Evening Talks

Δ(DATA) is a new CESTA Seminar series that invites academics and industry leaders to explore through a shared lens the evolving landscape of data and to advance the academic-private partnerships critical to the future of innovation.

Events

en la frontera y la intersección: Scientific & Social Data for Forensic Identification in the Borderlands

Bridget Algee, PhD

March 11, 2026

Seminar 5:30pm | Networking & Light Fare 6:30pm | "Ofrenda" Workshop 7:00pm

Seminar Abstract

The US-Mexico borderlands form a landscape of absence—inhabited only by the nameless, fragmented remains of missing migrants once in search of refuge el Norte. Algee argues that identifying these remains demands integrating scientific data—from biology and recovery contexts—with social insights into shifting gateways, historical migration patterns, migration drivers, and the weight of lived and inherited trauma on behaviors. This approach recognizes that to study the dead is to first understand the living. Algee posits it is critical to treat the deceased as whole, complex individuals, weaving together diverse data sources to reveal their lived experiences and…

Songs Across Centuries: Cultural Continuity in Music in the Age of AI

Mauro Durante

Violinist, Percussionist, Composer

March 18, 2026

Networking & Light Fare 11:30am | Seminar 12pm | Taranta Workshop 1:00pm

Seminar Abstract

Traditional music survives not by remaining unchanged, but by evolving. Folk repertoires endure because each generation reinterprets them—carrying forward cultural memory while reshaping form and meaning for the present.

In this conversation, musician and composer Mauro Durante reflects on his creative process of rearranging centuries-old Mediterranean folk traditions into contemporary musical language. His practice becomes a lens for a broader question: how do humans preserve continuity across time while embracing transformation?

Joining the dialogue, Stefano Santo Sabato and Bridget Algee-Hewitt explore parallel challenges in AI and the humanities: how knowledge is…

Why AI Needs the Humanities More Than Ever: Human Agency in the Age of Intelligent Systems

Stefano Santo Sabato

January 28, 2026

Talk 5:30PM | Workshop 7PM | CESTA 433A | Wallenberg Hall, Building 160

REGISTER HERE to attend in person or virtually.

Dr. Santo Sabato argues in this seminar that the central challenge of the AI era is the erosion of human framing, top-down reasoning, and contextual continuity, leading over time to organizational amnesia. He emphasizes the role of hybrid teams in restoring these capacities and examines Fyberloom as a case history exploring a mapping-based approach to knowledge that preserves context, memory, and human agency.

Stefano Santo Sabato, PhD, is a researcher and serial entrepreneur working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, software engineering, and knowledge systems. He is the founder of Fyberloom, an Intelligent Knowledge Mapping (IKM) platform exploring...

The Science of Impact, the Impact of Science: A crash course in accident reconstruction from a social-scientific lens

February 25, 2026

Rajeev Kelkar, PhD

Seminar 5:30pm | Networking & Light Fare 6:30pm | Workshop 7:00pm

Register to attend in person or virtually by Zoom (Online Form)

Accidents occur when an unfortunate series of coincidental events overwhelms product design assumptions or human adaptability. Drawing on real-world case studies, this lecture introduces the fields of accident reconstruction and injury biomechanics, exploring the fundamental science of impacts and motion, and examining the impact of science on improving safety, reducing injuries, and the societal value of these sciences. Through these examples, the audience will gain insight into how mathematics, mechanics, biomechanics and human factors intersect in the real world—and why that intersection matters.

Rajeev Kelkar (M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. Columbia U) is a specialist in accident reconstruction and human injury biomechanics…