The Kraw Lecture Series aims to help audiences better understand the big picture behind scientific research at UC Santa Cruz and the broader trends at play. This tradition continues with the December 4 talk on how artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating the scientific pursuit, to be given by a UC Santa Cruz scientist whose work with AI has deepened as today's technologies generate massive amounts of data in his fields of research.
Distinguished Professor J. Xavier Prochaska will describe the rise of large datasets in astronomy and oceanography on the sky and ocean, and then explain how AI enables scientists to perform unprecedented analyses. His talk will trace the arc of the scientific endeavor to decipher our past, to understand the dynamics of the world we currently experience and observe, and to try and predict our future.
The theme of Prochaska's talk, "Sea Meets the Stars," takes its name from the fact that he is now leading research in both oceanography and astronomy. Each field has experienced the so-called "big data revolution" fueled by fundamental, technology-driven changes to data collection and analysis in science. Now, with the AI revolution upon us, its impacts are being tempered by the rigor and greater scrutiny of the scientific method.
Prochaska began working with AI in his astronomy research in 2017. Currently, he is leading one of two research projects at UC Santa Cruz funded by the National Science Foundation's Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences program. His team will combine cutting-edge AI with vast datasets to gain new insights into ocean dynamics and disseminate these and related software to the wider community. Specifically, they plan to develop a sophisticated AI technique to analyze satellite measurements and high-resolution ocean model outputs.
After years of achieving success and acclaim for his groundbreaking research in astrophysics, Prochaska won a Pivot Fellowship from the Simons Foundation in 2022 to spend a year focusing on oceanography. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Prochaska earned an undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in physics from UC San Diego, where he spent his fellowship year in 2023, at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
His December 4 Kraw Lecture will go from 6 to 7 p.m. and be held at UC Santa Cruz's Silicon Valley Campus in Santa Clara, at 3175 Bowers Avenue. The free event will start with an in-person reception at 5:30 p.m. All are welcome, and registration is encouraged.
