Dallas Alumni Reception

This event is your chance to:

  • Reconnect and network with fellow IU alumni in the Dallas area.
  • Engage directly with College leadership. College Executive Dean Rick Van Kooten will be in attendance, eager to share updates from Bloomington and hear your insights.
  • Be inspired by groundbreaking research. Assistant Professor Travis A. O’Brien of the College’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences will present, “Preparing for the Unexpected: AI and Predicting Low-Likelihood, High-Impact Extreme Weather in a Changing Climate,” a talk that will explore how cutting-edge advancements in AI are revolutionizing the ability to predict and adapt to extreme weather events. Read more about Professor O'Brien's presentation below the RSVP form.

The evening will feature a reception hosted by Andrew Lauck and Angel Rivera—fellow IU alumni and proud Dallas residents—with complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres in a stunning venue.

Space is limited, so RSVP below today. Reserve your spot by February 5 to ensure you don’t miss this memorable evening.

The College would like to thank the IU Alumni Association for their support of this event.

RSVP for the reception and presentation in Dallas

More about Travis O'Brien

Dr. Travis A. O’Brien is an assistant professor of regional climate change in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at IU Bloomington. Prior to joining IU in 2020, he was a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab for eight years, and he is an alumnus of UC Santa Cruz.

O’Brien’s research and teaching at IU focuses on weather and climate change. He co-leads a multi-institutional project that brings together computer scientists, statisticians, and physical scientists to improve our ability to understand and to predict low-likelihood, high-impact extreme weather: the Calibrated and Systematic Characterization, Attribution, and Detection of Extremes (CASCADE) project. He has written or co-written over 50 peer-reviewed papers on climate change, extreme weather, machine learning, and other related topics; and he has mentored over 25 postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate researchers.

Travis O'Brien

Presentation | Preparing for the Unexpected: AI and Predicting Low-Likelihood, High Impact Extreme Weather in a Changing Climate

How do we prepare for weather events that are so rare that we have never observed anything similar? Low-likelihood, high-impact weather events challenge our ability to adapt to a changing climate. Unusually extreme events like Hurricane Harvey are difficult to predict using statistical methods, and they are so rare that they might not appear in (expensive to run) climate model simulations. Such rare extreme events defy many of the existing tools that inform how businesses, governments, and communities can adapt to a changing climate.

The recent revolution in machine learning and artificial intelligence has resulted in new tools to help predict extreme weather and adapt to climate change. This presentation describes:

  • New AI-driven weather forecast models that enable researchers to run huge ‘ensembles’ of weather simulations;
  • How these new weather models relate to well-known AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc.;
  • How we establish (or not) trust in AI-driven weather models;
  • How we can use these AI models to generate tens of thousands of weather scenarios to study low-likelihood, high-impact extreme events like Hurricane Harvey; and
  • Efforts to use these models to improve our ability to adapt to changing extreme weather.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this event, please e-mail Director of Alumni Engagement Vanessa Cloe.