About the Lecture

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are not only transforming industries such as autonomous vehicles and healthcare—they are also revolutionizing science. In astronomy, early applications of ML focused on using algorithms to process datasets too large to be inspected manually by scientists. These efforts were significantly bolstered by the contributions of ‘citizen scientists’—members of the public who classified astronomical images and provided valuable training data for the algorithms. In this talk, I will examine how AI is used today to enhance the speed and accuracy of simulations of the universe and uncover new physical phenomena in vast datasets. I will also present the new Center for Decoding the Universe at Stanford, whose goal is to answer the biggest questions about our Universe with AI and data science. Finally, we will discuss the exciting potential of AI systems that can interpret human language and analyze astronomical data, enabling them to act as collaborative partners in scientific discovery.

Live stream URL can be found at the bottom of the EventBrite registration confirmation email.

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About the Speaker

Dalya Baron is an AI+Astro research scientist at Stanford University, and part of the newly-founded Center for Decoding the Universe, whose goal is to answer the biggest questions about our Universe using data science and AI techniques. She is an observational astronomer and has been using different telescopes to observe distant galaxies, and the gas and stars inside them, across the electromagnetic spectrum. Dalya is interested in machine-assisted discovery, where she has been developing and using machine-learning algorithms to identify novel phenomena and unknown trends in large and public astronomical datasets. Growing up as an immigrant in a small town where she was the only female physics student in class, Dalya has been enthusiastic about connecting people from underrepresented minorities to STEM fields. She has led several outreach programs that brought children from underprivileged backgrounds to the university, to learn about observational astronomy and physics.

Directions and Parking

This event will take place in the Hewlett Teaching Center (370 Jane Stanford Way) on the Stanford campus. Upon arrival, please check in in the foyer of the building and follow signs for Room 200.

The closest visitor parking is in the Via Ortega Garage and along the Stanford Oval. All parking is free in spaces marked Visitor, A, or C after 4pm unless indicated otherwise. Accessible parking is also available along the Stanford Oval.

If you plan to take public transportation, some lines of the Marguerite Shuttle connect between the Palo Alto Transit Center and the campus. You can get to the Hewlett Teaching Center by taking Line P (drops off at the Stanford Oval), Line X (drops off at the ChEM-H Building on Jane Stanford Way), and Line Y (picks up across from the ChEM-H Building on Jane Stanford Way). A complete list of shuttle schedules and route maps can be found here.