Summer AI Seminar
This summer, I am excited to be participating in a weeklong graduate seminar through the Lumen Christi Institute.
- The topic of the seminar is Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Catholic Thought.
- The seminar will occur June 23-29 at Duke University and will be led by Profs. Peter Casarella and Paul Scherz.
- I am excited for the opportunity to have critical conversations about how ethics influence AI!
Areas of Interest & Favorite Classes
Academic Interests
Recently, I've been learning more about the following areas:
- Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
- Tech Legislation
- Human-Robot Interaction
- Ancient Philosophy
Favorite Classes Taken
Every professor I've had at UChicago has been so influential...but here are a few that stood out:
- Dr. Eugene Yu Ji's Artificial Intelligence, the Human Condition, and Human Capacities (Spring 2024).
- Prof. Agnes Callard's Self Creation as a Literary and Philosophical Phenomenon (Spring 2022).
- Prof. Sarah's Sebo's Introduction to Robotics (Spring 2024).
- Father Stephen Brock's Thomas Aquinas' Philosophy of Love (Spring 2023).
- Profs. Ben Callard & Arnold Brooks' inaugural Paradoxes (Spring 2024).
Projects & Papers
Here are a couple examples of coursework I've completed over the past year.
DanceBot
Along with two partners, I programmed a Turtlebot to perform dance moves in response to ASL signs.
Components of the project included:
- Training a neural network using TensorFlow to allow the robot to recognize ASL signs with 98% accuracy.
- Programming the robot to dance using the Open Manipulator Arm.
- Writing a script to integrate the computer vision model and dance moves using ROS nodes and messages.
Fun Fact: DanceBot even starred in its own music video!
Friendship, Romance, and Self-Creation: The Competitive Love Underlying Transformation
- I wrote this paper for Prof. Callard's class in Spring 2022.
- I was invited to present it at the Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, but was unable to attend for logistical reasons.
Here is the abstract:
This paper investigates friendship as a literary and philosophical phenomenon in Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend. Tracing the evolution of the childhood friendship of impoverished Elena and Lila, the paper applies Agnes Callard’s conception of Aspirational Competition and Aristotle’s notion of Virtue Friendship. Through comparing the girls’ romantic relationships with their friendship, I demonstrate that the kind of admiration required for Aspirational Competition is easily confused with romantic infatuation. This Aspirational Competition serves as the elevating force which allows the girls to escape the poverty of their neighborhood, suggesting that relationships are an incredibly potent motivator. I extend beyond Callard’s ideas by introducing Aristotelean notions, suggesting that the cycle of competition between friends is a manifestation of the mutual goodness conferred by individuals in a Virtue Friendship.