Incoming master’s student Jimmy Di has received a 2023–24 Vector Scholarship in Artificial Intelligence from the Vector Institute. These merit-based entrance scholarships provide $17,500 for one year of full-time study and are awarded to top students who have been admitted into an AI-related master’s program in an Ontario university.
Jimmy will be a master’s student at the Cheriton School of Computer Science this fall, advised by Professor Gautam Kamath who leads The Salon — a research group dedicated to the study of statistics, algorithms, learning, and optimization.
“Congratulations to Jimmy on receiving a Vector Scholarship,” said Professor Kamath. “I know Jimmy well, as he was an undergraduate research assistant in my group who studied what are known as camouflaged data poisoning attacks, a new kind of attack where an adversary deliberately poisons training data to make a machine learning model less accurate. I’m looking forward to continuing research with him on privacy and security in machine learning.”
As an undergraduate student majoring in computer science, Jimmy has not only been a research assistant at the Cheriton School of Computer Science, but he also held internships in industry including at the Bank of America and Telus Communications. Through these placements, he gained valuable experience as a software developer and data analyst, as well as developed skills in natural language processing and computer vision, two AI application areas.
“As a computer science student, I have a responsibility to ensure that artificial intelligence is used ethically and conscientiously,” Jimmy said. “As I embark on a master’s program, I aim to continue my research in the privacy and security aspects of machine learning. I am confident that graduate studies will strengthen my research skills and help me become an independent AI researcher.”
About the Vector Institute and the Vector Scholarship in AI
The Vector Institute is an independent, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to research in the field of artificial intelligence, excelling in machine learning and deep learning. The Vector Institute launched in March 2017 with support from the Government of Canada, Government of Ontario, and private industry, and in partnership with the University of Toronto and other universities.
The Vector Institute works with institutions, industry, start-ups, incubators and accelerators to advance AI research and drive its application, adoption and commercialization across Canada.
For the 2023–24 academic year, the Vector Institute has offered 106 scholarships, providing nearly $2 million in support to the next generation of AI researchers. Since the program launched in 2018, the Vector Institute has awarded 567 scholarships to master’s students in Ontario.
