Coffee, Tech, & Teaching

September Meetup: AI Across Campus

Our goal is to bring together academic technologists (and friends) from around the university to share experiences, best practices, and new ideas. With input from the community, we hope to foster sharing, networking, and more collaboration across the schools and units here at Harvard.

Join us on September 11th online or in person at the Lamont Library Forum Room. The room is open at 3:00pm, so come early, grab a cup, and connect with colleagues! Presentations are from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. 

Featured Speakers 

                                 Jeff Steward : AI at the Harvard Art Museum

Director of Digital Infrastructure and Emerging Technology, Harvard Art Museum

For over twenty years, Jeff has worked at museums with museum data. He’s spent that time working on the fundamental interconnectedness of all things at two major art museums in the greater Boston Area: MFA, Boston and Harvard Art Museums (HAM). Jeff is currently Director of Digital Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies (DIET) at HAM where he manages a small team that builds data pipelines; supports broad access to institutional records; visualizes cultural datasets; creates tools for making art fun, accessible, and enjoyable; and explores the merits of human and synthetically generated data.

Sara Weaver: HUbot: HUIT-built AI tutorbot

Program Manager, HUIT Academic Technology

Sara has been working with HUIT Academic Technology since November 2019. Beginning as a User Support Specialist and then as a Business Analyst, Sara honed her expertise on the University-Wide academic technologies that HUIT offers here at Harvard. Sara recently became a Program Manager in HUIT Academic Technology, and during the 2024-2025 Academic Year, she and Ian Tosh ran a pilot program to pilot AI tutorbots in the classroom.

Fritz Kocher: Field Research Navigator - HBS AI Bot

Senior Application Analyst, HBS IT

Fritz has been a member of the Application Service Administration team for three years, currently concentrating on all things AI and collaboration. Prior to this role, Fritz supported Zoom and other hybrid teaching/live event technologies at Texas A&M University. These days, he spends his time supporting the operationalization and technical support for Generative AI applications like ChatGPT. He loves to chat about all things LLMs and Generative AI.

Jesslyn Boisclair: Canvas’s New AI tools 

Business Analyst, Academic Platform Support HUIT

Jesslyn is a Business Analyst with HUIT’s Academic Technology team, where she has worked for the past eight years. As the service offering owner for Canvas, she enjoys collaborating with school academic technologists and learning about creative uses of technology in teaching and learning. Outside of work, Jesslyn can be found logging movies on Letterboxd, spoiling her cat Ina, or going for a long run. Jesslyn will be presenting some of the current available AI Tools in Canvas, piloting tools and future options.