Edrian Liao

πŸ“š

Recommendations: some I've read, some I'm currently reading.

Tales of Two Planets: Stories of Climate Change and Inequality in a Divided World, edited by John Freeman The book contains a collection of climate stories around the world, spanning countries both from the Global North and South, where each story is written by a local author.
Unmasking AI by Joy Buolamwini Dr. Buolamwini who is the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL) narrates her journey in uncovering the "coded gaze" in current AI systems.
The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian Making machine learning models align with what humans intended them to be.
How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa Maria Ressa, a Filipino-American Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, shares her battles as she defends press freedom in the Philippines.

πŸŒ… Proud Filipino: I am an international student from the Philippines, currently a senior at Duke on a full scholarship [Karsh Scholar].

πŸŽ“ Lifelong Academic: I am pursuing a double major in electrical and computer engineering and computer science with a concentration in machine learning and artificial intelligence. To supplement my knowledge on policies for and ethical implications of emerging technologies, I am also pursuing a certificate in Digital Intelligence (Science and Society). My lifetime research question has evolved through my research experiences at Duke and MIT, but the foundations never changed:

"Towards a more inclusive, sustainable, and innovative AI-powered future: how can we employ context-aware and sustainable machine learning models for resource-constrained communities to use in their worsening sustainability issues and climate-exacerbated disasters?

πŸ‘¨πŸ½β€πŸ’» Code for Good: Computer engineer by training, climate researcher by heart. I am fortunate to have received sufficient technical training in utilizing AI tools, ML techniques, and satellite imagery to help vulnerable people adapt to the climate crisis, considering its complexity. See my [GitHub] detailing my past and current projects.

πŸ‘¨πŸ½β€πŸ« Educator: Acknowledging my educational privileges, I have always strived to share what I learn. This calling is deeply rooted by my witnessing of the wide gaps of educational opportunities in the Philippines. Countering its expansion is something I look forward to.

πŸ“Έ Aesthete: I've only recently acknowledged my deep appreciation for the arts. Currently, my creative outlets include producing song covers, singing with my a capella group, and capturing beautiful sceneries and architectures. See my work on my recently created [Instagram] account.

🌏 Climate Justice: This summer, I started my project named PlanetTales that aims to share stories about the impacts of climate change to the most remote and vulnerable areas of the world, stories not only shared with words but also images, videos, and data to encapsulate and give justice to people’s experiences. Funded by my scholarship, my project's first stop was my hometown in the Philippines. Check out the [website]!

🫢🏽 Quality Education for All: When I was a junior in high school, my friend and I started an initiative composing of high school tutors teaching Math, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics to fellow high school students. We called it [Ο€-oneers]. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sustain its operations when I moved to US for college.

More coming soon...