Creative AI: Music, Authorship, and Algorithmic Culture

Design@Large is a UC San Diego course powered by The Design Lab that is open to the public.

About the Series

Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to research labs or technical infrastructure—it is embedded in classrooms, creative practice, healthcare systems, communication platforms, and planetary-scale infrastructures. As AI systems move from experimental tools to everyday companions, decision-makers, and mediators of social life, the question is no longer whether AI will shape our future, but how—and by whom.

At the Design Lab, we approach AI not simply as an algorithmic achievement, but as a fundamentally human-centered design challenge. Intelligent systems must be technically robust, yet responsive to lived experience; powerful at scale, yet grounded in context; innovative, yet attentive to equity and responsibility. Across seven sessions, Design@Large in Spring 2026 brings together leading voices from research, industry, education, law, health, and the arts to explore how AI is designed, deployed, governed, and experienced in real-world settings. From generative AI in education and music to embodied intelligence in XR, from disability justice and communication to sustainable computing and Indigenous data sovereignty, and from personal AI companions to value-based care in health systems, the series examines AI where it meets people, institutions, and infrastructures.

Rather than treating AI as a purely technical system, we frame it as a site of negotiation among human values, institutional incentives, cultural norms, and material conditions. Each session pairs scholars, practitioners, and industry leaders to interrogate how design decisions shape agency, creativity, trust, access, and care at scale.

Design@Large is open to the broader public and livestreamed online, while also serving as a core seminar for over 100 undergraduate and graduate students at UC San Diego. Together, we ask: What does it mean to design AI responsibly? How do we ensure that intelligent systems amplify human capability without reproducing harm? And how can design guide AI toward more just, inclusive, and sustainable futures?

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San Diego | Life Science Career Expo

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Explore job opportunities with Life Science companies in San Diego and expand your network—for free. Gain insights into career prospects.

Biocom Institute invites you to San Diego Life Science Career Expo on April 29, 2026, from 11 am to 2 pm. This event connects job ready talent with hiring life science companies through targeted networking and career focused programming. Meet employers actively recruiting, explore open roles, and engage directly with industry professionals. Whether you are early in your career or seeking your next opportunity, this curated hiring experience is designed to help you take the next step with confidence

Here’s what we have to offer:

• Connect directly with life science companies that are actively hiring and looking to engage with job seekers across all career stages through intentional, face to face networking conversations

• Explore a broad range of employment opportunities aligned with diverse educational backgrounds, technical skill sets, and career pathways across the life science ecosystem

• Participate in career focused workshops led by industry professionals offering practical insights on today’s hiring landscape, resume strategy, interview preparation, and navigating career growth in life sciences

• Engage with a mini resource fair featuring local community organizations, workforce partners, and training programs that support education, upskilling, and career advancement in the life science industry.

Participating Exhibitors:

  • Bachem Americas
  • Bound Therapeutics
  • Capricor
  • Cellular Delivery
  • Crinetics Pharmaceuticals
  • Neomorph, Inc.
  • Grifols Biologicals
  • Polypeptide
  • Scripps Research
  • Serafin Lab Founders

More to come!

Looking to maximize your experience at the Career Expo?

Join this job seeker readiness , webinar happening virtually on April 21, 2026 from 5-6pm led by two industry experts. Learn how to research companies, craft a strong elevator pitch, identify who to connect with, and gain practical guidance on what to bring, how to dress, and how to make a confident first impression before you attend. Register here!

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AGENDA:

11:00 AM – 2:00 PM | Job Fair

Workshops

11:45 AM – 12:15 PM | Turning Networking into Opportunity: How to Connect, Follow Up, and Stand Out

1:00 PM – 1:30 PM | Life Science Career Panel

For questions, [email protected]

NOTE: Walk-ins will be welcome as capacity allows.
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Global Immunotalks 2026

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These events are sponsored by the School of Biological Sciences. School staff and faculty can log in to view additional events on the secured calendar. You can find general information on cyclical programs on the series description page. The School also curates a list for events supporting diversity, equity and inclusion on our EDI Calendar.

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The Talent Fleet: Anchoring San Diego’s Future with Modern Apprenticeships

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​​​​⚠️ THIS IS AN EMPLOYER-ONLY EVENT

​Join OpenClassrooms and MiraCosta College for an exclusive evening dedicated to the future of local, diverse talent. Discover how to scale your team using grants that cover upskilling, training, and mentorship.

​Event Essentials

​​📆 Date: Thursday, April 30, 2025

​​​⏰ Time: 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

📍 Location: San Diego (Register for more info)

​​​🥂 Drinks: Open bar (Alcoholic & Non-Alcoholic)

​🏆 Perks: Goodies for all + Door Prize Raffle entry

💲 Cost: FREE

​Why Attend?

  • ​Access Funded Talent: Meet candidates for roles in Marketing, App Dev, Cybersecurity, Data, Sales (SDRs), and IT Help Desk.

  • ​Zero-Cost Upskilling: Leverage grants to provide free tech training as an HR perk—increasing retention by up to 90%.

  • ​Speed Up Hiring: Fill open roles in as little as 2–3 weeks with pre-screened, culture-fit candidates.

  • ​Reduce Costs: Take advantage of salary reimbursements and mentor-backed training models.

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Vibe Coding: Sequencing Your Build

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You have an idea and you know how to prompt an AI coding tool to build things. But where do you start? If you try to build everything at once, you end up with a tangled mess that breaks every time you change something. If you start with the wrong piece, you paint yourself into a corner three features from now.

This session teaches you how to decompose your product idea into buildable pieces and sequence them in the right order. You will learn to identify the core of your product, the one thing it has to do before anything else matters, and build outward from there.

By the end of two hours, you will have a sequenced build plan for your own project that you can execute one step at a time.

 

What You Will Learn

•      How to break down a product idea into individual features and components without overcomplicating it.

•      Which piece to build first. How to identify the core of your product and why starting there saves you from rebuilding later.

•      Dependency mapping. How to figure out which pieces depend on other pieces so you build in the right order.

•      Writing a build plan. How to turn your decomposition into a step-by-step plan you can hand to an AI coding tool one prompt at a time.

•      Scoping for reality. How to draw the line between “must have for v1” and “nice to have for later” so you actually ship something.

 

What You Will Walk Away With

•      A written build plan for your project, broken into sequenced steps.

•      A clear understanding of what to build first and why.

•      A framework for decomposing any future feature or product.

 

Prerequisites

This session assumes you have some experience building with AI coding tools. You will get the most out of it if:

•      You have attended the intro vibe coding workshop or have basic experience prompting an AI coding tool.

•      You have a project idea in mind, even a rough one.

 

What to Bring

•      A laptop with a browser (all tools we use are web-based)

•      A project you are working on or want to start

•      An idea for what you want to build (a rough description is fine)

 

Part of the From Prototype to Product Series

This is Session 1 of 10 in the Vibe Coding: From Prototype to Product workshop series. Each session stands alone, but the full series is designed as a progression from first build to finished product.

Full series ticket holders get access to all 10 sessions, weekly lab sessions for live troubleshooting, recordings of every session, and Founder Guide community access. Full series: $480 (10 sessions for the price of 8). Visit the series page for details.

Already have a series ticket? Enter your promo code at checkout to register for free.

About the Facilitator

Todd Bashor is the founder of Founder Guide and has 25 years of experience building and scaling software products at ServiceNow, FICO, and Intuit. He co-founded NewRocket in 2017 and led it through hypergrowth to acquisition in 2022. He now works with early-stage founders on product validation, traction, and go-to-market strategy.

Todd has been coding with AI for over two years and has mentored multiple non-technical founders through building their first MVPs with vibe coding tools.

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Save the Date! CSA San Diego April Event

Come and join CSA San Diego for our April in-person event sponsored by Kodem.

We have Mahesh Babu, CMO of Kodem, discussing RCE in LLM Coding Agents: Lessons from Newly Disclosed Claude Code Vulnerabilities.

Please be sure to RSVP to save your spot. If you cannot make it, please have the courtesy to cancel to make room for others, as we have limited seating. Look forward to seeing everyone!!

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How India Is Reimagining Government Through Digital Innovation

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Southern California Life Sciences & Biotech Summit

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Why You Won’t Want To Miss This Conference:

What You’ll Learn: 

  • Mapping the Next Frontier of Growth: How Southern California’s biotech, pharma, therapeutics and medtech industries are evolving, and which markets are maturing fastest.
  • Commercial Real Estate Outlook: How landlords, developers and owners are adapting to laboratory and biomanufacturing requirements in a rapidly advancing industry.
  • Funding & Investment Conditions: Who is investing, what types of science attract capital today, and how financing is shifting in 2026.
  • Commercialization & Scaling: How startups are moving from discovery to proof-of-concept, early manufacturing and commercial deployment—plus how real estate plays into that journey.
  • Technology & Infrastructure Innovation: How AI, data science, robotics and automation are influencing design requirements and operational decision-making.
  • Institutional Partnerships: How universities, research institutions and government are shaping growth through capital, workforce pipelines and innovation accelerators.

How You’ll Do More Business From Attending This CRE Event: Southern California life sciences market is driven by an expanding biotech startup ecosystem, a surge in late-stage developments, a diversified talent pool, and accelerating commercialization of research coming from world-class institutions. San Diego, Orange County, and Greater Los Angeles are providing new territory for investors, developers, property owners, and operators to capture market share. Join leaders across biotech, R&D, real estate, investment, and government as we explore the forces shaping the next decade of SoCal’s life sciences sector, and identify where opportunities are emerging across development, investment and more.

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2026 GET-AI SERIES: 1. From Prompt to Power – The Gen AI Starter Lab

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Join us virtually or in person—though we highly recommend attending in person to get the most out of the session.

We are excited to continue the Orange County Computer Society (OCCS) Global Emerging Technologies (GET) Series—a monthly platform dedicated to spotlighting transformative innovations in computer science and technology. Hosted by the IEEE Orange County Computer Society Chapter, this series brings together professionals, students, and tech enthusiasts to explore the cutting edge of what’s possible.

Following a highly engaging March session filled with thought-provoking conversations on Advancement in Digital healthcare , we’re thrilled to bring you a powerful double-feature this April—exploring both the strategic and technical sides of artificial intelligence.

Curious about Generative AI? This hands-on lab simplifies core concepts—from tokens and LLMs to RAG, Agents, and MCP—while showing how they work together in real systems. By the end, you’ll gain the skills and confidence to build your own AI-powered applications.

Session 1: Understanding Generative AI — Core Principles and Industry Impact (40 mins)

1. What is GenAI

Understand how AI generates content and why it’s transforming every industry.

2. Tokens & How LLMs Think

Learn how text is broken into tokens and how that impacts cost, speed, and output.

3. Models & Ecosystem

Explore key GenAI players and choose the right model for your use case.

4. Prompting (Vibe Programming)

Master the art of guiding AI using structured, effective prompts.

5. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

Enhance AI accuracy by grounding responses in your own data.

6. Agents (Automation Layer)

Move beyond chatbots to AI systems that can reason, plan, and take actions.

7. MCP (Tool Integration Layer)

Enable AI to securely discover and interact with real-world tools and APIs.

Session 2: GenAI in Action — From Prompt to Working Prototype (60 mins)

1. Hands-On Build

Follow along in a live demo as we integrate concepts and build an AI-powered application in real time using Visual Studio Code and Python notebooks

2. Architecture & Best Practices

Understand how all components fit together in a real-world AI system.

3. Next Steps

The journey doesn’t end here—stay with us for what’s next.

Gora Datta  

FHL7,SMIEEE,SMACM

Chair IEEE Computer Society – OC Chapter

Chair IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) – OC Chapter

Chair & Board Member IEEE Blockchain Technical Community

Founding Chair IEEE P3271.01 Working Group – Standard for Recurring Transactions Using Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs)

📧 gora.datta@ieee.org 
🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/goradatta

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Nature-Inspired Cities: A Biomimicry Workshop for Designing the Future

  • ​What is the event?

    • ​A workshop introducing biomimicry as a design approach inspired by nature

    • ​Explores how natural systems can inform the design of cities, buildings, infrastructure, and materials

    • ​Focuses on applying principles shaped by 3.8 billion years of natural evolution

    • ​Includes real-world case studies and applied learning activities

  • ​Why should you come?

    • ​Learn how nature can be used as a model for solving real-world design challenges

    • ​Understand how biomimicry applies to urban planning, architecture, and systems thinking

    • ​Explore practical tools for analyzing natural patterns as design strategies

  • ​Learning Objectives:

    • ​Explain natural patterns and forms as design blueprints for resilient built environments.

    • ​Summarize how biomimicry methodology applies to urban planning, design, architecture, and systems thinking.

    • ​Identify how biomimicry principles can be incorporated into design solutions that overcome environmental challenges.

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