Commercializing her doctoral research

Busy engineering student makes use of PhD fellowship for entrepreneurs to build AI startup

By Jasmin English

Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business

Kelly Zheng has a lot on her plate. She’s an engineering doctoral student at the University of Waterloo who is building a startup while also working towards a graduate business degree. It can be a balancing act, but she’s tackling it all.

Her PhD research in quantum machine learning for spatial temporal modeling can be difficult for many to wrap their heads around. This emerging, quantum-based branch of AI and machine learning allows large data sets to be analyzed in a fraction of the time that a regular computer can manage.

That work has been noticed. Zheng was awarded the prestigious Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s doctoral research scholarship. There are many possibilities for application of this research, but Zheng is interested in how it could positively impact the world. Taking technological tools and putting them into hands that could benefit communities is what really drives her.

Read the full article from Waterloo News to learn more.