Agenda

Speaker:
Andrew Rau-Chaplin, Dalhousie University (Canada)

Abstract:
DeepSense is an applied research platform that aims to close Canada's gap between world-leading AI research and lagging industry adoption by pairing student and faculty talent with real problems drawn from industry. Example projects span the ocean economy from forecasting dissolved-oxygen crashes in aquaculture pens and computer-vision systems for fisheries monitoring, to acoustic underwater detection, and reinforcement learning to autonomously position floating offshore wind turbines. Since 2018, DeepSense has delivered over 90 projects at a 95% success rate, and 53% of its past interns now hold AI roles in industry, with 22% hired directly by their project partners. This talk uses these projects as a lens to explore what DeepSense has learned about successfully bringing industry and academia together in applied AI research.

Bio sketch:
Dr. Andrew Rau-Chaplin is a professor and former dean of the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University. He has spent over 30 years in industry and the university as a faculty member, researcher, and research manager. He is passionate about promoting growth and diversity in tech and making Nova Scotia one of North America’s most attractive jurisdictions for digital talent and companies.