Speakers

HAEWON JEONG

HAEWON JEONG, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, UCSB

> Haewon received her B.S. degree ('14) in Electrical Engineering from KAIST and the M.Sc. ('13) and Ph.D. ('14) degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. From 2020 to 2022, she was a postdoctoral scholar at Harvard University. Her research interests include information theory, distributed computing, machine learning, and ethics of AI systems.<

> Dr. Jeong’s research focuses on building provably reliable machine learning (ML) systems using tools from information theory and coding theory. As ML systems are getting bigger, faster, and impacting more people, their reliability is challenged on many fronts. My research adapts and reinvents information-theoretic concepts for the context of reliable large-scale ML. To build reliability in machine metrics (e.g., computation time, accuracy), she marries coding theory and systems research to develop large-scale distributed algorithms that are resilient to unreliable or malicious nodes. <

SILVIA PEREA

CURATOR, ART, DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE MUSEUM

> Silvia Perea is an architect (M.Arch), Ph.D., and Curator of the Architecture and Design Collection at the AD&A Museum (University of California, Santa Barbara). Dr. Perea holds a Doctorate in Architecture with Honors from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and a Certificate in Museum Studies from Harvard University. <

> Throughout her career, Dr. Perea has combined teaching and publishing with the organization of exhibitions. Dr. Perea has taught at international universities, including Columbia (NY), CEPT (India), Blas Pascal (Argentina), and the UPM (Spain). She has also published extensively, working as an editor of Arquitectura Viva, and contributing articles to magazines such as Domus, Architectural Record, Minerva, and Arquitectura, among others.<

> As a curator, Dr. Perea has organized over a dozen exhibitions of art and architecture for American and European museums. Her curatorial practice advocates the integration of both disciplines as a means to enrich their respective discourses and perspectives. <

JAMES GLISSON

CHIEF CURATOR, SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART

> James Glisson (PhD, Northwestern University) was recently named Chief Curator at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art where he will also continue in his role as Curator of Contemporary Art. <

> His five books, some co-authored and co-edited, have been recognized by the American Library Association, American Alliance of Museums and Choice Magazine, which gave him an Outstanding Academic Title award. Prior to Santa Barbara, he was Interim Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator and Mishler Associate Curator at The Huntington Library, where he contributed to the establishment of a regular program for contemporary art. <

MARCOS NOVAK

PROFESSOR OF MEDIA ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY, UCSB

> Marcos Novak is a pioneer in the field of virtual architecture. In the mid 90s, his contribution to international architectural discourse was further expanded by the coining and definition of the term "Transarchitectures" His approach: "we conceive algorithmically (morphogenesis); we model numerically (rapid prototyping); we build robotically (new tectonics); we inhabit interactively (intelligent space); we telecommunicate instantly (pantopicon); we are informed immersively (liquid architectures); we socialise nonlocally (nonlocal public domain); we evert virtuality (transarchitectures)". <

> He has also posited a new "Soft Babylon," a theoretical stance which posits that our digitized architectural palette is causing us to create a wired Situationist city, while we struggle with some of the massive paradigm shifts that our era will and must face. Whilst articulating highly fluent theory, he has practiced, producing beautiful ethereal architectures that flux and shimmer as his algorithms run their designed logics. <

> He received the Masters of Architecture at Ohio State university in 1983. Since that time he has taught at Ohio State, University of Texas Austin, the Architecture program at UCLA, the Digital Media program at UCLA, and the Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena. He has published, lectured and exhibited his work internationally.<

KENNETH S. KOSIK

HARRIMAN PROFESSOR OF NEUROSCIENCE, UCSB

> Kenneth S. Kosik completed a B.A. and M.A. in English literature from Case Western Reserve University in 1972 and an M.D. from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1976. He served as a resident in neurology at Tufts New England Medical Center and was Chief Resident there in 1980. Beginning in 1980 he held a series of academic appointments at the Harvard Medical School and achieved the rank of full professor there in 1996. He also held appointments at McLean Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In 2004, Kosik became the Harriman Professor of Neuroscience Research and Co-Director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. <

> He founded and serves as Medical Director of the non-profit center, Cottage Center for Brain Fitness (CCBF).< > The Kosik lab intends to create an intellectual setting conducive to the exploration of fundamental biological processes, particularly those related to the brain and its evolution. Although the approach is largely reductionist with an emphasis on genes, molecules and cells, studies in the lab also encompass systems level informatic approaches that include large genomic and transcriptional and imaging data sets. <

FOREST STEARNS

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, GOOGLE QUANTUM LABS

> orest Stearns, Principal Artist of DRAWEVERYWHERE, pioneers the Illuminated Practice—a system blending large-scale illustration, art direction, and cultural collaboration to transform institutions. As co-founder of the Google Quantum AI Artist-in-Residence program with Dr. Erik Lucero, he has embedded art into cutting-edge science, launched the first art in space with Planet Labs, and created enduring works for institutions like DeviantArt and the California State Library. Rooted in Graffuturism and nature, his work positions art as a strategic tool for innovation, culture, and legacy. <

KIRA XONORIKA (GUARANI)

ARTIST

> Kira Xonorika (Guarani) is a groundbreaking artist, writer, and futurist whose work operates at the intersections of technology, culture, and identity. Focused on using AI as a collaborative medium, Xonorika delves into complex themes relating to ancestry, indigenous worldviews and a critique of artificial boundaries such as those between male and female, utopia and dystopia, and human versus machine —that have historically reinforced Western colonial power systems.< 

> By challenging our preconceptions around identity, Xonorika prompts us to reconsider these categories as fluid rather than fixed, echoing nature's own disdain for rigid classifications. Xonorika has recently exhibited her work in Los Angeles, New York, and Berlin <

MICHAEL DELGADO

EXEC PRODUCER, BRANDWELL ARTS

> An artist, writer and curator, Michael was the Arts Editor of the LA Weekly as well as Associate Publisher of the Journal of the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art and has served ten years  on the Board of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, the nations oldest artist run contemporary art institution.<

> Michael has executive producer credits in film and television with MTV and Endeavor (formerly WME-IMG).<

> At Brandwell Arts, Michael draws on his experience in leading the development of unique content and large, live activations for major brands such as Bacardi, Grey Goose, Jack Daniel’s, Maserati, Michelob Golden Light, MLS, MTV, Patron, PlayStation, and the WWE.<

Michael sees the creation and production of Brave New Work as the perfect fit for his passion for contemporary art and his production experience. <

ALAN MACY

FOUNDER BIOPAC SYSTEMS

> Alan Macy is currently the Research and Development Director, past President and a founder of BIOPAC Systems, Inc. He designs data collection and analysis systems, used by researchers in the life sciences, that help identify meaningful interpretations from signals produced by life processes.<

> Trained in electrical engineering and physiology, with over 30 years of product development experience, he is currently focusing on psychophysiology, emotional and motivational state measurements, magnetic resonance imaging and augmented/virtual reality implementations. He presents in the areas of human-computer interfaces, electrophysiology, and telecommunications. <

> His recent research and artistic efforts explore ideas of human nervous system extension and the associated impacts upon perception. As an applied science artist, he specializes in the creation of cybernated art, interactive sculpture and environments.<

KEVIN DAVIS

DIRECTOR, PRODUCT MANAGER-TECH, ARTIFICIAL GENERAL INTELLIGENCE-INFORMATION

>Kevin Davis is a Director in Artificial General Intelligence – Information organization, focused on reinventing how customers receive information across their favorite categories such as Business, Sports, Weather and more. Kevin joined Amazon via the acquisition of Graphiq, a company focused on building a semantic knowledge graph to bring more factual information to publishers and consumers. When not working, Kevin lives in Santa Barbara with his family and occasionally hits the trails in his Jeep Wrangler 4x4.

ANA BRIZ

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND CURATOR OF EXHIBITIONS, ART, DESIGN & MUSEUM, UCSB

> Ana Briz is a researcher, writer, and curator. The abolitionist imaginary informs her curatorial practice and research interests. Her research is situated in the field of performance, art, and visual culture in the United States, and focuses on queer, feminist, and anti-racist work by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in California. She is broadly interested in issues related to social justice, displacement, and resistance in contemporary art and culture.

Briz is a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California (USC) and holds an M.A. in Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere from USC and a B.A. in Art History from Florida International University.<

ISABEL BEAVERS

ARTIST

> ISABEL BEAVERS (they/she) is a transdisciplinary artist, based in Los Angeles working at the intersections of new media, ecology, and collective action. Beavers is the Artistic Director of Supercollider LA, and the Hixon-Riggs Early Career Fellow in STS at Harvey Mudd University. A founding member of Great Pause Project, their collaborative archive is housed on the moon as part of ArchMission’s Lunar Library. Beavers' artistic practice combines emerging technologies with in-situ research and collective learning. They have led projects across the globe including in Jordan as the ZERO1 Creative Impact Lab - Amman Lead Artist (2022); in Seattle, WA, USA as the AICAD/NOAA Art + Science Fellow, and cross-nationally as a CreaTures EU ExP Artist. Their research-based practice has been awarded with support in the form of grants, residencies, and presentations in Iceland, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Italy and most recently, Athens, Greece and Cyprus. Exhibited widely through the USA and globally, their work addresses the climate crisis through myth, spirituality, and more-than-human perspectives. Beavers’ work on deep sea mining was recently included in the Getty’s 2024 PST Art + Science Collide as part of Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean curated by Cassandra Coblentz and Aaron Katzeman. In 2025 their anamorphic animation Sundown was commissioned by the Moving Image Media Arts (MIMA) Program of West Hollywood to premiere on 'The Now' 3D Billboard overlooking Sunset Boulevard. Through artistic practice, teaching, and curating, they foster communities of care and experimentation, inviting audiences to sense the unseen and imagine futures of resilience..<