The Notre Dame Club of Austin is thrilled and honored to once again host the Hesburgh Lecture Series on Tuesday, 18 October 2022 at 6.30p in the Executive Session Room at Austin City Hall.  This year's event will feature Kevin Bowyer, the Schubmehl-Prein Family Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, as our guest speaker.  Professor Bowyer's topic is entitled "When Numbers Lie:  When Algorithms Work Perfectly But Fail Miserably."

The famous saying "Numbers Don't Lie" may work when reporting the score of a football game, but even then, they don't tell the whole story.  In this year's edition of the Hesburgh Lecture Series, attendees will learn the basics behind data science and discover how easily human bias can be encoded into computer models.  The results of algorithms have implications for not only who may obtain a fair loan, but with who stays in prison and who's released, and who will be favored by machine learning "decisions."  With so many parts of our lives impacted by "Big Data," how do scientists balance algorithms and ethics?  Join Professor Bowyer to find out.

Inspired by the late Father Hesburgh's legacy of lifelong learning, the Hesburgh Lecture Series has brought University Faculty to Notre Dame Clubs and their local communities since 1986.  Hesburgh Lectures serve as an opportunity for Notre Dame Clubs to share a piece of Notre Dame's campus and academic experience with Alumni, Friends and the community by promoting an intellectual dialogue with a distinguished Member of the Faculty.

Additionally, Hesburgh Lectures are intended to showcase the depth and breadth of Notre Dame’s academic expertise and teaching.  To accomplish this goal, the Alumni Association seeks as Hesburgh Lecturers faculty who are outstanding researchers and excellent teachers, and who are able to communicate specialized knowledge and scholarly perspectives to a diverse adult audience.  It selects lecturers and topics that reflect the values of Notre Dame, and which can foster constructive and fruitful dialogue among members of the greater Notre Dame family.

A brief video of Father Hesburgh's vision and purpose for this program can be found here.

Austin City Hall is located at 301 West Second Street, right in the middle of Austin’s Central Business District.  The Executive Sessions Room is on the First Floor, and there will be signs directing you to the Room.  Space is extremely limited, however.  Accordingly, we ask that you please RSVP here.