Human Machine Learning Lunch Series

The AI and Education Initiative Human and Machine Learning Lunch aims to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue, promote innovative ideas, and build a supportive community of researchers dedicated to exploring how AI can improve and make an impact in human learning and teaching. An informal lunch series that welcomes and gathers scholars from various disciplines across the university to discuss research at the intersection of AI and learning by sharing insights from published projects, seeking feedback on planned studies, and fostering a collaborative environment for advancing knowledge in AI and learning. If you are interested in presenting, please contact Naomi Caselli and Ola Ozernov-Palchik.

All Human and ML lunch events take place from 12:00-1:00 pm at the Boston University Duan Family Center for Computing and Data Sciences, 665 Commonwealth Avenue, CDS 1101, unless otherwise noted.

Upcoming Events

Monday, April 28, 2025 – CANCELLED
12 – 1 pm at 665 Commonwealth Avenue, CDS 1101
Speaker: Melissa Kibbe, Associate Professor, BU, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Talk Title: Representations of the world in developing minds: How babies and children think about objects

Past Events

Monday, April 14, 2025
12 – 1 pm at 665 Commonwealth Avenue, CDS 1101
Speaker: Marc Maffei, Speech-language Pathologist and Postdoctoral Researcher, BU
Talk Title: Speech, Language, and Motor Skills in Late Talkers

Monday, March 17, 2025
12 – 1 pm at 665 Commonwealth Avenue, CDS 1101
Speaker: Zhongkai Shangguan, PhD candidate, BU, Electrical & Computer Engineering, advised by Prof. Eshed Ohn-Bar
Talk Title: Scalability and Accessibility: How AI Shapes the Future of Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Monday, March 3, 2025
12 – 1 pm at 665 Commonwealth Avenue, CDS 1101
Speaker: Naomi Caselli, Associate Professor, BU, Deaf Education, Director of the Deaf Center; Director of the AI and Education Initiative
Talk Title: Sign language recognition, generation, and translation: An interdisciplinary perspective

Monday, January 27, 2025
12 – 1 pm at 665 Commonwealth Avenue, CDS 1101
Speaker: Ola Ozernov-Palchik, Research Faculty, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, AI and Education Initiative, Boston University; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT
Talk Title: Neurocognitive mechanisms in reading development and the promise of AI 

Monday, October 21, 2025
Speaker: John Gabrieli, Professor, MIT, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Grover Hermann Professorship, Institute for Medical Engineering & Science; Director of the Athinoula A. Martinos Imaging Center at the McGovern Institute
Talk Title: Predicting Risk and Resilience in Mental Well-Being

Monday, November 18, 2025
Speaker: Michael Chang, Assistant Professor, BU, Wheelock College of Education & Human Development, Faculty Fellow, Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS); Assistant Director, Earl Center for Learning & Innovation
Talk Title: Co-Designing Expansive Educational Futures: Envisioning Equitable AI-Ed Possibilities