The School of AI Launches Spring 2019 Fellowship Program
The School of AI was founded with the mission of enabling anyone in the world access to an excellent Artificial Intelligence (AI) education for free. More recently however, applications for AI and Machine Learning (ML) have grown exponentially across a wide range of disciplines, and the need for relevant education and research opportunities has skyrocketed. This fact, combined with the increasingly popular trend of technology companies utilizing residency programs to identify and retain rising talent, forced us to recognize that School of AI had to expand beyond our original mission and start a fellowship program of our own.
Through the work of our tireless volunteers and a generous Cloud Credit donation from Google, this dream is now a reality. We’ve carefully selected ten applicants from around the world to round out our cohort for Spring 2019, and we couldn’t be more excited to work with such a diverse group of like-minded individuals who want to make a positive impact on the world using AI!
We believe Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have the ability to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues, and we’ve asked our first cohort to focus their research on areas that are most likely to bring value to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations General Assembly.
Over the course of the fellowship our recruits will work closely with a select group of Deans from School of AI to develop and implement research projects, evaluate the relevant results, and publish white papers on their findings. Our fellows are encouraged to share their ideas with their local School of AI communities and collaborate with peers to improve their research through diverse perspectives.
We are proud to introduce below the outstanding fellows making up our Spring 2019 cohort. We look forward to the advancements they will make for The School of AI and the world!
School of AI Spring 2019 Fellows
Dhawal Gupta
After completing my undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna with a focus in Reinforcement Learning, I was an intern for the Operations Research Team at IBM Research India.
My research interest is in the field of Robotics and AI, specifically in using Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for modeling control and decision-making policies in robotics. I’d like to work towards creating agents that are more adaptable to noise and stochasticity in their surroundings.
I intend to focus my research in this Fellowship Program on One Shot Learning.
Abhinav Reddy Kaitha
I am currently pursuing a Master’s in Data Science at Indiana University Bloomington. I look forward to making contributions in the field of machine learning and bridging the gap between the AI community and the general population.
I intend to focus my research for this Fellowship Program on Unsupervised Learning.
Joe Ganser
I am a scientist, entrepreneur, and writer. I hold a graduate degree from Columbia University, and I have a background in Physics. My research interests include algorithmic financial trading, marketing, and quantum technology.
I intend to focus my research for this Fellowship Program on Quantum Machine Learning.
Ganesh Anand
I am a Machine Learning Engineer and Researcher focusing mostly on vision-related tasks. I currently work on autonomous navigation of drones using neural networks, and I’m very interested in weaker forms of supervision for training large neural networks. In my free time I like to work on experimental problems at FOR.ai, and I hope to make some significant contributions to ML.
For this fellowship I’d like to improve self-supervised learning for embedded images with style transfer by training networks to learn shape- and texture-specific embedding for objects by randomizing shape and textures with style transfer.
Edward Plata
I’m currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in statistics and mathematics while completing a Data Science boot camp at Galvanize — NYC. I’m also working on my Capstone Project for Galvanize, a sentiment analysis program where, using an LSTM model for time series prediction, I can analyze the effects of news reports and stocks under the S&P 500 in terms of sentiment or public opinion.
For this Fellowship Program, I’d like to expand on my Capstone research to develop an open-source software that can bring more clarity to investment decisions.
Yash Patel
I’m currently studying Computer Science and Engineering as an undergraduate at Manipal University Jaipur. My dream is to see the fusion of Quantum Computing and AI to solve real world problems, and I hope I can contribute to such a technological revolution.
I intend to focus my research for this fellowship in Quantum Machine Learning.
Nabeel Seedat
I’m an AI researcher hailing from South Africa. I have a Master’s in Machine Learning from Cornell University, and a Master’s in Signal Processing from the University of the Witwatersrand. My research interests are in Bayesian Deep Learning and Probablistic Machine Learning, and how they can enable robust AI systems in critical applications such as healthcare.
I intend to focus my research for this fellowship on the application of AI, specifically deep learning, in sensitive spaces like healthcare and self-driving cars. My research will explore the safety of AI in uncertainty estimation in neural networks.
Ranjeet Singh
I’m a Machine Learning Engineer and part-time researcher in Computer Vision. My intended area of focus for this fellowship is One Shot Learning.
Brian Goodwin
For over 14 years, I’ve worked in Visual Effects Studios in South Africa, London, and Wellington. I’m passionate about converging technologies, Computer Graphics, and Virtual Reality. I currently run a VR company in Wellington/New Zealand dedicated to connecting people.
I intend to use my fellowship research to help an organization identify Rhino poachers. They’ve built a custom drone and are exploring ways to use pose estimation, thermal signatures, and CGI simulated environments to create a larger training set.
Shraddha Kulkarni
I’m currently pursuing my Master’s in Data Informatics at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. I aspire to work as a Data Scientist at a data-centric company, like Netflix or Amazon, that uses Machine Learning to enhance customer experience.
I intend to focus my research during this fellowship to explore using AI for social good, specifically mental health.
