Friday, February 17, 2017
Slaughter Hall, RIT

Speakers, Bios, and Event Videos

MASSIMILIANO “MAX” VERSACE, FOUNDER OF THE BOSTON UNIVERSITY NEUROMORPHICS LAB AND THE CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF NEURALA INC. (video) 

TITLE: AI 2.0: brains for bots

BIO: Massimiliano “Max” Versace is founder of the Boston University Neuromorphics Lab and the co-founder and CEO of Neurala Inc. After his pioneering research in brain-inspired computing and deep networks, he continues to inspire and lead the world of autonomous robotics. He has spoken at a number of events and venues, including TedX, NASA, The Pentagon, Los Alamos National Labs, Air Force Research Labs, HP, iRobot, Samsung, LG, Qualcomm, Ericsson, BAE Systems, Mitsubishi, ABB and Accenture. In addition, his work has been featured in IEEE Spectrum, New Scientist, Geek Magazine, CNN and MSNBC. Versace is a Fulbright scholar, has authored dozens of academic publications and holds several patents. He also holds two Ph.D.s: in Experimental Psychology from the University of Trieste and in Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University.

ROBERT H. "BO" EWALD, PRESIDENT, D-WAVE INTERNATIONAL INC. (video) 

TITLE: An Introduction to Quantum Computing in the D-Wave Universe 

BIO: Bo Ewald has lengthy experience in the technology industry, as a user, engineer, customer and executive with some of the leading high performance computer systems and graphics companies.  He is currently the President of D-Wave International, the world’s first commercial quantum computing company.  Prior to that he was Chairman/CEO/President of Perceptive Pixel, the touch sensitive display company, computer graphics pioneer Silicon Graphics, and Cray Research, the first supercomputer company. Bo began his management career at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as the head of its Computing and Communications Division. He is involved in various industry organizations and was appointed to the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee by Presidents Clinton and Bush.  He has also served on the boards of several public and private companies.

ABSTRACT:  This presentation will review some of the thinking, fundamentals and activities behind quantum computing, starting with the ideas originally introduced by Richard Feynman in 1982.  We will look at different architectural approaches to quantum computing, and then describe the ideas that led to quantum annealing.  D-Wave has implemented the first commercial quantum annealing computer with initial customers Lockheed Martin/USC’s Information Sciences Institute, Google and NASA/Ames, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.  The D-Wave technology, system and the software environment will be discussed.  Some of the potential applications will also be presented, with some glimpses into how Machine Learning might fit in the quantum computing universe.

ROMAN YAMPOLSKIY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE, SPEED SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE. (video) 

TITLE: Future of Artificial Intelligence

BIO:  Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy is a tenured associate professor in the department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science at the Speed School of Engineering, University of Louisville. He is the founding and current director of the Cyber Security Lab and an author of many books including Artificial Superintelligence: a Futuristic Approach. During his tenure at U of L, Dr. Yampolskiy has been recognized as: Distinguished Teaching Professor, Professor of the Year, Faculty Favorite, Top 4 Faculty, Leader in Engineering Education, Top 10 of Online College Professor of the Year, and Outstanding Early Career in Education award winner among many other honors and distinctions. Yampolskiy is a senior member of IEEE and AGI; member of Kentucky Academy of Science, and research advisor for MIRI and Associate of GCRI. Dr. Yampolskiy’s main areas of interest are AI Safety and Cybersecurity. Dr. Yampolskiy is an author of over 100 publications including multiple journal articles and books. His research has been cited by 1000+ scientists and profiled in popular magazines both American and foreign (New Scientist, Poker Magazine, Science World Magazine), hundreds of websites (BBC, MSNBC, Yahoo! News), on radio (German National Radio, Swedish National Radio, Alex Jones Show) and TV. Dr. Yampolskiy’s research has been featured 700+ times in numerous media reports in 30 languages.

Dr. Yampolskiy has been an invited speaker at 60+ events including Swedish National Academy of Science, Supreme Court of Korea, Princeton University and many others.

Steering Committee Members: 

Cecilia Ovesdotter Alm, College of Liberal Arts
Ed Brown, Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Jeremy Haefner, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Christopher Kanan, College of Science
Dhireesha Kudithipudi, Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Fernando Naveda,    B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Ray Ptucha, Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Leonid Reznik, B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Carol Romanowski, B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Richard Zanibbi, B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Contact the Move 78 organizers:

Dhireesha Kudithipudi
Associate Professor and Graduate Program Chair
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Email: dxkeec@rit.edu 

Christopher Kanan
Assistant Professor
Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science
Email: kanan@rit.edu