With a $4 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, a team of scholars from USC, the University of California, Riverside, and the Carnegie Science Observatories will establish a research hub to better understand these mysterious components of the cosmos. “The most exciting part is the team, experts in a vast range of disciplines, including theoretical and observational astrophysics, philosophy, computer science, and even interactive data visualization” he says. LARC also includes computer scientists Aiichiro Nakano, professor of computer science, physics and astronomy, and quantitative and computational biology at USC Dornsife and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and Christian Shelton, professor of computer science and engineering at UC Riverside. What does it mean to “understand” the universe when our knowledge comes from computer-generated models? “Using AI to understand a system as complex as the universe poses significant rewards — but also significant risks,” Gallow says.