Undergraduate Initiatives

About

Historically, Queer in AI’s initiatives have largely focused on graduate students in AI. In order to better facilitate the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals interested in AI at all levels, we are starting various undergraduate initiatives that aim to engage and support the needs and interests of junior queer folks, especially 4-year and 2-year undergraduate students!

Mission

Queer in AI’s Undergraduate Mentorship Program hopes to support LGBTQIA+ undergraduates:

1. Help undergraduates get answers to any and all questions regarding research (both in industry and academia) through the support of experienced community members

2. Guide undergraduates to best discover + work towards their goals and passions!

3. Provide mental health resources and support to undergraduates

We aim to accomplish these goals through the following initiatives:

• Monthly mentorship series

• Conference call for submissions undergraduate tracks

• Conference buddy programs

Initiatives

NAACL Mentorship series

• Our debut session will be at NAACL on Sunday, June 6, 3 - 4 pm Pacific Time. (Convert to your timezone here.)

• You can sign up for the event here.

• This event will include a talk from our speaker, Sabrina Mielke (she/her), PhD Candidate at John Hopkins University’s Center for Language and Speech Processing.

• Followed by this, we will have a Q&A session and experience sharing from the participants.

Check out our NAACL 2021 blogpost here.

Sign up for our event here.

Conference Undergraduate Tracks

Upcoming Conferences with Undergrad Tracks for Submissions:

• ICML | Monday, July 19 - Tuesday, July 20 | Submissions Due June 14! Find more details here.

Undergraduates do neat things, and we want to showcase + feature y’all (and publicize any outstanding research we happen to run across)! We are launching an undergraduate track at various conferences we are hosting workshops at, and are excited to receive submissions in any media form -- including but not limited to research, papers, books, readings, tiktoks, testimonials -- and in any language (they do not have to be in English)!

Check out the conferences we’ll be at above, and submit any expression of what it means to be queer in AI!

Additionally, we will publicize outstanding undergraduate research! We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Conference Buddy Systems

Upcoming Conferences with Buddy Systems:

• ICML | Monday, July 19 - Tuesday, July 20 | Link to sign up for a buddy coming soon!

Conferences can be a little intimidating if you haven’t attended before, especially for undergraduates! We will partner you with a buddy to attend the conference with, whether that be attending workshops together or playing fun games at Queer in AI Socials with your new friend! More details coming soon.

Get Involved!

Become an organizer if you’re interested in helping with any of the above initiatives, or have additional ideas on what we could do to best support queer + trans undergraduates in AI!

Organizers

Arjun Subramonian (they/them)

Arjun is a brown queer, agender incoming PhD student at the University of California, Los Angeles. Their research focuses on graph representation learning, fairness, and ML ethics. They are a core organizer of Queer in AI, co-founded QWER Hacks, and teach machine learning and AI ethics at Title I schools in LA. They also love to run, hike, observe and document wildlife, and play the ukulele!

Sharvani Jha (she/her)

Sharvani is a fourth year undergraduate computer science student at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her interests include AI ethics + applications of computer science to space exploration. She is a co-founder of QWER Hacks, has led various initiatives (including AI Outreach) at ACM at UCLA, is the External Vice President of SWE at UCLA (and helps spearhead the organization’s lobbying initiatives), and is a software developer for UCLA ELFIN Cubesat.

Michelle Julia Ng (any)

Michelle Julia is a Computer Science and History student at Stanford University. They are interested in the implications of AI adoption across industries; their current research revolves around the feasibility of Computer Vision in determining policies around vulnerable populations. At Stanford, they’re involved in curriculum building and teaching the CS+Social Good studio, and building tools for a more equitable cyber world through the Stanford Internet Observatory.

Vishakha Agrawal

Vishakha is an undergraduate Information Science student at Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, India. She is interested in AI ethics, HCI, and NLP research. She founded the first STEM community for female-identifying and non-binary students at her college, was instrumental in passing a Bill of Rights at the UN for girls to study STEM everywhere, and is making ML tools and knowledge more accessible to communities around the world as a Delta Analytics’ Global Teaching Fellow.

Contact Us

Email us with questions, comments, concerns, or just to chat with the organizers at queerinaiundergrad@gmail.com!

Code of Conduct

Please read the Queer in AI code of conduct, which will be strictly followed at all times.

Queer in AI adheres to Queer in AI Anti-harassment policy. Any participant who experiences harassment or hostile behavior may contact the Queer in AI Safety Team. Please be assured that if you approach us, your concerns will be kept in strict confidence, and we will consult with you on any actions taken.