Nathan Fox

Schmidt AI in Science Fellow,

I am an Environmental Scientist, interested in how we can harness big data to innovate solving the pressing environmental challenges we face today. I obtained my PhD in Ocean and Earth Sciences form the University of Southampton, UK, with a thesis entitled ‘Social media, geodiversity and the provision of cultural ecosystem services’.

My research utilizes crowdsourced data such as social media websites and mobile phone applications to understand human-nature interactions. I am interested in how machine learning algorithms can be implemented to informing nature conservation efforts. I have been a strong advocate for the inclusion of geodiversity in conservation sciences.

One of my favourite projects that I worked on was facilitating a hackathon for tackling challenges that could couple socio-demographic and environmental data. I lead a group that produced an AI validated plant observations from social media. Click here to view the dataset created during the hackathon.

  • AI Mentor: Sabina Tomkins; Information
  • Science Mentor:  Derek Van Berkel; Environment and Sustainability
  • Science Mentor: Neil Carter; Environment
  • Additional Mentor: Enrico di Minin; Geosciences and Geography
  • Research Theme: Crowdsourced Data ML to Understand Human-Nature Interactions

COntact

foxnat@umich.edu

Location

Ann Arbor