Department of Computer Science

Geoffrey Hinton recognized with 2024 VinFuture Grand Prize

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 20:16:24 +0000

Geoffrey Hinton recognized with 2024 VinFuture Grand Prize

Research & Innovation

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 12/09/2024 - 15:16

Faculty

St. George

Artificial Intelligence

Department of Computer Science

Faculty of Arts & Science

landscape

Geoffrey Hinton (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Geoffrey Hinton, a University Professor Emeritus of computer science at the University of Toronto, has been named one of five recipients of the 2024 VinFuture Grand Prize.

The US$3-million prize is presented by the Vietnam-based non-profit VinFuture Foundation in recognition of scientific advances that support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

Hinton, widely regarded as the "godfather of AI," was recognized for his research on neural networks and deep learning algorithms. He shares the VinFuture Grand Prize with Université de Montréal's Yoshua Bengio, Stanford University's Fei-Fei Li, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun (Jensen) Huang and Facebook AI Research scientist Yann LeCun.

In a video message, Hinton said he was honoured to share the award with such an esteemed group of researchers – including his fellow A.M Turing Award-winners Bengio and LeCun. “The three of us spent our whole lives developing the technology of neural networks,” Hinton said. “I’m very happy to see that the VinFuture Prize recognizes the contributions of Jensen Huang in developing the kind of compute and software required for artificial intelligence, and Fei-Fei Li in providing the big data that was needed to prove that it worked.”

The recognition comes on the heels of Hinton receiving the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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Geoffrey Hinton wins 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 20:54:37 +0000

Geoffrey Hinton wins 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics

Research & Innovation

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 10/08/2024 - 16:54

Faculty

St. George

Artificial Intelligence

Department of Computer Science

Faculty of Arts & Science

Vector Institute

landscape

(photo by Lisa Lightbourn)

Geoffrey Hinton, a University Professor Emeritus of computer science at the University of Toronto, has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Awarded since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Physics is one of five prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel and honours individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field.

Hinton, widely regarded as the “godfather of AI,” shared the prize with John J. Hopfield of Princeton University for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.

Hinton was recognized for his use of the Hopfield network – a neural network invented by his co-laureate – as the foundation for a new network called the Boltzmann machine that can learn to recognize elements within a given type of data.

“On behalf of the University of Toronto, I am absolutely delighted to congratulate University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton on receiving the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics,” said �山ǿ�� President Meric Gertler. “The �山ǿ�� community is immensely proud of his historic accomplishment.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lauded Hinton for being both “a stalwart in the field” of AI and an “outspoken advocate” for its responsible use. “Canada is at the forefront of AI technology thanks to trailblazers like Dr. Hinton,” Trudeau said in a statement. “His curiosity for discovery and contributions to innovation will inspire generations to come. On behalf of all Canadians, I congratulate him on his remarkable achievement.”

Hinton, who joined �山ǿ�� as a professor of computer science in 1987, said he was "flabbergasted" at the accolade. “I had no expectations of this,” said Hinton, who is also chief scientific adviser at the Vector Institute, which he co-founded. “I am extremely surprised and I'm honoured to be included.”

Hinton's Nobel Prize is the latest in a long list of honours which includes the Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award in 2019 – widely considered “the Nobel Prize of computing” – alongside collaborators Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio, election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a Royal Medal from the Royal Society, Companion of the Order of Canada and Fellow of the Royal Societies of Canada and London.

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Read the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announcement

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18 faculty members elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 16:58:49 +0000

18 faculty members elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

Community

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 09/09/2024 - 12:58

Faculty

St. George

Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies

Department for the Study of Religion

Department of Biochemistry

Department of Computer Science

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures

Department of Medicine

Department of Physics

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Arts and Science

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Music

Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture Landscape and Design

Medical Biophysics

OISE

Royal Society of Canada

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

�山ǿ�� Mississauga

�山ǿ�� Scarborough

landscape

Eighteen faculty members from across the University of Toronto have been appointed Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada – a prestigious distinction given to the country’s most distinguished scholars, artists and scientists.

“The University of Toronto is immensely proud to see such a high number of our faculty members elected to the Royal Society of Canada,” said Leah Cowen, �山ǿ��’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “These researchers are at the forefront of disciplines that span the arts, social sciences, humanities and sciences, and their work stands to have a significant impact on academic inquiry, policy and societal well-being.”

The 2024 Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada are:

Kamari Clarke of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science
Simon Coleman of the department for the study of religion in the Faculty of Arts & Science
Susan George of the University Health Network and the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Willi Goetschel of the department of Germanic languages and literatures in the Faculty of Arts & Science
Aiyun Huang of the Faculty of Music
Hae-Young Kee of the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts & Science
Kang Lee of the department of applied psychology and human development in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Ren-Ke Li of the University Health Network and the department of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Mathieu Lupien of the University Health Network and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Mark McGowan of the department of history in the Faculty of Arts & Science
Kent Moore of the department of chemical and physical sciences at �山ǿ�� Mississauga
Jim Phillips of the Faculty of Law
John Rubinstein of the Hospital for Sick Children and the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Brigitte Shim of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
Raquel Urtasun of the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science
Balint Virag of the department of computer and mathematical sciences at �山ǿ�� Scarborough
Lucan Alan Way of the department of political science at �山ǿ�� Scarborough
Stephen Wright of the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science

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Six recent graduates awarded Governor General's Academic Medals

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 15:53:47 +0000

Six recent graduates awarded Governor General's Academic Medals

Academic Achievement

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 07/08/2024 - 11:53

Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering

Department of Computer Science

Department of English

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Information

�山ǿ�� Scarborough

landscape

Clockwise from top left: Karl Manis, Chido Muchemwa, Tatiana Ruiz Bedoya, Jeff Chen, Zehui Yin and Jing Wang (supplied images)

Six recent graduates of the University of Toronto have been awarded 2023-2024 Governor General’s Academic Medals in recognition of their academic excellence.

Three PhD alumni were awarded gold medals, which are presented to graduate students on the basis of academic performance in courses, evaluation of thesis and thesis defence, and originality and significance of research:

Tatiana Ruiz Bedoya – department of cell and systems biology, Faculty of Arts & Science
Chido Muchemwa – Faculty of Information and the Mark S Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, Faculty of Arts & Science
Karl Manis – department of English, Faculty of Arts & Science

Three undergraduate alumni were awarded silver medals, which are given to students with the highest academic standing upon graduating from a bachelor degree program:

Jeff Chen – department of civil and mineral engineering, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
Jing Wang – department of computer science, Faculty of Arts & Science
Zehui Yin – department of management, �山ǿ�� Scarborough

Read about the Governor General's Gold Medal

Read about the Governor General's Silver Medal

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Sheila McIlraith receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Canadian AI Association

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 17:16:59 +0000

Sheila McIlraith receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Canadian AI Association

Community

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 06/10/2024 - 13:16

Faculty

St. George

Department of Computer Science

Faculty of Arts & Science

Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society

Vector Institute

landscape

Sheila McIlraith (photo courtesy of Sheila McIlraith)

Sheila McIlraith, a professor in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has received a 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian AI Association (CAIAC).

McIlraith, who is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and associate director at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, was recognized for her research contributions to knowledge representation and reasoning, automated planning and machine learning.

Over the years, her work has found application in an array of problems including diagnosis and control of electromechanical systems – from photocopiers to robotic and space systems – and automated synthesis of web services that are optimized for personal preferences.

“It’s a tremendous honour to receive this award,” said McIlraith. “I share this recognition with my many wonderful students and collaborators who I have worked with over the years.”

“I congratulate Sheila on this well-deserved recognition,” said Professor Eyal de Lara, chair of the department of computer science. “She is a dedicated and passionate scholar whose leading research on safe and human-compatible AI systems is resonating here at �山ǿ�� and in the broader computer science community.”

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Seven �山ǿ�� graduate students awarded 2023-2024 Inlight Research Fellowships in support of mental health research

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 19:26:40 +0000

Seven �山ǿ�� graduate students awarded 2023-2024 Inlight Research Fellowships in support of mental health research

Research & Innovation

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 04/01/2024 - 15:26

Department of Computer Science

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Graduate Students

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

OISE

�山ǿ�� Mississauga

�山ǿ�� Scarborough

landscape

Clockwise from top left: Melissa deJonge, Egag Egag, Asma Shamim, Maya Ahia, Danika Quesnel, JesusMiracle Chiadika and Ananya Bhattacharjee (supplied images)

Seven students from across the University of Toronto are recipients of the 2023-2024 Inlight Research Fellowships awarded by Inlight Student Mental Health Research, a �山ǿ�� institutional strategic initiative committed to improving student mental health and wellness outcomes.

The $10,000 fellowships support graduate scholars who are leading research projects that aim to improve student mental health and well-being on campus and recognize the importance of student-led and co-designed research solutions.

“The Inlight Research Fellowship Program is dedicated to promoting the development of leaders in post-secondary student mental health research,” said Julius Haag, Inlight’s associate director, education and training and an assistant professor, teaching stream in the department of sociology at �山ǿ�� Mississauga.

“We are actively supporting impactful research that will grow the perspectives and capacity needed to advance student mental health and wellness, as well as centring research that focuses on engaging the experiences and perspectives of our diverse student community.”

Here is the full list of Inlight’s 2023-2024 research fellowship award recipients:

Maya Ahia – master’s student in clinical psychology, �山ǿ�� Scarborough

Ananya Bhattacharjee – PhD candidate in computer science, Faculty of Arts & Science

JesusMiracle Chiadika – PhD student in higher education, comparative, international & development education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Melissa deJonge – PhD student, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Egag Egag – PhD student, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Danika Quesnel – PhD student in clinical psychology, �山ǿ�� Scarborough

Asma Shamim – PhD student in developmental psychology and education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Five researchers recognized with 2024 President’s Impact Awards

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 13:28:59 +0000

Five researchers recognized with 2024 President’s Impact Awards

Research & Innovation

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 03/15/2024 - 09:28

Faculty

St. George

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Department of Chemistry

Department of Computer Science

Department of History

Department of Nutritional Sciences

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Law

President's Impact Award

Rotman School of Management

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Unity Health

Women & Gender Studies Institute

landscape

Clockwise from top left: Professor Gillian Hadfield, Professor M. Murphy, University Professor David Jenkins, Professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik and Associate Professor Yvonne Bombard

Five University of Toronto researchers have received President’s Impact Awards for their important work in AI governance, environmental justice, genomics policy, nutritional sciences and quantum computing.

The awards celebrate and honour faculty members whose research has led to a significant impact beyond academia. Laureates are designated as members of the President’s Impact Academy, and receive a monetary award of $10,000 per year for five years to be used toward their research.

“I would like to congratulate the winners of this year’s President’s Impact Awards for their outstanding work in tackling some of the biggest challenges of our time,” said Barbara Fallon, �山ǿ��'s associate vice-president, research.

“From informing and improving dietary choices to fostering greater alignment between environmental justice and Indigenous communities, these scholars are generating knowledge and ideas that stand to have a tremendous impact beyond academia.

“Their exceptional contributions speak to the important role that �山ǿ�� researchers play in improving lives in Canada and around the world.”

This year’s winners are:

Gillian Hadfield, professor in the Faculty of Law and Rotman School of Management, “for contributions impacting access to justice, innovative design for legal and dispute resolution systems in advanced and developing market economies, and governance for artificial intelligence.”

M. Murphy, professor in the Women & Gender Studies Institute and department of history in the Faculty of Arts & Science, “for contributions that consistently move environmental justice research along a collaborative trajectory with Indigenous communities, data practices, and policy-making.”

Yvonne Bombard, scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto and associate professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, “for her significant contributions in enacting national law against genetic discrimination, improving healthcare options for Canadians, and advancing clinical practice and genomics research.”

Alán Aspuru-Guzik, professor in the department of chemistry and department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, “for his pioneering work in the fields of artificial intelligence and quantum computing for materials discovery.”

David Jenkins, University Professor in the department of nutritional sciences at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, “for his studies on the health effects of food that have changed how the world makes healthy dietary choices.”

Ishtiaque Ahmed receives Connaught Community Partnership Research Program award

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 20:22:02 +0000

Ishtiaque Ahmed receives Connaught Community Partnership Research Program award

Research & Innovation

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 03/14/2024 - 16:22

Faculty

St. George

Connaught Community Partnership Research Award

Department of Computer Science

Faculty of Arts & Science

landscape

Assistant Professor Ishtiaque Ahmed (photo by Ryan Perez)

Ishtiaque Ahmed, an assistant professor in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has received an award from the Connaught Community Partnership Research Program for his project exploring the use of a community-powered AI tool to tackle online hate.

Ahmed will use the award to support partnerships with the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice and the Foundation for a Path Forward to better address online hate speech aimed at Chinese and Muslim communities in Canada.

Ahmed and his partners aim to develop, deploy and evaluate a community-powered AI system to improve content moderation on social media.

“I see the impact of this award in two ways. First, it will help me enormously to build my academic program, to strengthen my relationship with the community partners here in Canada,” Ahmed said. “But I’m also excited about the real-life impact of this problem, because we are going to help these communities to handle online hate speech. To be able to make such an impact is most rewarding for me.”

The Connaught Community Partnership Research Program aims to help create and nurture partnerships between �山ǿ�� scholars and community partners that support community-driven research.

Ahmed is one of four �山ǿ�� scholars to receive awards from the program this year. The others are Jaris Swidrovich at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, Amaya Perez-Brumer in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Alicia Hawkins at �山ǿ�� Mississauga.

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Geoffrey Hinton named Fellow of Association for Computing Machinery

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 16:58:23 +0000

Geoffrey Hinton named Fellow of Association for Computing Machinery

Research & Innovation

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 01/26/2024 - 11:58

Faculty

St. George

Artificial Intelligence

Department of Computer Science

University Professor

landscape

University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton (photo by Lisa Lightbourn)

Geoffrey Hinton, University Professor Emeritus of computer science who is often dubbed the “godfather of AI,” has been named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

The ACM Fellows program recognizes the top one per cent of ACM Members and celebrates exceptional contributions to computing science and technology. Hinton is among 68 inductees for 2023 who have been honoured for their transformative work.

Hinton was recognized “for conceptual and engineering breakthroughs that have made deep neural networks a critical component of computing.”

His groundbreaking research lies in deep learning and artificial neural networks — a field of artificial intelligence that mimics the way humans acquire certain types of knowledge.

Hinton adds the ACM Fellow recognition to a list of accolades that includes an election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a Royal Medal from the Royal Society, Companion of the Order of Canada, Fellow of the Royal Societies of Canada and London and the ACM’s A.M. Turing Award, widely considered to be the Nobel Prize of computing.

Read the full announcement from the ACM

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�山ǿ�� community members recognized with Order of Ontario

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 19:16:51 +0000

�山ǿ�� community members recognized with Order of Ontario

Research & Innovation

Academic Achievement

Community

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 01/09/2024 - 14:16

Faculty

Alumni

St. George

Department of Computer Science

Order of Ontario

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Vector Institute

landscape

Artificial intelligence expert Raquel Urtasun, business leader and philanthropist Blake Goldring and anesthesiologist Beverley Orser are among several members of the University of Toronto community who have recently been recognized with the Order of Ontario.

Edith Dumont, lieutenant-governor of Ontario, announced 25 new appointments to the 2023 Order of Ontario on Jan. 1.

They include Urtasun, a professor in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, co-founder of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and founder and CEO of self-driving vehicle company Waabi, who was recognized for her contributions to reshaping the future of transportation. “I am so proud to be appointed to the Order of Ontario,” Urtasun said in a post on X. “It is an honour to be recognized alongside such outstanding Ontarians who have made exceptional contributions toward a better province, country, and world.”

Goldring, the executive chair of AGF Management Limited and a Victoria College alum, was honoured for his longstanding support of causes in education, health, arts and the military. Over several decades, the Goldring family has supported numerous initiatives at �山ǿ�� including the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport and Goldring Student Centre at Victoria College.

Orser was among 26 luminaries – and five Temerty Faculty of Medicine scholars – to be appointed to the 2022 Order of Ontario in November 2023. An affiliate scientist in the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program at the Sunnybrook Research Institute and professor in the departments of physiology and anesthesiology and pain medicine at Temerty, Orser was recognized for her groundbreaking work in optimizing anesthesia, improving access to care in rural communities and mitigating post-operative delirium and cognitive decline.

Established in 1986, the Order of Ontario is the highest civilian honour bestowed by the province.

Read about the 2023 Order of Ontario appointees

Read about the 2022 Order of Ontario appointees

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Department of Computer Science

Geoffrey Hinton recognized with 2024 VinFuture Grand Prize

Read the �山ǿ�� News story

Geoffrey Hinton wins 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics

Read the �山ǿ�� News story

Read the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announcement

18 faculty members elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

Read the Royal Society of Canada press release

Six recent graduates awarded Governor General's Academic Medals

Read about the Governor General's Gold Medal

Read about the Governor General's Silver Medal

Sheila McIlraith receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Canadian AI Association

Read the department of computer science story

Seven �山ǿ�� graduate students awarded 2023-2024 Inlight Research Fellowships in support of mental health research

Read more about the fellowship recipients at Inlight

Five researchers recognized with 2024 President’s Impact Awards

Read more about the President's Impact Academy

Ishtiaque Ahmed receives Connaught Community Partnership Research Program award

Read the Faculty of Arts & Science story

Geoffrey Hinton named Fellow of Association for Computing Machinery

Read the full announcement from the ACM

�山ǿ�� community members recognized with Order of Ontario

Read about the 2023 Order of Ontario appointees

Read about the 2022 Order of Ontario appointees