and AAAS.