Genius Grant Recipients

RESEARCH

CARBON ISOTOPE DETECTIVE

A study co-authored by Biology Professor Sam Wasser used carbon isotope science to show that marked tusks may have been taken from a stockpile of ivory kept, it was thought, strictly under lock and key by the government of Burundi. Those tusks, which were determined to be more than 30 years old, somehow found their way into the hands of illegal ivory traders, which raises questions about how the ivory is being monitored. Wasser, executive director of the UW Center for Environmental Forensic Science, is a world leader in using science to help direct wildlife conservation and management policies around the world.

A FRUITFUL PROBLEM

The loss of a group of endangered animals that eat fruit and help disperse the seeds of trees and other plants could severely disrupt seed-dispersal networks in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a shrinking stretch of tropical forest and critical biodiversity hotspot. A study by UW researchers shows that the loss of endangered frugivores—the scientific term for animals that primarily eat fruit—could reduce diversity in the forest and cripple critical portions of the ecosystem. “Alarming,” says Berry Brosi, UW associate professor of biology and an author on the study.

THE HEAT IS ON

Heat-related deaths are becoming more common in the Evergreen State, even occurring in areas that typically have milder climates. A UW study published in the journal Atmosphere is the most extensive look yet related to mortality in Washington state and the first to look beyond the major population centers to include rural areas. “Heat-related mortality, even in a temperate area like Washington state, is a current environmental public health problem,” says lead author Logan Arnold, who did the work as a UW master’s student in quantitative ecology and resource management.

Genius at Work

The MacArthur Foundation honors professor who teaches human language to computers By Sarah McQuate

�ejin Choi, a computer scientist with expertise in natural language processing, helps artificial intelligence-based systems perform commonsense reasoning. In recognition for her work with artificial intelligence and language, Yejin Choi, a UW computer science professor, was named a MacArthur Fellow in October. The honor, commonly known as the “genius grant,” comes with an $800,000 stipend for her to use as she chooses.

Choi’s expertise is in natural language processing. She works on AI systems that understand implied meanings in human language. Rules-based models, like logic or probability, are too rigid to make sense of nuances that most of us understand when we talk to each other.

Choi has already pushed the field of natural language processing. One example is combining both visual and text inputs for these systems. Traditionally, models are trained solely with text inputs, but Choi has designed models with both text and image inputs that reinforce each other, which better mimics how people acquire knowledge about the world.

In another line of work, Choi uses computational linguistics to help AI identify deceptive intent or sentiment in writing. For this project, the research team designed a method to automate accurate detection of fake online consumer reviews. Choi extended this work to include assessing news articles based on intent to deceive as well as categorizing the articles as “hoax,” “satire” or “trustworthy.”

Recently, Choi’s team developed Ask Delphi, a research prototype designed to make AI more ethically informed. When presented with a moral dilemma—such as ignoring a supervisor’s phone call during working hours—Delphi weighs in on whether the situation is OK. Choi led the Delphi project through a joint appointment at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Choi says she hopes to use the stipend to pursue important, though potentially risky, research ideas. “Taking the road less traveled may seem exciting at first, but sustaining this path can be lonely, riddled with numerous roadblocks and disheartening at times,” Choi says. “This fellowship will power me up to go ahead and take that adventurous route.”

In the award announcement, the MacArthur Foundation said, “Choi’s research brings us closer to computers and artificial intelligence systems that can grasp more fully the complexities of language and communicate accurately with humans.”

Joining Choi in the roster of 25 genius grant awardees this year is Martha Gonzalez, ’13, an associate professor of Chicanx/Latinx Studies at Scripps College. As a musician, scholar and artist/activist, Gonzalez develops collaborative methods of artistic expression that build community and advance the principles of social justice. Her UW doctorate is in Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies.

JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION