In Person in CAS Room 191 and Via Zoom
RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu
A Rural Computing Research Consortium/Quello Center joint event.
Responsible innovation can be helpful in the realm of developing climate-smart farming tools, where data-driven technologies, AI modeling, and localized farm data can enable climate adaptation and mitigation. However, to achieve benefits of these innovations for the public interest and for scaling up, it is imperative to cultivate trust among a range of actors and organizations across the food system value chain. This trust-building process necessitates the development of transparent pathways for converting raw data into actionable insights, a task that involves farmers, technology providers, and policymakers navigating complex and often competing policy landscapes. Moreover, innovators and policymakers need to collaborate across various scales, acknowledging that results at one level are influenced by processes at different levels. This presentation presents methods and ideas for co-designing innovative smart farming tools, including artificial intelligence-based decision support systems and sensor-driven.
Dr. Maaz Gardezi, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech, is dedicated to exploring the intersection of climate change and the social and political implications of emerging digital technologies in food and agriculture systems. His interdisciplinary research and teaching focus on building sustainable and socially just regional, national, and international food and agricultural systems. Dr. Gardezi emphasizes the role of social science, computer science, and engineering in promoting innovation and democracy, from design to governance.