Speaker: Alex Cabral, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Ka Moamoa Lab, Georgia Tech; Incoming Assistant Professor, MIT

Abstract: Marginalized communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards but lack comprehensive data to monitor their hyperlocal environments, in part due to the geographic sparsity of regulatory monitors. Although low-cost, commercially available environmental sensors have created new opportunities for underserved areas, much of the research using these sensors is conducted in isolation and focused on small-scale studies. In this talk, I will outline two case studies that aim to address these shortcomings – 1) Eclipse: a 118-node air quality sensor network co-designed with city and community partners in Chicago, and 2) Noondawind: a sensing and data integration platform co-designed with Native American Nations to monitor environmental factors affecting the growth of Manoomin (wild rice), a vital cultural and economic resource for the Ojibwe people. I will discuss three key stages of these projects: hardware design, strategic sensor placement within urban spaces, and the creation of data visualizations. I will reflect on the successes, challenges, and lessons learned throughout these projects, emphasizing technical limitations, data sovereignty, and respect for local knowledge. This work contributes to a vision that integrates cyberinfrastructure, scientific research, and community collaboration to foster long-term sustainability across local and global communities.

Bio: Alex Cabral is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Ka Moamoa Lab at Georgia Tech and incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at MIT. She earned a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard University, where she was selected as a Siebel Scholar and CPS Rising Star and served as a member of the Urban Innovation group at Microsoft Research. Before attending graduate school, she was a Software Engineer at Xbox then middle and high school Computer Science, Math, and Robotics teacher. She has a B.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University and an M.S. in Computational Linguistics from University of Washington.