Earlier this Spring, assistant professor Taylor Olson visited Wartburg College and the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), where he shared highlights from his computer science research with undergraduate students. Olson introduced students to information about UIowa’s Department of Computer Science, the many exciting projects he and other faculty members are working on, and his work on machine ethics.
“My work involves building formal representations and methods for reasoning about morality and ethics. This involves logically mapping morality so it can be taught to AI agents and used by computers,” says Olson. “My main goal is to get the audience to start thinking about the difficulties of turning morality into a formal language, including the philosophical issues surrounding this task and the worries that arise if we don’t take this step. An example is AI agents acting in the world with no sense of right and wrong.”
Department Committed to Outreach and Engagement
“Through our Speakers Bureau program, we make connections with regional schools to show them what we as a department are up to. Hopefully, we will inspire their students to join us in research endeavors through our REU summer undergraduate research program or by applying to graduate school in the future,” says Olson.
Local colleges often seek expert speakers for their colloquia programs. “Wartburg and UNI invited me to give a talk during their own regularly scheduled colloquium. I am an alum of UNI, so I was quite excited to be back on campus and see faculty members with whom I had taken classes. A member of the philosophy department offered questions and comments. It was exciting to see an interdisciplinary turn out.”
Participation in the CS Department’s Speakers Bureau is also a chance for faculty to refine how they talk about their work: “Summarizing the entirety of one’s work in 30-40 minutes is challenging to do even when speaking to others in the same field. This is even more challenging to do for a broad general audience of mostly undergraduate students. I learned a lot, too!”
How to Book a UIowa CS Faculty Speaker
Would you like to host a UIowa CS faculty speaker for your university, college, or school? Explore a list of our speakers and the topics they are experts in, and contact us for more information through our Speakers Bureau page.