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University Dance Company performance will feature Kansas City Aerial Arts
LAWRENCE — The 2024 University Dance Company Spring Concert will feature ballet, contemporary, hip hop and jazz dance styles performed by more than 50 KU students, including Jayhawks from Allen, Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth, Neosho, Reno, Sedgwick, Shawnee and Sumner counties in Kansas and from the cities of Liberty and Kansas City, Missouri. Performances are April 5-7.
Study considers carbon emissions of AI writing, illustrations
LAWRENCE — A new study co-written by a University of Kansas professor of law has found that for the tasks of writing and illustrating, artificial intelligence systems emit hundreds of times less carbon than humans performing the same tasks. That does not mean, however, that AI can or should replace human writers and illustrators, the study’s authors wrote. Their research was published in the journal Nature.
Join the Institute for Policy & Social Research for doctoral research fellow presentations
LAWRENCE — The Institute for Policy & Social Research at the University of Kansas will showcase research from the 2023-2024 IPSR Doctoral Research Fellows on April 5 at a public reception. Topics include “Municipal Tax Sale: Race, Profit, and Urban Renewal” and “Contemporary Fathering in Middle America.” Doctoral students share their work in five-minute presentations, followed by five-minute window for audience members to ask questions.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Lisa Coble-Krings, Department of Theatre & Dance, 785-864-5685, [email protected]
University Dance Company performance will feature Kansas City Aerial Arts
LAWRENCE — In the University Dance Company Spring Concert, students and choreographers examine the ideas of world-building, connection and suspense through the artform. The 2024 repertoire concert will feature ballet, contemporary, hip hop and jazz dance styles.
Special guest Kansas City Aerial Arts will have patrons on the edge of their seats with a high-flying hybrid aerial/dance work, choreographed and directed by Meghan Spencer. Faculty choreographers Maya Tillman-Rayton, Claire Buss and Ashley Brittingham will be featured, along with a piece by recent KU dance graduate Olivia Pennell. Additionally, the Jayhawk Tap Co will present two works. More than 50 students will perform, with many more assisting behind the scenes.
The concert is 7:30 p.m. April 5-6 and 2:30 p.m. April 7 at in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre at Murphy Hall. Tickets are available for purchase at the performance website or by calling 785-864-3982, or in person at the box office in Murphy Hall Additionally, the April 5 and 7 performances will be available via livestream.
“This concert is certainly a highlight of the spring term in the Department of Theatre & Dance and highly anticipated by our greater dance ‘family.’ We invite those who are new to attending live dance performances to check us out,” said Tillman-Rayton, University Dance Company Concert producer and KU lecturer. “This semester’s concert carries on our commitment to producing forward-thinking works and to providing pre-professional performance opportunities for Jayhawks.”
Kansas City Aerial Arts is an aerial arts education and entertainment company that nurtures a sense of empowerment and wonder through aerial arts since 2013. Its mission is to make the joy of the circus accessible to everyone. Spencer, KC Aerial Arts’ education director and performer, has created, choreographed and directed the piece “Life Like Water” for the UDC concert. The company’s participation is made possible in part by the Janet Hamburg Visiting Artist Fund.
About the choreographers
Brittingham is a full-time lecturer and interim co-director of dance in the Department. As a professional dancer, she has performed a wide variety of classical and contemporary principal roles by the world’s leading choreographers. For the past four years, she has set her original choreographic work for the University Dance Company.
Tillman-Rayton is in her seventh year teaching hip hop technique and second year as a full-time lecturer. She is interim co-director of dance for the department. Most recently, she directed and choreographed “Wonka’s Chocolate Factory,” a multi-genre dance production at the Lawrence Arts Center. She debuted her work, titled “Stingy Lulu’s Jumping Juke Joint,” at the 2023 KC Fringe Festival.
Buss is originally from Salt Lake City and graduated from KU with degrees in dance and physical education. She’s worked with Tristian Griffin Dance Company, House of Dragons and Liat Roth in City in Motions Modern Night. She has taught modern and hip hop at KU for a year.
Pennell is a Chicago-based dancer and choreographer. Currently, she is a trainee with Chicago Repertory Ballet and the administrative coordinator of Giordano Dance Chicago. In 2023, Pennell from KU with dual degrees in dance and communications.
Production team and performers
Professional design team members are Kelly Vogel, associate teaching professor and head of scenography, as scenic designer, and Ann Sitzman, technical coordinator and multi-term lecturer, as lighting designer. Josh Gilpin, an MFA student in scenography, is the costume designer. Professional freelancer and recent graduate Kalen Stockton is the guest stage manager. Her participation in the UDC Spring Concert is made possible in part by the John M. and Frances R.B. Peterson Visiting Artist Fund.
Kansas and Missouri performers are listed below; the complete list of performers is available online.
Kansas students
Allen County
Jaydn Kaufman, sophomore in business from Iola.
Douglas County
Cassidy Dunn, sophomore in pre-nursing from Lawrence; Madi Seelye, sophomore in dance from Lawrence; Elizabeth Wellman, sophomore in dance from Lawrence.
Harvey County
Anna Shelton, junior in dance from Hesston.
Johnson County
McKenna Bizal, junior in psychology and dance from Overland Park; Olivia Dondzila, freshman in strategic communications from De Soto; Grace Epperly, junior in biology from Olathe; Cooper Holmes, sophomore in theatre performance from Overland Park; Brooke Howard, senior in English from Overland Park; Lucie Lane, junior in education from Overland Park; Mahika Meesa, sophomore in political science from Overland Park; Audrey Merckling, junior in film & media studies from Lenexa; Paul Ruf, sophomore in biochemistry from Overland Park.
Leavenworth County
Mallory Price, sophomore in dance and journalism from Leavenworth.
Neosho County
Mia Godinez, junior in journalism from Chanute.
Reno County
Emily Shaw, freshman in architecture from Hutchinson; Molly Shaw, senior in journalism from Hutchinson.
Sedgwick County
Morgan Blanton, junior in dance from Wichita; Sofia Dunkelberger, freshman in dance from Wichita; Jazmyne Le, junior in strategic communications from Wichita; Sarah Perez, freshman in psychology from Wichita; Katie Seminoff, junior in biology from Wichita; Nikolette Treadwell, junior in dance from Wichita.
Shawnee County
Abby Boyd, freshman in dance and psychology from Topeka; Sophia Harrison, sophomore in dance from Topeka; Quinn Stahly, freshman from Topeka.
Sumner County
Hope Casner, senior in dance and exercise science from Argonia.
Missouri students
Storm Alicie, junior in applied behavioral science from Liberty, Missouri; Alexandria Demps, junior in dance from Kansas City, Missouri.
The University Dance Company concerts are funded in part by KU Student Senate. The University Dance Company is a production wing of the University of Kansas’ Department of Theatre & Dance.
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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
Study considers carbon emissions of AI writing, illustrations
LAWRENCE — With the evolution of artificial intelligence comes discussion of the technology’s environmental impact. A new study has found that for the tasks of writing and illustrating, AI emits hundreds of times less carbon than humans performing the same tasks. That does not mean, however, that AI can or should replace human writers and illustrators, the study’s authors argue.
Andrew Torrance, Paul E. Wilson Distinguished Professor of Law at KU, is co-author of a study that compared established systems such as ChatGPT, Bloom AI, DALL-E2 and others completing writing and illustrating to that of humans.
Like cryptocurrency, AI has been subject to debate about the amount of energy it uses and its contributions to climate change. Human emissions and environmental impact have long been studied, but comparisons between the two have been scant. The authors conducted a comparison and found that AI systems emit between 130 and 1,500 times less CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per page of text generated than human writers and illustration systems between 310 and 2,900 times less CO2e per image than humans.
“I like to think of myself as driven by data, not just what I feel is true. We’ve had discussions about something that appears to be true in terms of AI emissions, but we wanted to look at the data and see if it truly is more efficient,” Torrance said. “When we did it, the results were kind of astonishing. Even by conservative estimates, AI is extremely less wasteful.”
The study, co-written with Bill Tomlinson, Rebecca Black and Donald Patterson of the University of California-Irvine, was published in the journal Nature.
To calculate the carbon footprint of a person writing, the researchers consulted the Energy Budget, a measure that considers the amount of energy used in certain tasks for a set period of time. For example, it is well established how much energy a computer with word processing software uses per hour. When multiplied by the average time it takes a person to write a page of text, on average, 250 words, an estimate can be arrived at. Using the same amount of energy used by the CPUs that operate AI such as ChatGPT, which can produce text much faster, produces an estimate for AI.
Researchers also considered per capita emissions of individuals in the United States and India. Residents of the former have approximate annual emissions of 15 metric tons CO2e per year, while the latter is an average of 1.9 metric tons. The two nations were chosen as they have the highest and lowest respective per capita environmental impact of countries with population higher than 300 million, and to provide a look at different levels of emissions in different parts of the world in comparison to AI.
Results showed that Bloom is 1,400 times less impactful than a U.S. resident writing a page of text and 180 times less impactful than a resident of India.
In terms of illustration, results showed that DALL-E2 emits approximately 2,500 times less CO2e than a human artist and 310 times less than an India-based artist. Figures for Midjourney were 2,900 times less for the former and 370 times less for the latter.
As technologies improve and societies evolve, those figures are almost certain to change as well, Torrance said.
The authors wrote that carbon emissions are only one factor to consider when comparing AI production to human output. As the technologies exist now, they are often not capable of producing the quality of writing or art that a human can. As they improve, they hold the potential to both eliminate existing jobs and create new ones. Loss of employment has potential for substantial economic, societal and other forms of destabilization. For those and other reasons, the authors wrote, the best path forward is likely a collaboration between AI and human efforts, or a system in which people can use AI to be more efficient in their work and retain control of final products.
Legal issues such as the use of copyrighted material in training sets for AI must be considered, the authors wrote, as does the potential for an increase in artificially produced material to result in an increase in the energy it uses and resulting emissions. Collaboration between the two is the most beneficial use of both AI and human labor, the authors wrote.
“We don’t say AI is inherently good or that it is empirically better, just that when we looked at it in these instances, it was less energy consumptive,” Torrance said.
The research was conducted to improve understanding of AI and its environmental impact and to address the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals of ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns and taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, the researchers wrote.
For their part, the authors have begun to use AI as an aid in producing drafts for some of their writing, but they also agree on the necessity of carefully editing, and adding to, such drafts manually.
“This is not a curse, it’s a boon,” Torrance said of AI. “I think this will help make good writers great, mediocre writers good and democratize writing. It can make people more productive and can be an empowerment of human potential. I’m hugely optimistic that technology is getting better in most respects and lightening the effects we have on the Earth. We hope this is just the beginning and that people continue to dig into this issue further.”
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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”
a KU News Service podcast hosted by Kansas Public Radio.
https://kansaspublicradio.org/podcast/when-experts-attack
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Contact: Carrie Caine, Institute for Policy & Social Research, 785-864-9102, [email protected]
Join the Institute for Policy & Social Research for doctoral research fellow presentations
LAWRENCE — The Institute for Policy & Social Research at the University of Kansas will showcase the research efforts of the 2023-2024 IPSR Doctoral Research Fellows this week at a public reception.
The interdisciplinary cohort of scholars will each give a five-minute overview of their research, followed by a five-minute period for audience members to ask questions. The event will take place 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 5 at the Burge Union (Forum C). Registration is requested by email.
This year’s program will include:
“Local Transformative Capacity and Policy Innovation,” by Mohsen Fatemi, public affairs & administration; adviser: Rachel Krause, professor of public affairs & administration.
“Theorizing Sanctions in Networked Counterpublics. A Study of #StopAsianHate,” by Tatsuya Suzuki, communication studies; adviser: Alcides Velasquez, assistant professor of communication studies.
“Municipal Tax Sale: Race, Profit, and Urban Renewal,” by Noelle Broughton, public affairs & administration; adviser: Dorothy Daley, professor of public affairs & administration.
“How Do Children Self-locate Themselves in the Social Hierarchy? Educationally Homogamous Parents, Working Mothers, and Children’s Subjective Social Status,” by Heeyoun Shin, sociology; adviser: ChangHwan Kim, professor of sociology.
“The Effects of Parental Migration on the Well-Being of Children Left Behind in Zimbabwe,” by Christabel Tsoto, geography & atmospheric science; adviser: Jay T. Johnson, University Distinguished Professor, geography & atmospheric science.
“Perpetuating Neoliberal Pathologies: What Teacher Candidates Believe Students with Disabilities Should Learn,” by Marie Wagner, special education; advisers: Wayne Sailor, senior scientist, special education, and Elizabeth Kozleski, adjunct, special education.
“Smart Home’s Meaning in Later Life: How Older Adults Make Meaning of Smart Home Technology in their Lives,” by Derek Wilson, sociology; advisers: Brian Donovan, professor of sociology, and Sarah Jen, assistant professor of social welfare.
“Investigating Reinforcing Spirals in Incidental Exposure to Political News and News Engagement on Social Media Applications,” by Sreerupa Sanyal, communication studies; adviser: Ashley Muddiman, associate professor of communication studies.
“Refining Hazard Mitigation Planning: Assessing Government Outsourcing’s Influence on Local Plan Quality,” by Yiwen Wu, public affairs & administration; adviser: Ward Lyles, associate professor of public affairs & administration.
“COVID-19 Transmission Paths and Treatment-Seeking Behavior among Slum Residents in Kolkata, India,” by Senjuti Mallik, geography & atmospheric science; adviser: Barney Warf, professor of geography & atmospheric science.
“Contemporary Fathering in Middle America,” by Jennifer Babitzke, sociology; adviser: Tracey LaPierre, associate professor of sociology and gerontology.
Throughout the academic year, the fellows meet to share research and develop professional skills. Students interested in participating in the program in future years are encouraged to attend and talk with the graduating fellows program cohort. Applications for the 2024-2025 academic year begin with a letter of nomination due April 26. To submit a letter of nomination, please complete this online survey.
The IPSR Doctoral Research Fellows program is led by Jay T. Johnson, University Distinguished Professor and director of the Center for Indigenous Science, Research & Technology.
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