News

Researchers at the Cheriton School of Computer Science have pioneered a new method that could be used to develop more natural automated virtual assistants to help people suffering from mental illness. 

Called SMERTI (pronounced smarty), the new method enables virtual assistants to use natural language and emotional cues that change depending on the relationship and situations in which they are used. The result allows for the development of virtual assistants that better connect with people they are used to help.

Haonan Duan has received a prestigious Vector Scholarship in Artificial Intelligence from the Vector Institute.

The key to people trusting and co-operating with artificially intelligent agents lies in their ability to display human-like emotions, according to a new study by Postdoctoral Fellow Moojan Ghafurian, Master’s candidate Neil Budnarain and Professor Jesse Hoey at the Cheriton School of Computer Science.

Cheriton School of Computer Science Professor Jesse Hoey has teamed up with Professor Robert Freeland, a sociologist at Wake Forest University, to conduct novel research at the intersection of computer science and social psychology.

Cheriton School of Computer Science Professor Shai Ben-David, his former PhD student Hassan Ashtiani, now an Assistant Professor at McMaster University, along with colleagues Christopher Liaw, Abbas Mehrabian and Yaniv Plan, have received a best paper award at NeurIPS 2018, the 32^ndAnnual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems.

Professors Olga Veksler and Yuri Boykov joined the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science earlier this year. Previously, both were full professors in the Department of Computer Science at Western University, where they were faculty members for 14 years.

Their research interests are in the area of computer vision. In particular, Olga’s interests are in visual correspondence and image segmentation, and Yuri’s also include 3D reconstruction and biomedical image analysis.

Computer science doctoral student Mike Schaekermann, Dr. Joslin Goh and Schaekermann’s cosupervisors, Professors Kate Larson and Edith Law, have received a best paper award at CSCW 18, the 21^stACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing.

Research Professor Maura Grossman has been named as a Leading Individual in Canada for her contributions to eDiscovery by Who’s Who Legal 2018.

The Vector Institute drives excellence and leadership in Canada’s knowledge, creation and use of artificial intelligence to foster economic growth and improve the lives of Canadians. The institute is dedicated to the transformative field of artificial intelligence, excelling in machine and deep learning research.

Professor Robin Cohen has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association. She is the first female recipient of the Association’s highest honour, an award that is conferred to individuals who have distinguished themselves through outstanding research excellence in artificial intelligence during the course of their academic career.