Harnessing Nature Data & AI

About this event:

Decision-makers and practitioners across sectors increasingly depend on high-quality biodiversity and environmental data to meet management and reporting mandates of global biodiversity and sustainability frameworks and for financial and investment decisions. This online event brings together two leaders in biodiversity data analytics from the nonprofit and financial sectors who apply data, geospatial analytics, and emerging AI tools to inform decision-making. Through a moderated conversation with the director of the M.S. in Biodiversity Data Analytics program, they will share how biodiversity data is shaping financial and conservation decisions. Speakers will discuss the rapid evolution of nature-related datasets and data acquisition and processing technologies, and how AI is transforming and advancing decision workflows.

They will also highlight the challenges: data gaps, uncertainty, transparency, and the growing expectation that organizations demonstrate credible, science-based nature metrics.

The event will conclude with a discussion of the skills and training needed for the next generation of biodiversity and nature data professionals, and how the new M.S. in Biodiversity Data Analytics program prepares students to meet this emerging demand.

Speakers / Presenters:

Moderator:
Viorel Popescu, Lecturer and Director of MS Program in Biodiversity Data Analytics, School of Professional Studies.

Panel:

Carly Batist, Nature Tech and AI Innovation Manager, Conservation International.

Gillian Mollod, Senior Principal Product Manager, Intercontinental Exchange.

This is a virtual event and will be hosted via Zoom. Registration is required.

For more information, please contact the Biodiversity Data Analytics team, biodiversityanalytics@sps.columbia.edu.

To obtain additional information about program offerings at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, please contact an Admissions Counselor at inquire@sps.columbia.edu.

If you require closed captioning, sign-language interpretation, or any other disability accommodations, please contact Disability Services, disability@columbia.edu, at least 10 days in advance.

Please visit Columbia University’s Hub for Emergency Preparedness (https://preparedness.columbia.edu/) to stay up to date on the latest campus health and safety policies.

This event is open to individuals irrespective of identity and sex.