Lucas Joppa keynote speaker

Dr. Lucas Joppa is a computational scientist, corporate operator and technology investor whose distinguished career spans AI research, large-scale digital infrastructure deployment, and enterprise software development and investment. His work has focused on the responsible design, development, and deployment of artificial intelligence—across algorithms, products, and cloud infrastructure—to improve society’s ability to address complex global challenges.

Dr. Joppa’s contributions to artificial intelligence and its applications have been published in the world’s leading scientific journals, including Science and Nature and AI conferences such as AAAI, IEEE/CVF, AAMAS, and ICLR. His peer-reviewed research includes foundational work on applying machine learning to scientific discovery, advancing interpretability in production software systems, and deploying AI across domains such as theoretical ecology, conservation biology, climate and weather forecasting, and large-scale geospatial analysis. His work has been widely covered by major media outlets including The Economist, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg. He has been profiled by Nature, Bloomberg, and IEEE Spectrum, and he has been interviewed by leading machine learning forums and podcasts such as ‘This Week in Machine Learning’.

Dr. Joppa earned his PhD from Duke University, where he focused on computational approaches to environmental science, before joining Microsoft Research as a computational scientist. There he was mentored by and worked closely with AI pioneer Eric Horvitz, Microsoft’s Chief Scientific Officer. Former members of his teams and interns have gone on to become leading AI researchers and entrepreneurs at institutions and organizations including Google, Microsoft, Cornell and MIT.

Beyond research, Dr. Joppa is an inventor and product leader who has created and overseen the shipping of enterprise-scale AI systems. He led the creation and launch of Microsoft’s original cloud-based GeoAI Data Science Virtual Machine as well as Microsoft’s Planetary Computer, a leading geospatial AI DevOps platform. He is also an inventor on multiple AI-related patents spanning cloud-scale machine learning, geospatial analytics, and applied AI infrastructure.

Dr. Joppa proposed, created, and led Microsoft’s $50 million, five-year AI for Earth program— one of the technology sector’s first purpose-driven AI initiatives and a blueprint for several hundred million dollars of subsequent AI-for-good investments. Under his leadership, the program enabled environmentally-focused AI deployments across more than 700 organizations in nearly 100 countries.

As Microsoft’s first Chief Environmental Scientist and later its first Chief Environmental Officer, Dr. Joppa oversaw the company’s global environmental sustainability strategy and a $1 billion investment fund. In this role, he was deeply involved in the development and operation of hyperscale AI and cloud infrastructure, including global renewable energy procurement, onsite energy generation and storage, liquid immersion cooling, and predictive systems to maximize data center asset utilization and efficiency.In recognition of his impact, Dr. Joppa was named one of Fortune’s “40 Under 40,” recognized by Future as one of the 50 most influential people in technology, and in 2021 was listed by Clarivate as one of the world’s most highly cited researchers. As part of Microsoft’s 50thAnniversary, Lucas was named as one of the 50 alumni whose stories ‘shaped the future’ at Microsoft.

Lucas currently serves as a Senior Managing Director at Haveli Investments, where he leads the firm’s AI strategy and supports the development and operation of AI-enabled software and infrastructure businesses. He additionally serves as an AI advisor to a large global private equity firm and is Professor Adjunct at Yale University, where he engages in research and teaching at the intersection of artificial intelligence and the environment.