Ever feel a sense of existential dread the minute you hear about artificial intelligence? Scared of automation or robots taking over the world like Skynet in The Terminator?

Penn State graduate Jay Yonamine will answer all your questions and (hopefully) quell any technology-induced fear on Friday. He’ll be giving a lecture titled “A History of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning” at 11:15 a.m. in the Paterno Library’s Foster Auditorium.

Yonamine is a well-known name in the data science field. Before data science, however, he started out in the humanities field and earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in political science at Penn State. His research focused on the origins and conclusions of political conflicts.

Through his research, Yonamine discovered his love of data science. He worked for numerous companies like Allstate and RPX Corporation, and even consulted for the U.S. Department of Defense. He ended up at Google in 2015, where he made a name for himself in the development of Google’s line of self-driving cars.

Yonamine was a recipient of the Penn State Alumni Achievement Award this year. The honor is given to Penn State alumni under the age of 35 who have already made substantial impacts in their lines of work.

The lecture will be free and open to the public. You can read more about Yonamine and his accomplishments in this profile from Sync magazine.