Dickinson College to Host Panel on the Effects of AI
Panelists will discuss the rise in AI use and the resulting ethical concerns and other complications
by Layla Ilarraza '26
Dickinson will host a panel discussion on the use of AI and its implications for ethics, the environment and beyond. The discussion, “Real World Effects of AI,” will take place on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public.
The panelists will discuss the rise in AI use, the construction of data centers and federal regulations related to AI expansion. They will also explore ethical concerns and complications regarding AI and various applications of generative-AI models.
The panelists are:
- Hannah Beckler, award-winning investigative reporter for Business Insider. Her recent work focuses on the rise in data-center construction and its environmental and economic impacts.
- John MacCormick, professor of computer science at Dickinson and author of four books, including Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today’s Computers and Thinking AI: How Artificial Intelligence Emulates Human Understanding. His work focuses on public understanding and education of computer science and large-scale distributed systems.
- Amy McKiernan, associate professor of philosophy and director of the Ethics Across Campus & the Curriculum program at Dickinson. Her research focuses on ethical theory, biomedical ethics and environmental ethics, and she currently directs Dickinson’s campuswide Core Values Project.
- Fengqi You, the Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Energy Systems Engineering at Cornell University, chair of Cornell’s Ph.D. program in systems engineering, co-director of the Cornell University AI for Science Institute, co-director of the Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture and director of the Cornell AI for Sustainability Initiative. He serves on the editorial board of multiple publications and is the editor of Computers & Chemical Engineering and the associate editor of AAAS journal Science Advances, Applied Energy and IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.
This discussion will be moderated by Sara Markowitz, assistant director of the Clarke Forum. This panel is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty series.
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Published February 23, 2026