Fourth annual Innovation Symposium brings intersection of AI and climate technology to LMU community

LMU’s Innovation Symposium, an annual event discussing the intersection of technology with different industries and establishments, took place on Friday, March 21 at LMU’s Playa Vista Campus. This year’s event centered around the influence of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) innovations on climate change and sustainability initiatives, and brought in a diverse mix of panelists to provide perspectives on the next steps toward a cleaner and more sustainable future.

Focusing on the Los Angeles community, this symposium highlighted cutting-edge innovations and the impact of climate uncertainty on surrounding communities. While acknowledging the difficulties and challenges that could arise in this field, the panelists remained optimistic through their discussions by focusing on solutions rather than problems.

“This symposium is one of many initiatives that reflect LMU’s commitment to building bridges across organizations and industries. This commitment to collaboration is now needed more than ever. The tides are changing regarding the types of academic research that will be funded in the foreseeable future,” said LMU Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas Poon, Ph.D., in a brief address at the event.

Sunil Murthy, Ph.D., clinical associate professor of management, moderated one of the panels titled: “The Business of ClimateTech: Opportunities and Challenges.” Panelists included members from the investment, business and clean energy community sectors. They highlighted the challenge of unpredictability and focused on how the United States may begin to struggle with certain policies and tariffs that are currently being implemented by the Trump administration.

“People are concerned and worried and the idea here is to kind of have a rationale, sensible discussion around that and see where the challenges are. How can we overcome them and then put us on a path in terms of navigating?” said Murthy in an interview with the Loyolan.

“Attendees will include alumni [and] they will include leaders from the business world and they are coming in with various ideas,” said Ana Mangal, Ph.D., clinical associate professor of information systems and business analytics, in an interview with the Loyolan. “So we also think of these as conversation starters or collaboration starters, where we are bringing together the community to have these important discussions.”

Mangal moderated another panel titled, “AI and ClimateTech: Innovations and Impact.” The panelists engaged in a discussion surrounding the importance of AI innovations and the impacts that these innovations can have on climate change and technology.

The potential positive and negative ramifications of implementing AI in the climate change space were discussed. Panelists pointed out that the more AI is used to solve problems, the more problems it could create.

Another panel, titled “Innovations in ClimateTech: Bridging Technology and Sustainability” moderated by Eric Strauss, Ph.D., president’s professor of biology at LMU and executive director of the Center for Urban Resilience (CURes), engaged in a discussion surrounding the solutions to climate stress, focusing on means of transportation and clean energy.

Topics such as the challenges LA faces with air pollution and the desire to find renewable natural gas solutions were crucial to the panel’s mission. After the event, Strauss shared his hopefulness with the Loyolan, inspired by his conversations with the panelists and his involvement in an event with the potential to make a real impact.

“In reality, these are major issues we have to face: climate degradation, sea level rise, the impact on cities, and we have to make these things livable,” said Strauss in an interview with the Loyolan. “Not just for developed nations, but all of those communities developing in the Global South and in areas where technology is just reaching. We need to get there.”

To conclude this year’s symposium, Dayle M. Smith, Ph.D., dean of the College of Business Administration (CBA) left the attendees with a lasting message, quoting the Native American proverb, “’We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it for our children.’ The critical role of innovation to create sustainable futures has never been more important.”