Prof Beth Plale
@bplale.bsky.social
Data engineer, scientist, #safeAI, #humanrights, #researchinfrastructure #firstgen
Pinned
Prof Beth Plale
@bplale.bsky.social
· Nov 24
hi. here now. partly as apolitical science communicator 🧪 partly as one who deeply appreciates the creativity humor I find here #science #safeAI #research #humanrights ⛷️ 🫶 🕊️
Kudos to Melissa Cain for her excellent GIS-argued research storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/45ea... cited in big ProPublica story on abuse of public lands
www.propublica.org/article/graz...
www.propublica.org/article/graz...
A Loophole Allows Ranchers to Renew Grazing Permits With Little Scrutiny of the Environmental Impact
With dwindling oversight, cattle are grazing where they’re not supposed to and in greater numbers or for longer periods than permitted. This can spread invasive plants, pushing out native species and ...
www.propublica.org
December 1, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Kudos to Melissa Cain for her excellent GIS-argued research storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/45ea... cited in big ProPublica story on abuse of public lands
www.propublica.org/article/graz...
www.propublica.org/article/graz...
I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS Bloomington” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...
NO KINGS Bloomington · No Kings
**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.**
NO KINGS is a national day of action and mass mobilization in response to increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption from Trump and his allie...
www.mobilize.us
June 8, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS Bloomington” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...
Reposted by Prof Beth Plale
Here is an open letter signed from UChicago AAUP signed by over 200 faculty to our administration on what we believe this moment requires:
uchicagoaaup.wordpress.com
uchicagoaaup.wordpress.com
March 10, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Here is an open letter signed from UChicago AAUP signed by over 200 faculty to our administration on what we believe this moment requires:
uchicagoaaup.wordpress.com
uchicagoaaup.wordpress.com
Not to ignore the extraordinary cost to the economy of upheavals in the face of (response to) these actions.
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley.
“We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis right now. There have been so many unconstitutional and illegal actions in the first 18 days of the Trump presidency. We never have seen anything like this.” NYTimes
“We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis right now. There have been so many unconstitutional and illegal actions in the first 18 days of the Trump presidency. We never have seen anything like this.” NYTimes
February 11, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Not to ignore the extraordinary cost to the economy of upheavals in the face of (response to) these actions.
NIH OD office bomb on F&A rates is a huge failure of trust by the NIH OD office. It means, folks, that the integrity of science is on us, and we can't look to political appointees to federal funding agencies as role models. Sad.
February 10, 2025 at 1:00 PM
NIH OD office bomb on F&A rates is a huge failure of trust by the NIH OD office. It means, folks, that the integrity of science is on us, and we can't look to political appointees to federal funding agencies as role models. Sad.
So many conflicting justifications given for NIH supplement guidance NOT-OD-25-068 reduction in F&A: Reduce federal budget. Recovery more funds for research. Stop university repurposing of F&A towards diversity programs. Release the required justification language!
February 10, 2025 at 12:55 PM
So many conflicting justifications given for NIH supplement guidance NOT-OD-25-068 reduction in F&A: Reduce federal budget. Recovery more funds for research. Stop university repurposing of F&A towards diversity programs. Release the required justification language!
Reposted by Prof Beth Plale
Whenever you hear someone sneer about scientific research that seems useless to them — “they’re studying the spit of lizards?!” — remind them that’s exactly how we got Ozempic.
globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic - National | Globalnews.ca
In 1984, Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist from the University of Toronto, discovered a hormone that helped pave the way for popular diabetes drugs such as Ozempic.
globalnews.ca
February 9, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Whenever you hear someone sneer about scientific research that seems useless to them — “they’re studying the spit of lizards?!” — remind them that’s exactly how we got Ozempic.
globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
Reposted by Prof Beth Plale
All roads lead to Birmingham right now. Company town of UAB Medicine.
Impact of NIH cut starting to sink in
Here's Sen. Katie Britt urging "a smart, targeted approach" in order to protect important research at UA-Birmingham, a top NIH recipient
Also, as article notes, the state's largest employer
www.al.com/news/2025/02...
Here's Sen. Katie Britt urging "a smart, targeted approach" in order to protect important research at UA-Birmingham, a top NIH recipient
Also, as article notes, the state's largest employer
www.al.com/news/2025/02...
Katie Britt vows to work with RFK Jr. after NIH funding cuts cause concern in Alabama
UAB and UAH are among Alabama institutions that could be affected by cuts.
www.al.com
February 9, 2025 at 5:46 PM
All roads lead to Birmingham right now. Company town of UAB Medicine.
Reposted by Prof Beth Plale
“Our competitors are loving watching us do this …at the very time when we’re in a global competition that is determined by technological capability. This is certainly not the time when you want to be cutting down on the research acumen of the United States.”
www.chronicle.com/article/rese...
www.chronicle.com/article/rese...
Research Universities Are Poised to Lose Billions Under Trump’s Sudden Cut
The NIH’s decision late Friday to drastically shrink its reimbursement of indirect costs, which help pay for facilities, equipment, and staff to support grants, will have an immediate impact on higher...
www.chronicle.com
February 9, 2025 at 1:59 AM
“Our competitors are loving watching us do this …at the very time when we’re in a global competition that is determined by technological capability. This is certainly not the time when you want to be cutting down on the research acumen of the United States.”
www.chronicle.com/article/rese...
www.chronicle.com/article/rese...
Reposted by Prof Beth Plale
I tried to write about what we’re going through. Hang in there, everyone. open.substack.com/pub/holdenth...
It makes sense to be anxious.
We can navigate the drama at the NIH (and now NSF), but there's no use in pretending there aren't a lot of frightening and maddening unknowns
open.substack.com
January 27, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I tried to write about what we’re going through. Hang in there, everyone. open.substack.com/pub/holdenth...
Using social choice for fine tuning a language model is a great idea. Can the diverse perspectives be represented in all cases of need?
And in case you had not seen, dere's a position paper that makes the case for using social choice theory as the basis for AI alignment (Conitzer at al. '24): bsky.app/profile/shar...
This one is my favorite of the ones we found after VasE.
It's position paper arguing that social choice should be used to guide AI alignment by @conitzer.bsky.social @natolambert.bsky.social and others.
I agree! 👍
I'll share more papers on this topic next week.
arxiv.org/abs/2404.10271
It's position paper arguing that social choice should be used to guide AI alignment by @conitzer.bsky.social @natolambert.bsky.social and others.
I agree! 👍
I'll share more papers on this topic next week.
arxiv.org/abs/2404.10271
November 25, 2024 at 3:23 AM
Using social choice for fine tuning a language model is a great idea. Can the diverse perspectives be represented in all cases of need?
hi. here now. partly as apolitical science communicator 🧪 partly as one who deeply appreciates the creativity humor I find here #science #safeAI #research #humanrights ⛷️ 🫶 🕊️
November 24, 2024 at 3:17 PM
hi. here now. partly as apolitical science communicator 🧪 partly as one who deeply appreciates the creativity humor I find here #science #safeAI #research #humanrights ⛷️ 🫶 🕊️