The Civic Innovation Initiative is directed by Dr. Jonathan Garlick, Faculty Fellow at the Auster Center and Founding Director of the Civic Science Collective. It operates at the intersection of science, society, and democracy—asking not just what research can discover, but how those discoveries reach, resonate with, and empower the people they are meant to serve.
The initiative's current focus is Trust in Artificial Intelligence: exploring the concerns, hopes, and opportunities that individuals and communities face as AI becomes embedded in civic life. Through public dialogue, participatory research, and community engagement, the initiative works to ensure that the communities most affected by emerging technologies have a voice in how those technologies are developed and deployed.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how communities access information, interact with institutions, and make decisions. Yet public understanding of AI—and public trust in it—remains fragile and uneven. The Civic Innovation Initiative is working to change that.
Through the Civic Science Collective's Dialogue Center, the initiative convenes conversations between scientists, citizens, and civic leaders to surface the values, concerns, and aspirations that should shape AI's role in public life. This is not outreach—it is co-inquiry. Communities are not audiences for these findings. They are partners in producing them.
Jonathan Garlick, DDS, PhD is Professor at Tufts University's School of Dental Medicine, School of Medicine, School of Engineering, and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. His NIH-funded research laboratory pioneers the use of stem cells in tissue engineering to develop new treatments for cancer, scleroderma, and diabetes-related complications.
He founded and leads the Civic Science Collective, a national initiative working to support scientists and citizens with the knowledge, skills, and practices needed to promote a culture of science that includes all who seek to participate. As an educator, Jonathan teaches students, scientists, and citizens to explore the impact of science in their lives—so they can earn public trust and strengthen civic life.
Palak Khanna is Chief of Operations for the Civic Science Collective and a co-facilitator of its Trust in AI dialogue series, hosted in partnership with the Tufts Auster Center for Innovation. In this role, she brings together expert voices to help a diverse range of stakeholders explore the promises and challenges of artificial intelligence, and ensure that community hopes and fears are at the center of that conversation.
Palak's path to this work runs through science diplomacy. A double jumbo with a focus on community health and a Master's in International Leadership and Communication from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, she went on to serve as a U.S. diplomat in Washington D.C., China, and Paraguay. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that she witnessed firsthand how the breakdown of trust between scientists and the public undermined critical public health negotiations. That experience inspired her to join the Collective, where she is committed to bridging understanding between communities with a stake in the most pressing science and technology issues of our time.
If your work touches sustainability measurement, data science, carbon reporting policy, open data, resource markets and exchanges the Environmental Innovation Initiative may be a natural home for collaboration. We welcome researchers from across Tufts and beyond.
Foundations, civic organizations, government agencies, and community groups are invited to reach out. This initiative is available for naming by a donor or foundation whose values align with its mission.
Students interested in sustainability measurement, data science, carbon reporting policy, open data, or resource markets and exchanges can explore fellowship and research assistant opportunities.
The initiative is currently hiring students for three positions in Fall 2026, if you are interested please click here to learn more.
Dr. Cansu Canca is a philosopher and the Founder and Director of AI Ethics Lab, a pioneering initiative focusing exclusively on advising practitioners and conducting multidisciplinary research on AI ethics. She is also the Director of Responsible AI Practice and a Research Associate Professor at Northeastern University. With a team of computer scientists, philosophers, and legal scholars, she provides hands-on, research-based consulting in integrating ethics analyses into AI innovation and implementing responsible AI governance for organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy specializing in applied ethics and serves as an ethics and governance expert for the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, and INTERPOL.
Jeffrey D’Amelia is a managing director in the Air and Space Forces Center in MITRE’s National Security Sector (MNS). In this role, he leads strategy development, definition and execution of the technical work program, and development of internal and external partnerships. Mr. D’Amelia integrates across MITRE’s National Security Engineering Center (NSEC) teams, MITRE’s technical divisions, and externally with key stakeholders to deliver a technically rigorous work program that is helping sponsors address their most challenging problems. He has held numerous leadership positions at MITRE, most recently as a chief engineer in MNS and previously department manager (DM) of the Network Analytics department in MITRE’s Infrastructure and Networking Innovation Center. Mr. D’Amelia earned both his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Computer Science from Tufts University.
Deniz Erdogmus is a COE Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University and Senior Director of Research, Innovation, and Partnerships at the Northeastern Innovation Campus in Burlington, MA. His research applies artificial intelligence, machine learning, and signal processing to human-centered systems, including assistive technologies and brain-computer interfaces, where technology innovation translates directly into improved quality of life and accessibility for diverse populations. He leads interdisciplinary collaborations spanning academia, industry, and government, and has been recognized with the NSF CAREER Award, the International Neural Network Society Young Investigator Award, and the IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award, among others. He joins this board with a commitment to fostering transdisciplinary innovation ecosystems that bridge engineering research and meaningful societal impact.
Clifford Harrison is the Founder and CEO of Blue Bridge, where he leverages over a decade of experience in life sciences and business development to bridge the gap between the pharmaceutical industry and underrepresented populations. By fostering the trust necessary for inclusive clinical research, he helps biopharma companies amplify their engagement and streamline enrollment for medical innovations. A graduate of Northeastern University and a dedicated civic leader based in Roxbury, MA, Clifford further serves through board positions at the Nativity Preparatory School and the National Center of Afro-American Artists.
Sonia Hofkosh is Associate Professor and Chair of the English Department in Arts & Sciences. As a scholar and teacher in the Humanities, she is committed to nurturing each student’s ability to read for nuance, think critically, and express themselves in writing with eloquence and style. She admits that she is concerned about the ethical, cognitive, economic, and environmental consequences of AI on human and planetary wellbeing. She is eager to participate in conversations about how such concerns might be addressed and how to build trust in AI by focusing on its potential positive social impacts.
Andrew Lawrence is a senior in the School of Arts & Sciences studying Computer Science and Science, Technology, and Society. Andrew is the director of Tufts AI Safety, a group committed to mitigating risks from advanced AI systems, and previously led The Lantern, a sociotechnical magazine. He has also held research positions at the University of Michigan and University of Connecticut, and his research background spans privacy, theoretical AI, and algorithmic fairness. Andrew is looking forward to helping shape the research priorities for the Auster Center’s 2026 Civic Innovation Program.
Carl Long is the Global Director for Quality, Service, and Productivity for Carbon Black at the Cabot Corporation. Much of his career has been spent in manufacturing, and he has held a variety of roles at the plant, regional, and global levels. With the forecasted adoption of AI into every corner of commercial enterprise, Carl wonders how AI will be trusted in situations where an understanding of the process for drawing conclusions is part of the supporting evidence when a high degree of confidence in outputs is required.
Julia Proshan is a PhD student in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University. Her research explores the role of artificial intelligence in both exacerbating and addressing racial inequality across contexts, from policing to the financial sector. Leveraging a combination of theories and methods from psychology, computer science, linguistics, and business, she examines the human and algorithmic components of racial bias to both identify and combat disparities within these two impactful domains. Outside of the lab, in partnership with the Stanford ePluribus initiative, Julia co-facilitates dialogues for graduate students on polarizing current events issues. Julia is a Tufts University alum and a former student in Dr. Jonathan Garlick's Science and the Human Experience (SHE) course.
Anton Shenk is an AI Policy Research Associate at RAND, where he studies how frontier AI systems reshape economies, competitive markets, and national security. His research spans AI market dynamics, general-purpose AI's macroeconomic impacts, and evaluation frameworks for AI risks. Shenk holds a B.S. in Quantitative Economics from Tufts, where he also took coursework in dialogue training.