Dr Walter Herzog-Killam Annual Professor
My former supervisor Dr. Walter Herzog was named a Killam Annual Professor. This prestigious award was given to Walter for his remarkable research on skeletal muscle properties, function and mechanisms of contraction.
Microsoft Discover AI Challenge Competition
I am pleased to announce that our MSc student, Abdullah Al-Hayali, won the Microsoft Discover AI Challenge competition which was coordinated by Microsoft and Agorize. Abdullah has a unique perspective and interest in AI that is reflected in his innovative approaches in developing AI solutions for disease diagnosis and monitoring. I most certainly see a bright future ahead for Abdullah and wish him the best in his future endeavours. To know more about the Microsoft Discover AI Challenge competition click here
How To Speak by Patrick Winston
Dr. Patrick Winston is one of my favourite scientists. He was a beloved professor and computer scientist at MIT. He died on July 19 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. His teaching method is different, in a way that you can not stop watching his lectures. To me, his lectures are reminiscent of the Breaking Bad series. In each of his presentations, he tells a story. Here is a post from MIT News: A professor at MIT for almost 50 years, Winston was director of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory from 1972 to 1997 before it merged with the Laboratory for Computer Science to become MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). A devoted teacher and cherished colleague, Winston led CSAIL’s Genesis Group, which focused on developing AI systems that have human-like intelligence, including the ability to tell, perceive, and comprehend stories. He believed that such work could help illuminate aspects of human intelligence that scientists don’t yet understand. “My principal interest is in figuring out what’s going on inside our heads, and I’m convinced that one of the defining features of human intelligence is that we can understand stories,’” said Winston, the Ford Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, in a 2011 interview for CSAIL. “Believing as I do that stories are important, it was natural for me to try to build systems that understand stories, and that shed light on what the story-understanding process is all about.”
