Co-Opting AI: Athletics | Virtual Event
NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge, Sloane Lab, and the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia invite you to a new discussion in the series “Co-Opting AI.” This will be a completely virtual event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants the day prior to the event.
This event will shed light on the many ways in which data-driven technologies intersect with athletics, ranging from performance optimization and injury risk reduction, to labor, surveillance, and the global economy of sports.
George Atallah is the Assistant Executive Director of External Affairs for the NFL Players Association and has served in his role since May of 2009. Atallah manages the NFLPA’s strategic communications, including media relations, crisis management, digital content and social media. Using both traditional and new media forums, Atallah helped define the union’s position in the lead-up to and during the NFL lockout, along with numerous other high-profile issues and cases for nearly 15 years. Atallah’s professional experience constitutes financial services, non-profit organizations, international affairs, government and politics. Atallah was born in Lebanon and immigrated to New York City shortly after his birth due to civil war. He grew up in Queens, NY, went to Archbishop Molloy High School and attended Boston College receiving a B.A. in English and Philosophy. He later received an M.B.A. from the George Washington University. You can follow him on social media @georgeatallah.
Hannah Borenstein is a Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences Collegiate Division and Harper-Schmidt Fellow in the Society of Fellows at the University of Chicago. Her research is broadly concerned with intersections of sports, race, gender, politics, and labor, with a particular focus on long distance running in Ethiopia. Her book project, provisionally entitled Running to Labor: Ethiopian Women Distance Runners in Networks of Capital, comes from over two years of fieldwork in Ethiopia, along with multi-sited archival and anthropological research in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Her research situates the stories of women runners within a global political economy of sport as they navigate a world of corporate sponsorship, international competition, and gendered cultural expectations at home. Borenstein received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Duke University, with certificates in African and African and African American Studies, and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. In addition to academic writing she is also committed to public scholarship. All works and a complete CV can be found on her website: https://www.hannahborenstein.com/
Natalie Kupperman is an applied sports science researcher and certified athletic trainer. She studies the use of biometrics, wearables, and other athlete monitoring methods to reduce injury risk and optimize athletic performance. She is currently an assistant professor in the School of Data Science at the University of Virginia. Before that Kupperman was a Ph.D. student in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Virginia where she did research in the Exercise and Sport Injury Lab and athletics with the men’s basketball team and women’s volleyball team. Before her doctoral studies, she spent seven years at Northwestern University working clinically as an athletic trainer in Athletics and the University Health Service. Kupperman’s research interests include data infrastructure and pipelines for collaboration in athlete monitoring, dynamic models of injury risk and athlete readiness, creating seamless monitoring environments for teams, and data governance in sport. An overview of her work with the UVA men’s basketball team can be found here. Kupperman holds a Ph.D. in Education-Kinesiology/Sports Medicine and an M.Ed. in Athletic Training from the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Athletic Training from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Mona Sloane, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Data Science and Media Studies at the University of Virginia (UVA). As a sociologist, she studies the intersection of technology and society, specifically in the context of AI design, use, and policy. She also convenes the Co-Opting AI series and serves as the editor of the Co-Opting AI book series at the University of California Press as well as the Technology Editor for Public Books. At UVA, Mona runs Sloane Lab which conducts empirical research on the implications of technology for the organization of social life. Its focus lies on AI as a social phenomenon that intersects with wider cultural, economic, material, and political conditions. The lab spearheads social science leadership in applied work on responsible AI, public scholarship, and technology policy. More here: monasloane.org.
The Co-Opting AI event series is convened by Mona Sloane. It is hosted by NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge, UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, and Sloane Lab.