Research Projects
Christian Puma Ninacuri, Lecturer in Hispanic Studies
Through thoughtful integration of an AI tool into intermediate Spanish courses, this project aims to reduce student anxiety while enhancing language proficiency, complementing rather than replacing human interaction. This project pilots My Conversation Trainer, an AI-powered platform that allows students to practice speaking and listening skills in a low-stakes environment outside of class. The tool provides personalized, real-time feedback and enables instructors to customize conversation scenarios reflecting real-world language use. Piloting the project over the summer, research assistants Cameron Shelly, Sharifa Hurnawar, and Liam Rodríguez highlighted the platform's judgment-free practice opportunities and ability to reinforce classroom learning.
Special Collections & Archives
Describing and transcribing historical materials is slow, labor-intensive work. To explore solutions, special collections and archives staff at Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby convened for a full-day workshop to examine the implications of generative AI for archives and archival research. Tom Scheinfeldt, Professor of Digital Media and Design at the University of Connecticut, served as the keynote speaker and has published his remarks. Participants shared demonstration projects illustrating the promise and pitfalls of using generative AI to automate the description of historic photographs and transcription of manuscripts, including a recently discovered letter from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The workshop sparked deep conversations and future collaborations between institutions.
Liam Taylor, Doherty Kent Island Postdoctoral Scholar in Biology
Leach's Storm-Petrel populations are declining, but the more we learn, the more we disturb them. This project explores how artificial intelligence can be used to help break this fundamental tradeoff. By training AI models on 70 years of data from Kent Island, researchers will be able to detect critical biological events such as egg laying, hatching, chick growth, using only low-disturbance sensors. Solar-powered devices will stream real-time data to interactive dashboards, allowing scientists to monitor vulnerable seabirds without the intrusive methods traditional research requires. This project pioneers conservation technology that protects wildlife while advancing scientific understanding.
Abigail Killeen, Professor of Theater
Artificial Intelligence is not intelligent, but it is present, powerful, and pervasive. Staging Intelligence uses Shakespeare in performance to throw the realities introduced and perpetuated by AI into sharp relief. By juxtaposing machine learning methodologies with some of Shakespeare’s most celebrated work, audiences will encounter a thoughtful exploration of generative AI’s possibilities—and its dangers—in real time, in community.