Columbia Undergraduate Data Science and AI Research Fair 2025

Student Application Deadline: Wednesday, October 22 (11:59 PM ET)

Event Date: Thursday, November 6 (5:00 PM – 7:30 PM) | Mudd Building, 4th Floor | Carleton Commons & 407 Suite

Over the past three years, AI has rapidly moved into classrooms, workplaces, and everyday life. Yet beyond the hype lies a deeper question: what kind of future do we want to build? As AI technologies become mainstream, we collectively face opportunities, responsibilities, and risks.

This year’s theme invites students to look past short-term novelty and consider how AI might create lasting impact over the next 10 years. Projects may explore both the potential and the limitations of AI across technological, social, and ethical dimensions. The fair offers students a space to imagine possible futures and new processes, whether they are optimistic, cautious, or reflective. Students can consider the following prompts as starting points to guide and inspire their submissions:

If you could design one new AI application to truly improve human life by 2035, what would it be? What does a positive future with AI look like? Who benefits from AI, and who is left out? It’s 2035. Will AI be heavily legislated, or a free-for-all? What future do you want to see?
Could AI become a creative partner or even a friend? And what responsibilities would come with that? How do we weigh the environmental and social costs of AI against its potential benefits? How will AI reshape the skills needed for the next generation of students, workers, and leaders?
How can we build systems that are transparent, fair, and resilient against misuse? What are the limits of automation? Where do we still need human judgment, creativity, and oversight? How can we move beyond today’s AI hype to build tools and practices that last for the next decade of growth?

Hosted by: Data, Media and Society Center at the Data Science Institute, Columbia University

Co-Sponsors: Department of Statistics, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University; Department of Computer Science, Columbia Engineering; Department of Computer Science, Barnard College; Vagelos Computational Science Center, Barnard College

Organizing Committee: Ann Chengying Li, Junior, Columbia Engineering; Alexa Kafka, Junior, Barnard College; Christine Li, Junior, Columbia Engineering; Daniel Alejandro Manjarrez, Junior, Columbia Engineering; Rebecca Frey, Junior, Barnard College; Rayhana Mouaouia, Barnard College; Riley Stacy, Junior, Barnard College; Isik Aysel Kiymac, Sophmore, Barnard College; Linda Mukarakate, Senior, Columbia College

2025 Thematic Tracks

In their exhibitor applications, students will select which of the following three thematic tracks is the best fit for their work. Students are welcome to submit projects that extend beyond these tracks, including current works in progress.

AI in Society: Human Futures: How AI is reshaping work, culture, politics, and everyday life. Projects may examine its effects on jobs and education, questions of trust and misinformation, or broader issues of ethics, access, and regulation. Students can also imagine speculative futures, considering how AI might evolve beyond current applications.

Responsible and Sustainable AI: Exploring the risks and responsibilities of scaling AI systems. Projects may address environmental impacts, security and privacy challenges, or issues of transparency and governance, with an eye toward best practices and safeguards that can guide AI’s responsible growth.

AI for Discovery and Innovation: How AI expands knowledge and sparks new ideas. Projects may explore research and scientific discovery, applications in fields such as health, climate, or finance, or creative prototypes that imagine the next generation of AI use cases. Students might also focus on advancing the technology itself, including developing more efficient and accurate AI models.