Xiaowei Wang, Mancosh Pathways to the Professoriate Postdoctoral Fellow in Communication Studies

"Xiaowei Wang’s curricular innovation is an advanced-level undergraduate course called Computing and the Environment (C&E) that will explore the intersection of computing, environmental justice and climate.

The class will offer an understanding of AI’s social and environmental impacts by having students build a solar-powered server, allowing them to engage with the infrastructural history of AI, see how AI tools and models like large language models (LLMs) rely on publicly available training data and how Web 2.0’s vast, user-generated content is essential for LLMs.

In creating a solar-powered web server, students also will directly investigate questions of data sovereignty, ethical data practices, the electrical grid intensity of websites, universal internet protocols and standardization, hardware utilization and e-waste.

Xiaowei Wang is a Mancosh Postdoctoral Scholar in the School of Communication. Xiaowei’s multidisciplinary work over the past 15 years sits at the intersection of public art, technology and social and environmental justice."

Alumnae of Northwestern University Curriculum Innovation Award

Awarded annually this supports faculty work over the summer to develop innovative course materials, new courses, or new modes of teaching, including online education, that will benefit undergraduate students.