Bowdoin Professor Brings AI Research Home, Plans Local Data Lab

Professor Gomezgil Yaspik of Bowdoin College's Digital and Computational Studies Program returned from a late 2025 visit to South America after presenting and workshopping college research on AI and the humanities. In Lima she delivered a talk titled The Power of Large Language Models for the Social Sciences and later led Portuguese language workshops in Brazil that focused on integrating data science with humanities based inquiry. The trip included a keynote and faculty workshops at Brazilian institutions and a visit to the Instituto Internacional de Neurociências to explore collaborations at the intersection of artificial intelligence, brain science and education.

Bowdoin framed the trip as part of its Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity. College leaders say lessons from these international exchanges will inform an upcoming Data Science Lab planned for summer 2026. For residents of Sagadahoc County this sequence matters because it signals a concrete pipeline from global research partnerships to local educational programming. Students at Bowdoin and nearby schools can expect expanded course offerings and experiential projects tied to the lab, while local employers in education technology and healthcare could gain access to student talent and new applied research.

From an economic perspective the visit reinforces longer term trends in academia toward cross disciplinary work that combines computational methods with social science and ethical inquiry. Such work tends to attract external research funding and partnerships, which can translate into temporary and permanent jobs in research administration, teaching, and technical services. For a county with a college anchored in Brunswick, those funding flows can support vendor contracts, internships, and professional development for K through 12 teachers who may partner with the Data Science Lab.

Policy implications include the need for local education leaders and municipal officials to plan for curricular alignment, data privacy protocols, and workforce training to make the most of Bowdoin's growing international ties. As AI moves into classrooms and local institutions, the college driven initiatives now in formation could shape skill development and economic opportunities across Sagadahoc County in the years ahead.