Karen Colbert to Deliver Opening Keynote at 2025 MS-CC Annual Meeting

Strategist, data scientist, and leading advocate will explore digital sovereignty in the age of AI

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Karen Colbert — artificial intelligence strategist, data scientist, and nationally recognized advocate for STEM — will deliver the opening keynote at the 2025 Annual Meeting for the MS-CC. The event will take place May 28-30 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Colbert's keynote, "We Won't Code Switch for the Algorithm: The Future of AI and the Urgency of Digital Sovereignty," will explore how AI is reshaping education, research, and opportunity. She will challenge communities to lead with cultural integrity in this new digital paradigm.

Drawing from her experience in advancing AI literacy, culturally responsive education, and data storytelling, Colbert will share how digital sovereignty can ensure that AI becomes a tool of empowerment, not erasure. The keynote is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. CT on May 29 at the Loews Nashville at Vanderbilt Plaza.

Empowering the Next Generation of Scholars and Leaders
Colbert is the General Education Department Chair and Lead Math Faculty at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College, where she advances quantitative and computational literacy among both students and faculty.

She was named the RStudio Scholar in 2021 and later became the first Data Carpentries Instructor and Trainer among TCUs, helping to bridge the digital divide in Indigenous higher education. Colbert also serves on the Faculty Advisory Committee for the American Indian College Fund and is a leading advocate for AI in research and education, with a focus on ensuring that non-traditional, re-entry, and adult scholars are not left behind in the AI revolution.

Community. Collaboration. Connection. 
The MS-CC Annual Meetings are gatherings of peers, practitioners, community-builders, advocates, and leaders from HBCUs, TCUs, HSIs, and the broader community of MSIs. These events create a space where HBCUs and TCUs lead the conversation around sustainable campus-level IT capabilities for data-intensive education and research programs.

The MS-CC Annual Meetings are made possible thanks to support and funding from the National Science Foundation under awards #2137123 and #2234326.

Registration is now open. To learn more and secure your spot, visit the event website.

About the MS-CC | www.ms-cc.org 
The MS-CC aims to strengthen cyberinfrastructure for research and education across a wide range of fields and communities, taking into account the education, research, and service missions of participating institutions. In partnership with Internet2, the MS-CC received funding from the National Science Foundation to support this vision: OAC Award # 2137123 and OAC Award # 2234326.

SOURCE Internet2