iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Congrats to all of the winners of the AI for Public Goods grants program!! So inspired to see the breadth of work being done on biodiversity, mental health, democratic engagement, and better funding mechanisms for public goods (very meta!).

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David Dao @daviddao.org · 15/07/2026

Some numbers I'm proud of: 135 submissions. 268 participants. 38 countries. 311 reviews. 11 winning projects from Harvard to Timor-Leste. 9 of them have at least one woman author. 7 of them work in the Global South! And a further $50,000 supported compensated review work (thank you all reviewers!)

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Launching AI for Public Goods Fast Grants! We'll distribute $150k to advance critical work connecting AI and public goods. 💰 $10k per project 💰 $800 reviewer compensation PUBLIC GOODS := open source, ecosystem services, climate, urban infrastructure, communication, education, science, and more.

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Columbia University is launching a new MS in Biodiversity Data Analytics to start in fall 2026! Join the launch event to discuss analytics and data science for nature in business, investment, and policy. Wed, Nov 5 6–8pm @columbiauniversity.bsky.social in NYC or remote

Nature in Numbers: Why Biodiversity Data Analytics Matters Now

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Come be our colleague at Columbia IEOR! Open-rank (tenure-track or tenured) position with a priority deadline of November 21. Candidates with application-oriented research are especially encouraged to apply. apply.interfolio.com/175698

Open Rank Faculty Position in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

Columbia University in the City of New York: The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Columbia is hiring a tenure-track asst. prof. in computational ecology and evolution! If you use or develop computational tools—AI, data science, stats—to deepen our understanding of eco/evo, evaluate nature-based solutions, or inform and manage impacts on human wellbeing, please apply!

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Very happy to be part of this new paper brilliantly led by @calebscoville.bsky.social on new opportunities for stakeholder participation with dynamic management compared to static management of natural resources! 🌳🌏🙋

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Rachit Dubey @rachitdubey.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

My lab at UCLA is hiring 1-2 PhD students this cycle! Join us to work at the intersection of cognitive science and AI applied to pressing societal challenges like climate change. More info about me: rachit-dubey.github.io My lab: ucla-cocopol.github.io Please help repost/spread the word!

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Sara Beery @sarameghanbeery.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

The call for applications has just been released for #CV4Ecology2026!! This three-week intensive program trains ecologists and conservation practitioners to develop their own AI tools for their own data. When: Jan 12-30, 2026 Where: SCBI @smconservation.bsky.social

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Dave Thau, @sarameghanbeery.bsky.social, and I are organizing biodiversity webinar talks for @itu.int AI for Good. Next week, I'll chat with Iadine Chades (Monash) on the promise and impact of decision AI for biodiversity. Please share questions you'd love to ask Iadine or our upcoming speakers!

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

I'm hiring for a machine learning data scientist & research assistant for summer 2025! Join me on a project on invasive species management with an innovative startup doing on-the-ground removal of environmentally destructive invasive animals. Paid, full-time w/ possibility to extend.

I'm hiring for a machine learning data scientist & research assistant for summer 2025!

Join me in working on a project on invasive species management, by predicting species risk and planning capture strategies. This work will be in partnership with an innovative startup that is working directly to capture environmentally destructive invasive species in the US.

This project will be working with a US-based conservation partner to build predictive machine learning models and design harvest strategies for the removal of invasive animal species. The primary goal is to develop usable ML models and optimization tools to inform practical environmental decision-making on the ground.

There will also be opportunities to extend this work into a research publication for a top-tier AI venue.

The project would be:
Paid, full-time internship for summer 2025
Possibility of extension beyond the summer (part-time or full-time)
Remote, but candidates should be authorized to work in the US
Supervised by Lily Xu, assistant professor at Columbia University

Ideal candidate background will include:
Strong background in CS, data science, and/or applied math
Experience developing machine learning models
Excellent coding skills in Python
Excellent writing and interpersonal communication skills
Genuine interest in conservation/sustainability
Nice to have: background in optimization methods
Nice to have: experience with GIS and geospatial data
Candidates would ideally have already completed an undergraduate degree, but exceptional undergrads will also be considered.

How to apply:
Please send a CV and 3–5 paragraphs of your background/interests via email to <lily.x@columbia.edu> with the subject line "Application: ML for invasive species management".

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Thrilled to be here in Singapore for #ICLR2025! Find me: Friday @ 3–5:30pm Poster #416 RL with combinatorial actions Friday @ 6:30pm Panelist at CCAI x ETH event Sunday @ 9am Invited talk @ XAI4Science workshop Monday all day Hall 4 #3 Organizing @climatechangeai.bsky.social workshop

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Thrilled to be co-organizing the Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning workshop at #ICLR2025 and bringing in these fantastic keynote speakers! Join us April 28 (in Singapore or free livestream) to hear from @yisongyue.bsky.social on AI for science and Iadine Chades on AI for biodiversity.

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Yadvinder Malhi @ymalhi.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Are you interested in boldly reimagining how we can finance #naturerecovery at scale, beyond mainstream market mechanisms? We are advertising a one-year postdoctoral researcher at @naturerecovery.bsky.social at Oxford. Closing date April 30th tinyurl.com/muebaf86 @oxfordgeography.bsky.social

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Center for Effective Global Action @cega-uc.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

🌎 Join CEGA for #MeasureDev2025: Biodiversity on Land and at Sea on April 29 at The World Bank in Washington, DC! Explore cutting-edge biodiversity measurement approaches with leading researchers & policymakers shaping conservation strategies. #datasky Register: cega.berkeley.edu/event/measur...

cega.berkeley.edu

Measuring Development 2025: Biodiversity on Land and at Sea

Human flourishing depends on biodiversity: the animals, plants, and other living organisms whose functions make Earth habitable and whose existence holds intrinsic value. New data and applications...

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Can we use RL to plan with combinatorial constraints? Our #ICLR2025 paper combines deep RL with mathematical programming to do so! We embed a trained Q-network into a mixed-integer program, into which we can specify NP-hard constraints. w/ brwilder.bsky.social, Elias Khalil, Milind Tambe

Our method combines deep RL with mixed-integer programming
for sequential planning with combinatorial actions.

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

I’m really looking forward to joining the Oxford Internet Institute on Tuesday! In-person and online, 5:30pm GMT.

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Ghjulia Sialelli @ghjuliasialelli.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

I got to see the amazing @lilyxu.bsky.social present at the last @ai-env-summit.bsky.social and I can highly recommend attending her talk 🤩

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Darby Saxbe @darbysaxbe.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Our paper on unlocking the value of ranger-based monitoring (RBM), now out in Conservation Letters! Our work is a practical guide on when RBM may be useful for biodiversity conservation and protected area management, with some hard-won lessons for implementing RBM effectively. 🐘🌳🪺🤳🥾🪖

Unlocoking the value of ranger-collected data for biodiversity conservation

Full article in Conservation Letters: https://tinyurl.com/rangersdata

1. Set clear monitoring goals
2. Avoid wishful thinking
3. Raw data have limitations
4. Consider human dimensions
5. Adapt to your team's capacity
6. Don't be distracted by technology

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Lily Xu @lilyxu.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Submit your work on data-centric machine learning to tackle climate change and nature-based challenges! ☀️🌱🐋🌳 And join us at #ICLR2025 in April in Singapore 🌏

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Institute for New Economic Thinking, Oxford @inetoxford.bsky.social · 12/10/2024

Seven events to begin the academic year Incl. ⤵️ Ranger patrols deter poaching @lilyxu.bsky.social Forecasting UK Inflation 2021-24 with Sir David Hendry @climatemetrics.bsky.social Out With Council Tax, In With A Green Land Value Tax! And more... us4.campaign-archive.com?e=__test_ema...

Pictured: Jurgen A. Doornik, of Climate Econometrics at the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET Oxford)

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