Twice a week, I set aside 45 minutes to chat with people who are outside of my immediate academic circles. I think it essential that academics engage meaningfully with the public. I’d also like to ensure that opportunity is as widely distributed as possible; I would not be where I am today without the numerous chances I was given.

Possible things to chat about include but are not limited to:
- Academic/career advice
- How AI might impact your interests/field
- Social justice work and AI
- Mental health and personal advice

My expertise:
I am currently a PhD student at Mila with a broad range of interests. From reinforcement learning, to questions of equity, and to climate change, I’m interested in mitigating the harms of AI and realizing the just distribution of its benefits. I also have many years of experience with social justice advocacy and support work, most recently with the U of A Sexual Assault Centre. While I certainly am not the world’s subject matter expert in anything, I have accumulated a lot of knowledge that I think my younger self would have found extremely useful, so maybe it can help you too!

Some remarks:
- If you don’t know whether you exactly fit the criteria, reach out anyway! I’m glad to talk, and I’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction if I can’t help you directly.
- We often overweight hesitation and underweight the regret of not reaching out.
- I’m especially happy to talk to people from disadvantaged or marginalized groups (e.g., racialized groups, criminal background, LGBTQ2S+, etc), or those with non-traditional academic backgrounds (e.g., older, with dependents, etc).