Speaker Series – Eric Chown, Bowdoin College Professor of Digital & Computational Studies

As the Sarah and James Bowdoin College Professor of Digital and Computational Studies, Eric’s research spans artificial intelligence, cognitive science and robotics. He was awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Grant for his work on spatial reasoning. Later he led Bowdoin’s RoboCup team, the Northern Bites, to a world championship in the Standard Platform League. More recently he co-authored a book with Fernando Nascimento on metaphors and technology, called Meaningful Technology: How Digital Metaphors Change the Way We Think and Live.

Bowdoin College has received the largest donation in its history for a new initiative to research artificial intelligence. Reed Hastings, Bowdoin alum and cofounder of Netflix, has donated $50 million to the College. The Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity will focus on the implications of AI, both positive and negative. The gift will be used to help shape the ethical trajectory of the technology, of which Eric will be deeply involved.