Hannah Kerner

Hannah Kerner is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on advancing the foundations and applications of machine learning to foster a more sustainable, responsible, and fair future for all. As the AI Lead for NASA’s agriculture programs, NASA Harvest and NASA Acres, she is deploying research methods in real applications across the globe; her projects have directly resulted in optimized agricultural planning, disaster response, and financial relief in various regions around the world. The impact of Kerner’s research was recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 and the International Research Centre On Artificial Intelligence’s Top 10 projects solving problems related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals with AI. 

AI2050 Project

Kerner’s project develops new AI methods that help decision-makers use satellite data to measure and monitor applications and indicators of sustainable development—without needing AI expertise. Instead of having to implement custom AI workflows for each use case, users can describe their objective in plain language, and the AI will generate custom maps to support decisions in areas like farming, climate, and conservation. Users can also provide feedback to improve the model’s outputs. By making this technology more accessible and accountable to users, the project aims to empower communities around the world to tackle urgent sustainability challenges using Earth observation data.