Who I Met Today

S1E10 - Computer scientist Rupa Kurinchi-Vendhan explores the wild – using AI

Rupa Kurinchi-Vendhan (MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, or CSAIL) is able to read coral health from the sky and listen to marine life while on land. Remote sensing, computer vision, machine learning, and more — Rupa explains how AI is revolutionizing conservation, helping scientists learn more about the planet's most uncharted landscapes through data and models.

S1E9 - Civil engineer Ida Nervik *obsesses* about concrete

Ida Marie Nervik, a civil engineer by practice, is now diving into materials science at MIT. We discuss strength, structural integrity, compatibility, durability, fracture healing – all important foundations for buildings... and relationships.

S1E8 - Computer engineer Andy Haverly wants to sequester carbon – by detonating nuclear bombs

https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.17174v1Andy Haverly was just developing software, until one day, he fell into a rabbit hole of the climate crisis. Determined to fix the problem, he began investigating one radical method that could offer a solution: nuclear bombs. No further description needed here. Blow your mind in this episode and in his published paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.17174v1 [https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.17174v1]

S1E7 - Computer scientist Lucy Liu is optimizing everything – from robot traffic to your life decisions

The optimum number of robots cooking in a kitchen? The best way to cut paper? The most efficient combination of actions for the highest productivity? Computer scientist Lucy Liu at Harvard University uses algorithms to try to figure this out – and in the journey, we uncover enlightened lessons about the flaws of perfection.

S1E6 - Kye Shimizu designs wearable tech and other things that make you question who you are

Researcher Kye Shimizu designs interfaces. “Algorithmic couture," wearable stimulants, shifting identities. What exactly he (and MIT’s Media Lab) does is often unclear – the fuzzy boundary where information passes between you and a computer, the blurry line that defines you and not you.