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Speaker: Prof. Xue (Steve) Liu

School of Computer Science, McGill University

Biography

Dr. Xue (Steve) Liu is a Full Professor in the School of Computer Science and a William Dawson Chair Professor at McGill University. He is also a Professor (Courtesy Appointment) of Mathematics and Statistics at McGill University. He served as VP R&D, Chief Scientist, and Co-Director of the Samsung AI Center Montreal, where he led the R&D of AI innovations in multiple areas including telecommunications, mobile computing, IoT, and robotics. He was also the Chief Scientist at Tinder Inc., leading the research and innovation for the world’s largest dating and social discovery app valued at over 10 Billion US$. He also worked briefly as the Samuel R. Thompson Chair Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, at Hewlett-Packard Labs in Palo Alto, California, and IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in New York.

Dr. Liu is an IEEE Fellow, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is an associate member at the Quebec AI Institute (Mila). His research interests focus on Intelligent Computing and Communications Systems, AI/Machine Learning, Sustainable Computing, IoT and CPS. He has published 5 books and over 400 research papers in major peer-reviewed international journals and conference proceedings, and received 10 best paper awards from IEEE or ACM. He has served as the associate editor/advisor of several international academic journals and has served on the technical and organization committees of over 100 international conferences/workshops. He is a recipient of several awards including the Mitacs Award for Exceptional Leadership — Professor, and the Outstanding Young Canadian Computer Science Researcher Prizes from the Canadian Association of Computer Science. He is the current chair of ACM SIGBED. Dr. Liu has advised several high-tech startups. These startups have raised over 250 million US$ in funding.

Title: Bridging the Gap: My Experiences in Academia and Industry as an Applied Computing Researcher

Abstract

Applied computing research holds immense importance in computer science because it bridges theory and practical applications. It translates cutting-edge computing technologies into tangible solutions that address real-world challenges. In this talk, I will share my experience and lessons learned as an applied computing researcher who has worked in both academia and industry. I will embark on a personal journey - from my decision to transition from a mathematics student to a Ph.D. in computer science, followed by becoming a university professor, and then venture into the dynamic landscapes of startups, entrepreneurship, and corporate R&D, exploring diverse areas including computing systems, networking, and AI/machine learning.
Beyond sharing my experiences, I will discuss the core differences between academic research and industry research, and their pros and cons. Finally, I'll argue why closer collaboration between academia and industry is crucial for the future success of computing, and discuss actionable ways to carry out the collaboration.

Speaker: Prof. Paulo Novais

Department of Informatics, ALGORITMI Center/LASI, University of Minho, Portugal

Biography

Paulo Novais is a Full Professor of Computer Science at the Department of Informatics, the School of Engineering, the University of Minho (Portugal) and a researcher at the ALGORITMI Centre. He is the director of the PhD Program in Informatics and co-founder and Deputy Director of the Master in Law and Informatics at the University of Minho.
He started his career developing scientific research in the field of Intelligent Systems/Artificial Intelligence (AI), namely in Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, Machine Learning and Multi-Agent Systems. His interest, in the last years, was absorbed by the different, yet closely related, concepts of Ambient Intelligence, Decision, Conflict Resolution, Behavioural Analysis, Digital Assistants and the incorporation of AI methods and techniques in these fields. His main research objective is to make systems a little more smart, reliable, and sensitive to human presence and interaction.

He is the coordinator of the Portuguese Intelligent Systems Associate Laboratory (LASI). Former president of the Portuguese Association for Artificial Intelligence, Senior member of the IEEE and Chair of the Computational Intelligence Society Portuguese Chapter, Member of the IFIP - TC 12 Artificial Intelligence, and of the executive committee of the IBERAMIA. He has served as an expert of several institutions such as EU Commission and FCT (Portuguese agency that supports science, technology, and innovation).

Title: Empowering human intelligence with AI integration: Creating more intelligent, intuitive, and understandable systems

Abstract

The importance of Artificial Intelligence today, which goes far beyond the limits of "simple" technology, and the need to humanise its application and use in accordance with ecological and ethical principles, serve as the basis for this discussion.
The challenges that lie ahead are enormous and include the development of systems that are necessarily more intelligent, but that meet the requirements of transparency and explainability (as far as possible), and that are fundamentally sensitive to the human presence, with the strictest respect for human values and dignity.
I'd like to present some of the projects I've been involved in that are a step in this direction.
The ability to change the world is in our hands, but we must use it wisely.