Is there a greener AI option? In this week's episode of Boiling Point from the @latimes.com, postdoc @cassiebuhler.bsky.social says yes. She discusses the benefits of #OpenWeight AI models, including energy efficiency and increased privacy. Listen: boiling-point.simplecast.com/episodes/is-... 🎙️ 🌱

🐾 Exploring new ways to communicate the hidden rhythms and wonders of the natural world by transforming movement into music. Ecology meets music theory — and a little magic 🎥 Watch: lnkd.in/guas6CZQ 💻 Programmed and composed in R + Python. 2/

Data scientists (including our team!) are increasingly interested in using & developing #LocalLanguageModels, which - spoiler alert - may not require data centers. For closer look at these tools' benefits visit: dse.berkeley.edu/news/open-lo... Image description: dse.berkeley.edu/image-descri...

Cheers to @uofcalifornia.bsky.social Berkeley News for this great write-up on the benefits of #OpenSourceAI models, featuring Schmidt DSE faculty advisor @cboettig.bsky.social and faculty co-director @fernandoperez.org. Read & share: news.berkeley.edu/2026/08/11/w... #OpenSource #OpenScience

Why we don’t need more data centers to build better AI - Berkeley News

Instead of power-hungry AI models, UC Berkeley experts argue that smaller and more efficient open-source technologies are the way of the future.

news.berkeley.edu

AI can move beyond data centers 📣 In a commentary in @nature.com today, Schmidt DSE faculty and researchers argue that #OpenSourceAI models are part of a more sustainable future for scientific computing. Read the story: www.nature.com/articles/d41... @cires.colorado.edu @cu-esiil.bsky.social

Why scientists should lead the shift away from AI mega data centres

Publicly available AI models and local infrastructure can reduce AI’s environmental footprint while giving researchers greater control over the tools they use.

nature.com

With new data science tools, UC Berkeley researchers at Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science & Environment are helping national parks in the Mojave Desert quickly assess fire damage — and plan for recovery. 🔗 https://bit.ly/4wnEl7g schmidtdse.bsky.social ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social

Thank you Berkeley News (@uofcalifornia.bsky.social) for featuring our suite of data science tools to support wildfire recovery: news.berkeley.edu/2026/08/05/w... #DataScience #FireRecovery #VegetationModeling #JoshuaTrees #OpenScience #OpenSource

With new digital tools, UC Berkeley researchers are helping Joshua trees survive wildfires - Berkeley News

New software lets national parks in the Mojave Desert quickly assess fire damage — and plan for recovery.

news.berkeley.edu

New on the blog: @lucialayr.bsky.social visited the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area & Channel Islands National Park to assess how our #OpenSource data science tools can improve fire recovery in these arid ecosystems. 🌱 See Lucia's notes & pics➡️ dse.berkeley.edu/news/field-s...

The Barbara and Gerson Bakar Gateway, the new home of CDSS, is nearing completion! This space will foster AI-driven discovery, interdisciplinary collaboration and provide student support as we work to find solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. 🔗 https://bit.ly/4uJCKbs #UCBerkeley

Kigali Sim is now published in the Journal of Open Source Software! The milestone marks a new chapter for our free, #OpenSource modeling tool w/ @unep.org to help #ReduceEmissions from the worst greenhouse gases. Read: joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21... Explore: dse.berkeley.edu/programs/red...

Kigali Sim: Open source simulation toolkit for modeling substances and policies related to the Montreal Protocol

Pottinger et al., (2026). Kigali Sim: Open source simulation toolkit for modeling substances and policies related to the Montreal Protocol. Journal of Open Source Software, 11(121), 10104, https://doi...

joss.theoj.org

We're thrilled to announce that Professor Alejandra Echeverri is our newest Faculty Advisor! Welcome @ornithoale.bsky.social!! 👏 👏 Full story: dse.berkeley.edu/news/announc... [Image description: Prof. Echeverri wearing black and smiling in front of a light brown wall] @natureatcal.bsky.social

Join us at the UC Open Summit featuring @fernandoperez.org & many other science and technology leaders and experts! #OpenSource #OpenScience

Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS)@ucbids.bsky.social · 7mo ago

⭐ Join BIDS, UC technologists, researchers, staff, and open source maintainers at the UC Open Summit in Berkeley, April 22-23 -- with MANY opportunities to learn and share! Get details about guest speakers, panels, & breakout sessions, and register free ➡️ ucospo.net/events/uc-op... #UCOSPO

Congrats @cieramartinez.bsky.social & Maya Weltman-Fahs for winning the "Excellence in Management" Award! 🥳 📰https://dse.berkeley.edu/news/dse-senior-program-managers-receive-excellence-management-award 📸Ciera (pictured in L photo) and Maya (pictured R w/ Lucia Layritz). Credit: Mat Burciaga

Thank you @schmidtfellows.bsky.social & @schmidtsciences.bsky.social for attending our workshop on #DataVisualization best practices! 💡Are you a #scientist looking to improve your data visualization game? Check out a our top tips & tool recs: dse.berkeley.edu/news/best-pr... 📸Claudine Gossett

👏 Last year DSE released 7 (!!) #OpenSource #AI tools that are helping advance global environmental #policymaking and improve #LandManagement. See them all in our 2025 annual report! 📘https://dse.berkeley.edu/2025-annual-report #KigaliSim #DataScience #EnvironmentalScience #AIForGood

📣NEW in Mongabay: DSE's McKalee Steen & Magali de Bruyn share insights on how #TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge and Indigenous digital sovereignty are key to creating #ResponsibleAI for achieving #conservation and environmental goals. 📰 Read the story now: bit.ly/4bqbrfG

AI-centered conservation efforts can only be ethical if Indigenous people help lead them (commentary)

In November, we joined more than 50,000 Indigenous and world leaders, diplomats, scholars and activists at the 30th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Brazil. Some of the most central...

bit.ly

🥳 We're #Hiring!! Are you a #SoftwareEngineer and/or #DataScientist interested in #biodiversity and #bioacoustics research? 🦉🐸 🐻 This role will build and maintain high-performance computing workflows, data infrastructure, and research software & so much more. Apply now: bit.ly/Bioacoustics...

2025 #wrapped: DSE data viz 📊 🎨 One of our favorites from last year, designed by DSE's Amanda Anderson-You, depicts the inner-workings of "Josh": our new, open source vegetation modeling software codeveloped with the National Park Service. ➡️ dse.berkeley.edu/news/2025-wr... #DataVisualization

If you are into vegetation modeling and disturbance recovery, meet me at #AGU25 this week! ❄️ Oral on disturbance recovery in the boreal forest - Tue, 8:50 - 9:00 tinyurl.com/oralBoreal 🔥 Poster on new approaches in fire recovery modeling - Wed, 14:15 tinyurl.com/joshmodels @schmidtdse.bsky.social

Thank you @bigadshaban.bsky.social and Raj Mathai @nbcbayarea.com for featuring @sampottinger.com & the United Nations #KigaliSim tool! Kigali Sim could help some countries ⬇️greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2040, developed here @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social 📰 www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/u...

UC Berkeley offers tech to United Nations to reduce pollution

A Berkeley mathematician has designed a new, easy-to-use interactive tool to help countries reduce harmful greenhouse gases

nbcbayarea.com

👏Today DSE and @unep.org are thrilled to launch Kigali Sim, an #OpenSource tool to help reduce global #GreenhouseGas #Emissions. Explore how Kigali Sim can improve policymaking under the #MontrealProtocol. 🎥 www.youtube.com/shorts/Yyy3S... #KigaliSim #UnitedNations @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social

Introducing Kigali Sim: an Open Source, Climate Data Tool for the United Nations

YouTube video by Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley

youtube.com

🌟 BIDS in 2025: Making geospatial data analysis and exploration free, open source, & accessible to everyone @geojupyter.bsky.social led by the teams at BIDS, @schmidtdse.bsky.social, @quantstack.bsky.social, @2i2c.org and @developmentseed.org ➡️ Hackathon highlights - geojupyter.org/blog/2025090...

📣 Our colleague Prof. Ted Grantham is #hiring a postdoctoral researcher to help lead development of hydrologic models & predict seasonal flow dynamics in CA streams. Bonus: you'd get to collaborate with our team! 👩🏻‍💻 Apply: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05228 #CaliforniaHydrology #JobOpening #NowHiring

Missed #JupyterCon25? You can catch up on YouTube! Check out @mfisher87.bsky.social and @fernandoperez.org's live demo of #GeoJupyter tools to help open and democratize geospatial data analysis: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5h7... 📹More from JupyterCon: www.youtube.com/@JupyterCon

GeoJupyter: An Open Community for Accessible, Collaborative, and Interactive... M. Fisher & F. Pérez

YouTube video by JupyterCon

youtube.com

Join @ucbids.bsky.social on 11/20 for a conversation & Q&A about open data science at the state of CA! Details below⬇️

Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS)@ucbids.bsky.social · 11mo ago

📣 OSPO Meetup on Thurs, Nov 20 @ 3:30pm PT -> An open approach to data science at the State of California Meet Monica Bobra (CA Office of Data & Innovation) - Help shape the future of open source at UC Berkeley at a fireside chat, a Q&A session, and community gathering time! 🍿🥤

Great to see you at #COP30, Governor @gavinnewsom.bsky.social! Magali de Bruyn (R) and McKalee Steen (L) are leading several events @ COP30, including providing recommendations for how Indigenous communities can leverage tech and #DataScience to advance #EnvironmentalStewardship and #Sovereignty.

We're live at #JupyterCon! Here's @mfisher87.bsky.social walking attendees through #GeoJupyter with @fernandoperez.org 🧑🏻‍💻 🌏 GeoJupyter is an open and community-driven effort to reimagine #geospatial interactive #computing experiences for education, research, & industry: bit.ly/49CMRY1 #GIS #Jupyter

Raise your hand if you're going to #JupyterCon 🙋‍♀️ See you there @ucbids.bsky.social! #JupyterCon2025 #DataScience

Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS)@ucbids.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Thurs, Nov 6 @ 10am PST -> Meet us on Zoom for a live report from #JupyterCon 2025 as part of our OSPO Monthly Knowledge Exchange! 💡🚀 events.berkeley.edu/BIDS/event/3... @jupyter.org #UCOSPO #OpenSource #OpenScience

Congrats Kristin Davis for her #ecology research that challenges the #NicheConservatismHypothesis: the theory that a species' ecological niche (conditions where individuals can survive and reproduce) remains stable over space & time. 🐦 Findings: bit.ly/3LeZyOL #Europeanstarling #housesparrow

How to overcome an "existential modeling crisis" as a science researcher, from DSE postdoc @lucialayr.bsky.social: ✅ Define modeling in your own words ✅ Embrace validation ✅ Find allies ✅ Trust in "the modeler's mindset" ✅ Draw from other experts 📸 @uofcalifornia.bsky.social by Mathew Burciaga