2025 AI upskilling workshop for former US/state environmental scientists
Overview
The AI for wildlife conservation community has been impacted by recent layoffs in the US public sector; many of the conservation scientists who either developed or used AI tools for wildlife monitoring have lost their jobs, and have reached out to AI practitioners for advice on building AI skills before re-entering the workforce.
To assist in that upskilling, and to foster a community in which those impacted can help each other build AI skills, the CV4Ecology program is organizing a two-week remote workshop in May of 2025 that will teach computer vision and machine learning methods to former US public sector conservation scientists, based on the CV4Ecology Workshop series.
Workshop structure
The workshop will include:
- Three “recommended” projects in the domain of AI for wildlife conservation that will offer enough scaffolding that participants don’t have to start from scratch. Those projects will vary in how “curated” they are, to allow a range of skill sets to participate. Participants may also bring their own projects, if they are within the target domain.
- Cloud-based computing resources for running and training models.
- Daily “office hours” where AI experts will work closely with participants to answer project questions, or general questions about machine learning.
- Daily “working hours” where participants are encouraged to work collaboratively, during which organizers and AI experts will be available for questions.
- Recorded lectures from the CV4Ecology program will be provided as the asynchronous component of the course.
- A small number of real-time sessions – more interactive and less formal than the recorded lectures – that will provide short introductions to relevant skills that are not covered by the projects or the lectures, including at least (1) a hands-on introduction to cloud computing, (2) a hands-on introduction to basic LLM/GenAI principles, and (3) a hands-on introduction to source control and GitHub. .
Workshop schedule
The program will run from Monday, May 5th to Friday, May 16th. We expect to have about two hours of synchronous office hours/collaboration time each weekday morning during that span, with the expectation that participants will work collaboratively during those times whenever possible, and will work independently or in smaller groups outside of those blocks as their schedules allow.
To participate, volunteer, or get in touch
If you are interested in participating, please fill out this form by Friday, April 18, 2025.
We are also looking for AI experts who can serve as instructors/mentors; if you’re interested in volunteering as an instructor, please fill out this form by Friday, April 18, 2025.
For questions, email ai-upskilling-workshop@googlegroups.com.
Workshop organizers
This workshop is organized by:
- Sara Beery, MIT
- Justin Kay, MIT
- Eric Orenstein, UK National Oceanography Centre
- Dan Morris, Google AI for Nature and Society