BU Spark! welcomes Taylor Beauvais and Seth Villegas

BU Spark! is excited to welcome Taylor Beauvais, data science program manager, and Seth Villegas, associate program manager, to the Spark! staff team.

Taylor earned a master’s degree in public opinion, research methods, and data analytics from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from University at Buffalo in New York. His research focuses on the impact of “artificial intelligence” (machine learning/ algorithmic models) on economic, social, and governmental systems. His master’s thesis was on novel methodologies for surveying digital ecosystems.

Seth, a postdoctoral researcher, joins Spark! having earned his Ph.D. in Theological Studies at Boston University. He has been involved with Spark! for the past three years, teaching ethics to undergraduate innovators through lectures and tools that help students assess the risks associated with their projects. He also helped develop the ethics requirements for the Ph.D. in Computing & Data Science at the Boston University Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences. His dissertation, “The Desire to Upload: A Theological Analysis of Transhumanist Advocacy for Life-extension and Immortality,” explores the philosophies that support research into radical life-extension, cryonics, and mind uploading.

Taylor and Seth are invaluable assets to Spark! and our students. We are thrilled they have joined our outstanding staff team.