IAD Days conference celebrates big data and high-performance computing at UB
PhD candidate in computational and data-enabled sciences, Vivek Bhavsar, discusses his research with Ashlee Ford Versypt, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Photo: Onion Studio
By Jane Stoyle Welch
Published June 3, 2022
The Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science held IAD Days (formally CDSE Days) April 26 -28, 2022 following a two-year hiatus. The event attracted over 200 participants including students, faculty, and community researchers.
Previously called CDSE Days, the event brought some of the nation's most prominent scholars of data-enabled science to Buffalo for a week of workshops, lectures and networking. It is one of many planned activities of the newly-formed Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, which aims to bring together AI, Data Science, and Computational Science researchers in and around the UB community to work together on cutting-edge science.
“IAD Days was an excellent opportunity to experience UB’s unified technical vision for AI and data science,” says Nalini Ratha, associate director for research of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science and SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. “Over the three-day event, experts from industry, academia, and UB came together to discuss a wide range of topics, including deepfakes, election security, data science in cell dynamics, COVID-19 surveillance models and AI techniques in healthcare.”
Day 1 was devoted to external speakers from industry, beginning with a tutorial from Moninder Singh, IBM Research, on AI Fairness and Explainability, with a hands-on walk-through with the open-source tool kits AIF 360 and AIX 360. Souma Chowdhury, Karthik Dantu, Ifeoma Nwogu and Atri Rudra, all faculty from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences also presented their work.
Invited talks included the application of AI in medical imaging by experts from Noel Codella, Microsoft Research and Ziyan Wu, United Imaging.
Day 2 included a mixture of very relevant and exciting data science applications. Talks were presented by Wanda Strychalski, Case Western Reserve University, and David Doermann, Jacob Neiheisel, Jennifer Surtees and Helen Wang, all from the University at Buffalo.
Day 3 included talks on misinformation by Naniette Coleman, University of California Berkeley, and deepfakes, by Siwei Lyu, University at Buffalo. The presentations were followed by PhD student research talks and concluded with a poster presentation by graduate students at the newly designed Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science facility.
“It was exciting to see the energy this event produced, and we look forward to accelerating from here,” says David Doermann, director of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science and a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
Participants were able to engage with the speakers for questions in person or remotely throughout the three-day event.
“Thanks to the speakers, session chairs, and participants who made IAD Days 2022 a successful event, and to Marianne Sullivan and James Friedman for their tireless efforts and support in the planning and logistics of this year’s event,” says Ratha. “We look forward to delivering an engaging and exciting IAD Days 2023 event next year.”
More information on the event is available on the IAD website.