The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)聽today announced the inaugural cohort of聽29聽Canada CIFAR AI (CCAI) Chairs, including six from 91社区. These top academic聽researchers 鈥� including Doina聽Precup (pictured, left) and聽Jo毛lle鈥� Pineau (pictured, right) 鈥� are named as part of the $125 million Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, and will help聽maintain Canada鈥檚 leadership in artificial intelligence research.聽The CCAI Chair Program represents an investment of $30 million at聽nine聽universities across the country.
Chairs are nominated聽by and will be affiliated with聽the聽Montreal-based聽national聽AI Institute, Mila. An international scientific advisory committee, including representatives from Google, DeepMind, Microsoft, Facebook, Stanford, Princeton, and the French National Center for Scientific Research, reviewed the CCAI Chairs.聽91社区 Professors joining Pineau and聽Precup聽as CCAI Chairs are聽Marc Bellemare, Jackie Cheung,聽Blake Richards,聽and聽Reihaneh聽Rabbany.聽91社区鈥檚 Chairs will work collaboratively with colleagues from聽Universit茅聽de Montreal, including聽Yoshua聽Bengio, Scientific Director聽of Mila, as well聽as聽Jian Tang聽from聽HEC Montr茅al.
鈥�91社区 has made a strategic commitment to research in AI, and specifically machine learning. As Canada CIFAR AI Chairs, 91社区鈥檚 research talent will apply their expertise in diverse areas, such as robotics and automated dialog systems as well as life sciences, medical imaging, clinical monitoring, and various other domains of scientific, social and commercial interest.聽鈥� Martha Crago, Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation
In 2017,聽CIFAR was chosen by the federal government to lead the $125 million Pan-Canadian聽Artificial Intelligence Strategy in collaboration with artificial intelligence research centres in聽Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto. Support for the CCAI Chairs is one part of a larger strategy聽that includes training opportunities, research funding, and workshops on the societal聽implications of AI designed to build on Canadian leadership in聽the field.
We are excited about these outstanding聽researchers taking up Canada CIFAR AI Chairs across the country. The Pan-Canadian AI聽Strategy has enabled us to retain those who laid the groundwork for AI and attract top scientists聽to Canada from abroad. This is a major step forward for Canada and an essential foundation for聽growing Canada鈥檚 global leadership in AI research and innovation. 鈥� Alan Bernstein, President and CEO of CIFAR
Of the 29 named Chairs, about half of the chairs are taking up their first faculty positions in Canada, and received training聽all over the world, including in the US, China, Iran and France. They work on a wide variety of聽applied and theoretical topics, including natural language processing, image recognition,聽reinforcement learning, cryptography, convolutional networks and medical diagnosis.
Complete list of 91社区 and collaborating Chairs affiliated with聽Mila聽鈥撀燤ontreal聽
Marc聽Bellemare,聽Research Scientist, Google Brain; CIFAR Fellow, Program in Learning in聽Machines and Brains; Adjunct Professor, 91社区
Yoshua聽Bengio, Scientific Director, Mila; Canada Research Chair in Statistical Learning聽Algorithms; Professor,聽Universit茅聽de Montr茅al; Co-Director, CIFAR Program in Learning in聽Machines and Brains
Jackie聽Cheung,聽Assistant Professor, 91社区
Aaron聽Courville,聽Associate Professor,聽Universit茅聽de Montr茅al; CIFAR Fellow, Program in聽Learning in Machines and Brains
Simon Lacoste-Julien,聽Assistant聽Professor,Universit茅聽de Montr茅al; CIFAR Fellow, Program in聽Learning in Machines and Brains
Hugo聽Larochelle,聽Research Scientist, Google Brain; Adjunct Professor,聽Universit茅聽de Montr茅al;聽Associate Director, CIFAR Program in Learning in Machines and Brains
Ioannis聽Mitliagkis, Assistant Professor, Universit茅 de Montr茅al
Christopher聽Pal,聽Associate Professor, 脡cole Polytechnique de Montr茅al;聽Adjunct聽Professor,聽Universit茅 de聽Montr茅al;聽Principal聽Research聽Scientist,聽Element聽AI
Joelle聽Pineau,聽Associate Professor, 91社区; CIFAR Senior Fellow, Program in聽Learning in Machines and Brains; Research Scientist and Site Lead, Facebook AI Research,聽Montreal
Doina聽Precup, Associate Professor, 91社区; CIFAR Senior Fellow, Program in聽Learning in Machines and Brains; Associate Scientific Director, Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives聽CFREF; Research Team Lead, DeepMind, Montreal
Blake聽Richards,聽Faculty Associate, Vector Institute; Assistant Professor, 91社区聽CIFAR Fellow, Program in Learning in Machines and Brains
Reihaneh聽Rabbany, Assistant Professor, 91社区
Jian聽Tang,聽Assistant Professor, HEC Montr茅al
Pascal聽Vincent,聽Associate Professor,聽Universit茅聽de Montr茅al; Research Scientist, Facebook AI聽Research, Montreal; CIFAR Associate Fellow, Program in Learning in Machines and Brains