Sarah W. Newman is Director of Art & Education at Harvard University’s metaLAB at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Her work explores the social and ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence through research and teaching. Newman leads the AI Pedagogy Project, which provides guidance for educators to responsibly engage with AI, and she offers AI workshops to broad audiences. Newman is Co-founder of the Data Nutrition Project, which aims to mitigate bias in AI through tools and educational practices. She holds a BA in Philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA in Imaging Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Previous honors have included: Harvard Assembly Fellow, Harvard Berkman Klein Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio AI Resident, Artist-in-Residence at Northeastern School of Law, Notre Dame Tech Ethics grant recipient, National Endowment of the Arts grant recipient, and winner of the Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity.

CV

EDUCATION

Rochester Institute of Technology         May 2012

Master of Fine Arts, Imaging Arts

Washington University in St. Louis         May 2005

Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy

AWARDS & HONORS

Educational AI Video Winner, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, 2024

Commissioner, National Boyer Commission for the Future of Undergraduate Education, 2022-2023

Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity, 2022

Notre Dame Tech Ethics Lab Grantee, 2022

National Endowment for the Arts Grantee, 2021

Tech Spotlight Award, Harvard Belfer Center, 2021

AI Resident, Rockefeller Bellagio Center, 2019

Fellow, Harvard Assembly Program on the Ethics of AI, 2018, 2021

Fellow, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University, 2016-2019

Fellow, metaLAB (at) Harvard, 2013-2015

PUBLICATIONS

Chmielinski, K., Newman, S., et al. (2024). The CLeAR Documentation Framework for AI Transparency, Shorenstein Center, Harvard Kennedy School.

Chmielinski, K., Newman, S., et al. (2023). Quality Measures for Humanitarian Data - Report, United Nations Center for Humanitarian Data.

Newman, S. et al. (2023). Proposed Harvard AI Code of Conduct, metaLAB (at) Harvard

The Equity-Excellence Imperative. (2022). Boyer Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education.

Chmielinski, K., Newman, S., et al. (2022). The Dataset Nutrition Label (2nd Gen): Leveraging Context to Mitigate Harms in Artificial Intelligence, Neurips Workshop on Dataset Curation and Security.

Luo, E. M., Newman, S., et al. (2020). MIT COVID-19 Datathon: data without boundaries, BMJ Innovations, Vol. 7, Issue 1.

Newman, S. et al. (2020).  “The Dataset Nutrition Label: A Framework to Drive Higher Data Quality Standards” (book chapter) in Data Protection and Privacy: Data Protection and Democracy. Bloomsbury.

SELECT WORKSHOPS & TEACHING

2025

“Creative & Critical Engagement with AI,” workshop for MacArthur Foundation Summer Inst.,

“AI Design for Ocean Solutions,” January Term Course at Harvard Graduate School of Design

Co-author of Strategy and Implementation of AI for Johns Hopkins University/GovEx

Advisor on Sage Campus course Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

2024

“AI Pedagogy Workshops” with Prof. Maha Bali, American University in Cairo, online

Starting in ‘23: 

“Creative & Critical approaches to Generative AI,” ISDI Executive Education, Harvard

Starting in ‘17: 

Management and leadership workshops for the Berkman Klein Center staff, Harvard

2023

“Collaborating with AI,” January term course, Harvard Graduate School of Design

“Interrogating Data for AI,” Ars Electronica Festival, Johannes Kepler University

2022

“The Technology Future We (Actually) Want,” Harvard University

2020

Hands-on Remote Workshop: Economic Justice Course, Harvard

2019

 

“Which of your Values do you give to AI?” RightsCon, Tunis, Tunisia  •  “AI, Big Ideas, and Shiny Objects” Workshops, South by Southwest  •  “AI Demystification Workshop,” Capitol Factory, South by Southwest

2018

“AI, Big Ideas, and Shiny Objects” Workshops, Harvard and MIT

2017

Robots In & Out of Buildings + Knowledge Design Seminar, teaching staff, Harvard Grad. School of Design

"Sounds of Lesvos" Instructor, with Office of Displaced Designers, Mytilene, Grece  

2016

Harvard Wintersession Course Instructor, “Appropriate Memories: Photography Remix Studio,” Cambridge, MA

SELECT PRESS

How artificial intelligence can help build real intelligence in the classroom, Harvard Law Today, 2024

metaLAB exhibition in Kansas centers voices of formerly incarcerated women, Harvard Law Today, 2022

At the intersection of art & research, Sarah Newman explores how technology can teach us what it means to be human, Friends of Friends Magazine, 2021
Imagine a Life Surrounded by AI, The Harvard Gazette, 2020

SELECTED ONE- AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2022-2023 How the Light Gets In, Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
2021 The Future of Secrets, Munich, Germany
2020 Moral Labyrinth 2020, in collaboration with designer Jenny Fan. Supported by Northeastern University School of Law, Virtual
2019 The Future of Secrets, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
The Myth of Agency, Monash University Center Prato, Italy
Moral Labyrinth at WeRobot (with Jessica Fjeld), University of Miami, FL
2018 "The Future of Secrets," with Jessica Yurkofsky and Rachel Kalmar, South by Southwest, Austin
2017 "Nobody's Listening", with Rachel Kalmar, Harvard Art Museums Lightbox Gallery
2016 “Your Story Has Touched My Heart,” with Matthew Battles, video installation, Lightbox Gallery, Harvard Art Museums
2015 “Homage to a Future Self,” Indiana Wesleyan Art Gallery, Marion, Indiana
2015 “Feral Trees,” Lightbox Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA
2013 “På Våg: Through the City,” University Gallery, Rochester Institute of Technology, NY
2013 “Passing Place” pop-up show, Motel 6, North Platte, NE
2013 “Long the Path,” Galleri Breadfield, Malmö, Sweden
2012 “Between Lines” Installation, Sunken Gallery, Wallace Library, RIT, NY
2011 “Through Place,” MFA Thesis Exhibition, SPAS Gallery, Rochester, NY
2011 “Between Rivers: Sarah Newman and Virginia Pfau,” Innovation Gallery, RIT, NY
2007 “Grounds for Play,” Glogauer Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2007 “PLAY,” in collaboration with Anna Elise Johnson, Glogauer Studios, Berlin, Germany
2005 “Sarah Newman Photography,” The 200 Building, Miami, FL
2005 “How the Egg Split” Installation, Maryland Institute College of Art, J. Bank Building

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022 “All the Things I Know and Don’t Know” in Living by Protocol, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA
2019 The Myth of Agency, Monash University in Prato, Italy & Mozfest, London, UK
2018 Moral Labyrinth, Mozfest, Ravensbourne University, London
2018 The Future of Secrets, Digital Cultures Conference, Warsaw, Poland
2018 Moral Labyrinth, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria
2018 Moral Labyrinth in Machine Experience II, Rainbow Unicorn, Berlin
2017 Secrets (my inner voice is a robot), Hacking Arts, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge
2017 Nobody's Listening, Harvard Art Museums, and Selfie ESC Rome
2017 Republica Berlin, The Future of Secrets installation
2017 Republica Berlin, IF BY WATER video installation
2016 "TRUST (the presence of secrets)," Museum of Fine Arts Boston, mfaNOW Overnight Series, with Jessica Yurkofsky
2016 “Not to Be Played,” Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University
2015 “A Bit in the Abyss,” Installation, Iluminus Arts Festival, Boston, MA
2015 “Long the Path,” Video Installation, Form and Design Center, Malmö, Sweden and University Gallery, Rochester Institute of Technology
2014 “På Våg: Through the City,” Malmö University Symposium, Malmö, Sweden
2014 “Home,” Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA
2014 “Infringing the Law,” Glitch Gallery, Boston, MA
2014 “Framework,” Faultline Art Space, Oakland, California
2012 “Biotic Semiotics,” Allen Priebe Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, WI
2012 “Gallery r Benefit Auction,” Dyer Center of the Arts, Rochester, NY
2011 “ImageArt,” Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY
2010 “Porch,” Hungerford Gallery, Rochester, NY
2009 “SF Camerawork Annual Benefit Auction,” San Francisco, CA
2009 “Converge,” SPAS Gallery, Rochester, NY
2008 “12,5” Kunstverien Ingan Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2008 “Childhood Utopia/Dystopia," GFL Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 “Chicks, Flicks, and Automobiles,” Industrielle Gallery, Oakland, CA
2006 “ArtFutura 2006 Exhibition,” American Medical Association, Chicago, IL
2006 “Twenty-Three Resolutions,” MICA Fox 3 Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2000 “The Scholastic Art Awards National Exhibition,” The Corcoran Gallery of Art,
Washington, DC; The Corning Gallery at Steuben, NY; Miami Art Museum, FL

ARTIST LECTURES

2018 "Understanding Ourselves and AI through Art" Digital Cultures Conference, Warsaw, Poland
2018 "AI + Art", Symposium on the Future of Work and Society, North Shore Country Day School, Illinois
2018 AI + Art HIIG, Berlin
2018 SXSW AI + Art Panel
2018 SXSW Artist Panel
2017 MIT Open Documentary Lab
2017 Artist talk, Roma Tre Univ
2017 Univ of the Agean
2017 Frei Univ Berlin
2017 Potsdam University
2016 Digital Humanities Panel Speaker, Office of Scholarly Communication, Harvard University
2016 “Your Story Has Touched My Heart,” film screening, talk and roundtable (with Matthew Battles, Kate Palmer Albers, Barbara Norfleet, and Jeffrey Schnapp), Menschel Hall, Harvard Art Museums
2016 “Your Story Has Touched My Heart,” Artist Talks (with Matthew Battles), Lightbox Gallery, Harvard Art Museums
2016 “The Future of Secrets” Workshop, (with Marshall Lambert), as part of the Digital Problem Solving Initiative, Berkman Center for Internet and Society
2015 Artist Talk, Indiana Wesleyan University
2015 Artist Talk, House of Blues, Illuminus Arts Festival, Boston, MA
2014 Digitally Connected Symposium: MAKE workshops, Harvard University, MA
2014 Media, Art, and Knowledge Engaged: Digitally Connected Mapping Danger youth workshop, Cambridge, MA
2013 Artist Talk, RIT-Malmö Univ. Symposium, “På väg,” University Gallery, NY
2013 Artist Talk, “Long the Path,” Rochester Institute of Technology, New York
2012 Faculty Research Seminar: “Long the Path.” Dept. of Urban Studies, Malmö, Sweden
2012 Artist Talk, Galleri Breadfield, Malmö, Sweden
2012 Artist Talk, Department of Art, Culture, & Communication, Malmö University, Sweden
2012 Presenter, “Through Place: Ecology & Culture,” Popular Culture Assoc. Conference, Boston, MA
2012 Artist Talk, Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Youngstown State University, Ohio
2011 “Through Place,” MFA Public Thesis Defense, SPAS Gallery, Rochester, NY
2011 “Ceci n’est pas une nature” presentation, Int’l Assoc. for Philosophy of Sport, NY
2011 Artist talk and Panel, “Between Rivers,” Innovation Gallery, RIT, NY
2010 Presenter, “Recreation: A Photographic Exploration of Land Use for Leisure,” School of Visual Arts Annual Conference, New York, NY