Campus & Community
A space for researchers to meet, and AI and natural intelligence to do the same

Exterior of the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence.

Photos by Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Deborah Apsel Lang

Harvard Correspondent

April 18, 2024 2 min read

The Kempner Institute buzzes with new code, numbers, ideas

What forms the basis of intelligence, and how do humans and machines learn?

That’s the question that researchers at the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, are trying to answer. And on April 10, more than 200 people gathered from across the University to see them in their new home.

Wandering through glass-walled hallways giving sweeping views of the Harvard stadium, the Allston neighborhood, and the Boston skyline in the distance, visitors peered into labs and collaboration spaces filled with white boards and monitors, where the Kempner’s researchers work together to delve into the deepest recesses of minds and machines.

A view inside the institute from its front door.

SEAS teaching fellow Sonja Johnson-Yu.

The collaboration is the point.

“We really tried to think about shared spaces, about how to design a space that facilitates true collaboration and connection,” said the institute’s executive director, Elise Porter, as she gave groups of students, faculty, scientists, and administrators a tour. “The space is important because it gives life to the Kempner’s entire premise that collaboration across disciplines is a critical driver of new scientific discovery.”

Jennifer Hu, Kempner Institute research fellow (from left), Jennifer Shum, research assistant in SEAS, and Kempner Institute research fellow Ilenna Simone Jones.

Sham Kakade, Co-director of the Kempner Institute, and Clara Mohri.

Ph.D. student Mozes Jacob makes use of one the buildings many white boards.

As the event came to a close and visitors chatted in the Kempner’s lofty atrium, many of the researchers headed back into their offices and collaboration spaces. The buzz of activity was underway again, the vast white boards filling with code, numbers, and new ideas.

Directors and researchers at the Kempner Institute discuss its mission.