A Founder’s Tale of QMIND
“That’s what happens — you make something great and then you fade away into unimportance.”
These words came from the founding father of QMIND near the end of an informal interview I had with him. They were meant to reassure me that his lack of recognition by new members of QMIND was merely a fact of life. But there was something about the way he failed to meet my eyes that told me he didn’t want it to be. As I write Cooper Midroni’s (Sci ’20) story about the founding of QMIND, I must admit, I don’t want it to be either.
On 14 January 2018, QMIND — Queen’s AI Hub was born. The product of Cooper Midroni’s frustration and imagination became a reality.
He’d been conceiving of the idea for some time — since the fall of 2017, to be exact. That year, Cooper was completing the second year of his dual degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Engineering. Though the high-intensity of his engineering workload kept him busy, Cooper still felt that there was something missing from his experience. At the time, AI was all over the media; said to be the defining tool of the generation. Yet, despite this, there were no signs of practical education in machine learning on the horizon at Queen’s. Cooper knew he wasn’t alone in his fascination either: interest in AI and ML was growing among science and engineering students, but it remained a passive curiosity. Unfortunately, there existed no outlet for the curiosity and creativity trapped in the minds of students like Cooper. Despite the inaccessibility of student-friendly educational resources on AI, Cooper’s unwavering determination was no match. If there truly was no machine learning group on campus, he would make one — Cooper had always been a go-getter and he wasn’t about to stop now.
Cooper’s winter break would prove to be everything but. He absorbed countless articles and coded alongside online tutorials. Suddenly, it dawned him: undergraduate students could indeed learn to apply machine learning. Even if that was the case, what could Cooper do with this knowledge? How would Cooper transform his idea into a community? How would it be managed? The unanswered questions were mounting, but not for much longer. Week after week, Cooper slaved away on a massive 30-page document outlining exactly how this group — dubbed “QMIND” — would “work”, including its programs, features, responsibilities, and roles. Though his document was seemingly thorough, Cooper ran into another problem: he knew what QMIND would be, but he didn’t know how. Simply put, Cooper couldn’t make QMIND happen alone.
After school resumed from the winter break, Cooper sprang into action. He met with six friends from his program — Monica Cowper (Engineering Physics B.A. Sc. ‘20), Marcus, Sean, Adam, Noah, and Stef — who became leaders in QMIND’s first executive team. Together, they would lead a group of 28 students, prioritizing a culture of hands-on student engagement and mentorship that would characterize the group for years to come. Monica lead QMIND’s Educate program — where she worked alongside a team of peers to pursue her own vision: democratizing the education of machine learning. In just 3 months, Monica and her team created an original, 15-week AI course, offered to 50 Queen’s students that summer. By the end of the school year, the 35 members of QMIND would see the materialisation of six machine learning projects, a certified course, and above all, a community of peers who reveled in defying the expectation of what students are capable of. With help from Cooper’s friends, everything fell into place — the launch of QMIND had been a success.
In the summer of 2018, the team worked to turn QMIND into an end-to-end machine learning experience. To accomplish the broadest scope of QMIND’s potential, Cooper was joined by Monica and Chaz Sutton (Mechanical Engineering B.S.c. ’20) to take the mantle of leadership and reach new heights. Cooper, running the vast portfolio of QMIND’s ML projects, worked with his team to create technically challenging and meaningful proposals. They envisioned students working with local non-profits and industry giants — students in QMIND would be making a real impact in their communities, and gain valuable professional skills along the way. Monica broadened the scope of her Educate program, to consider not just on-campus education but nation-wide enrichment. Having freshly joined, Chaz established a network of partnerships and clients across the country that support and propel QMIND forward to this day. Expectations for QMIND were high campus-wide — together, the three powerhouses prepared to the best of their abilities to take on the challenges of the 2018–2019 year.
When the three MDs returned to school in September, QMIND’s 2018–2019 launch received an overwhelming response. No one would have guessed that it would fill a 300-person auditorium. After selection interviews, QMIND’s team had grown to a whopping 112 members. With the rapid expansion of QMIND, one thing was clear: the practices that smoothly ran a group of 35 were virtually ineffective for a group of more than 100. This would be a year of firsts: the electrifying energy of QMIND’s new team harnessed by the blaze of creativity and effervescence burning inside the three Managing Directors.
That year, QMIND gave 100 students the opportunity to learn and grow their skills with 20 cutting-edge ML projects, half of which were partnered with industry professionals and clients. Kevin Deluzio, the Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, took special interest in the group, and provided the team with support and guidance. It was with his help that the team could take on their biggest challenge yet: launching the Canadian Undergraduate Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CUCAI). Spearheaded by Emma Miloff (Applied mathematics and Mechanical Engineering B.S.c. ’19) and the leadership team, QMIND launched the largest national forum for undergraduates in AI, bringing together 175 students in its first year.
By the time the winter term of 2019 came to an end, Cooper, Monica, and Chaz had been through thick and thin together. The year hadn’t been easy — they were weary and dried clean of their creative energy and efforts. QMIND had enriched their lives beyond what they could have ever imagined, but as they looked upon entering their fourth and final year, they knew it was time to pass on the torch. The transition would ensure that the culture of QMIND could live on after the former MDs’ time at school.
The summer of 2019 saw Cooper, Monica, and Chaz entrust their roles to four bright, exceptionally talented, new managing directors: Maxwell Berkowitz and Levi Stringer as Managing Directors of Design, Hatem Dawaghreh as Managing Director of Operations, and Justin Harrison as Managing Director of Educate. There was no doubt that QMIND would continue to grow. In fact, the 2019–2020 QMIND team would have more than a six-fold increase in members since the initial launch of QMIND — from 35 members and ~90 applicants, to 225 members and just under 500 applicants. The now-former MDs anticipated the rapid expansion of QMIND and had done all that was in their power to ensure its longevity and sustainability. They would not be done with QMIND either — the former MDs would now assume advisory roles for the new MDs.
On the surface, this story is about the origin of QMIND. I think it’s more than that though. This story is about pursuing an unattainable vision and making it an attainable reality. It’s about the struggle and frustration of one person who used his ingenuity, passion, and drive to create something so much bigger than himself. From the day QMIND took its first breath, it was loved, nurtured, and raised by countless vibrant personalities who poured their hearts, brains, and souls into making QMIND what it is today. As compensation, QMIND has benefited every single person who has had the unique opportunity to experience it. To think that those experiences may not have ever happened if Cooper hadn’t proposed this insane idea in a 30-page document is nothing short of unsatisfying.
The words Cooper said to me at the beginning of this article found me speechless. It’s been three months since then, and only now do I have a response. Cooper, if you’re reading this right now, this one’s for you:
Edward Norton Lorenz was a meteorology professor at MIT from 1962–1987. In 1961, Dr. Lorenz used a shortcut in his numerical computer model to generate weather predictions faster. Instead of entering full precision value of 0.506127, he rounded and entered 0.506. The result was a dramatically different set of weather scenarios. The contrasting set of weather predictions caused by the small change in numbers reveal a profound insight: one small instance can effect things around it, which in turn effect things around them, thereby producing a large phenomenon, concept, or happening. Today, this notion is most popularly known as the Butterfly Effect¹.
Merely by sharing his vision for QMIND, Cooper triggered a butterfly effect. This vision gradually effected every endearing and intellectual contribution from Monica, Chaz, the former MDs and members who in turn effected the intellectual contributions, time, and effort of the current MDs, executives, and general members. The sum of every single one of those effects is Queen’s University’s largest and only artificial intelligence hub. Together, we are QMIND.
So no, Cooper, I don’t agree with you — when someone makes something great, they don’t fade away into unimportance. When someone makes something great, they transcend greatness by being a part of the lives the great something has touched. At Queen’s and arguably, in Canada, QMIND is your legacy. Unfortunately for you, Mr. Cooper Midroni, that means that until QMIND ceases to exist, you’ll just have to bear being important.
This article was fact-checked and reviewed by Cooper Midroni.
