Graduate student symposium
Detailed program
Monday, 30 May 2022
Part 1: 11:00 – 11: 45 EDT: Panel Discussion
Watch introduction on Youtube.
Part 2: 11:45 – 12:25 EDT: CAIAC 2022 Best MSc award (15 minute presentation + 5 minute question session)
- Shivam Garg. Analysis of an Alternate Policy Gradient Estimator for Softmax Policies. Watch presentation.
- Amin Bigdeli. Exploration and Mitigation of Stereotypical Gender Biases in Information Retrieval Systems. Watch presentation.
Part 3: 12:25 – 13:00 EDT: Extended Abstract Presentations (9 minute presentation + 3 minute question session)
- Rodrigo Brandão. Artificial intelligence, human oversight, and public policies: facial recognition systems in Brazilian cities. Watch presentation.
- Omid Tarkhaneh. Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Molecular Energy Prediction. Watch presentation.
- Yashar Tavakoli. An Analysis of Geometric and Kinematic Descriptors in Classification of Trajectories. Watch presentation.
Part 4: 13:00 – 13:30 EDT: Research Plan Presentations (7 minute presentation + 3 minutes question session)
- Pratik K. Mishra. Automatic Detection of Behaviours of Risk in People with Dementia using Unsupervised Deep Learning. Watch presentation.
- Nima Barani Lonbani. Prediction of Host-Pathogen RNA Interaction from RNA Sequences and Dual RNA-seq Data using Variational Autoencoders and Supervised Machine Learning Methods. Watch presentation.
- Shane Leonard. Using ML Algorithms to Predict the Effects of Substituents on Molecular Properties and Structures. Watch presentation.
Part 5: 13:30: Final Remarks
Call for communication
The 35th Canadian Conference on Artificial Intelligence invites graduate students to submit research plans and extended abstracts summarizing their thesis research for the possible inclusion in the AI 2022 Graduate Student Symposium and the AI 2022 proceedings published in PubPub open access online format (https://www.pubpub.org/). The Symposium provides an opportunity for Master’s and PhD students to discuss and explore their research interests and career objectives with their peers and with a panel of established researchers in Artificial Intelligence, helping to develop a supportive community of scholars and a spirit of collaborative research.
Important dates
Submission deadline (extended): 18 March 2022
Author notification: 1 April 2022
Final papers due: 15 April 2022
Graduate Student Symposium: 30 May 2022
Details on the symposium
The symposium will be a pre-conference virtual event, on 30 May 2022, where students and researchers will have the opportunity to share their work, get insight from a group of AI researchers, and meet other graduate students working in the field.
This year's graduate symposium will have two sessions:
- A 40-minute panel discussion with researchers from academia, government, and industry. The panelists will share their career experiences and insights on preparing for a job within Artificial Intelligence.
- A session of students' presentations from accepted papers.
We are delighted to welcome the following participants to the panel discussion.
| Beatrice Ombuki-Berman, Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Brock University & Interim Chair in the Department of Engineering at Brock University. Research Area: Evolutionary Computation and Swarm Intelligence Algorithms. |  |
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Kathleen Fraser, Research Scientist in the Text Analytics Group at the National Research Council. Research Area: Natural Language Processing and Ethical Artificial Intelligence. |
| Stenio Fernandes, Senior Applied Research Manager in the Advanced Technology Group at Service Now. Research Area: Time Series Forecasting, Modelling, and Analysis, Anomaly Detection, Spatiotemporal modelling, Temporal Recommender Systems, and Concept Drifting. |  |
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Terrence Tricco, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Research Area: Parallel Computing, Scientific Computing and Computational Astrophysics. |
Call for papers
Graduate students are invited to submit a summary of their on-going thesis work from all areas of Artificial Intelligence. All submissions must be written in English.
The authors should consult the authors’ guidelines for Canadian AI and use the provided proceedings template for LaTeX to prepare their submissions, with the exception that the “abstract” within the template should be omitted. Two types of submission are accepted. A research plan may be up to 2 pages in length, not including references, and is intended for early-stage projects. An extended abstract may be up to 4 pages in length, not including references, and is intended for work that has at least some preliminary results. All submissions must clearly state the research problem, the proposed solution and approach, and the description of the progress to date, including significant results if appropriate.
Authors of accepted submissions will be allocated time for an oral presentation at the conference. At least one author of each accepted submission is required to present the work at the conference. The authors must agree to this requirement prior to submitting their work for review.
Program committee members will review each submission. Presenting students will be selected based on clarity of the submission, significance of the problem, novelty of the solution, quality of the research, and evidence of promise such as peer-reviewed papers or technical reports.
The submission should be accompanied by the following materials:
- A cover letter stating your name, institution, supervisor’s name and email address, program start date, expected graduation date, and 2-5 keywords describing your work. Also include references to any related refereed and non-refereed publications and presentations.
- A letter of support from your thesis advisor that includes an assessment of the current status of your thesis research and expected contributions and graduation date.
Please combine all materials into one PDF document and submit by the deadline shown on the main GSS-2022 website. To submit your work, please go to the submission website and follow the instructions.
All students are encouraged to attend and participate in the Symposium, whether or not they apply to present their work. All the selected student presenters are expected to actively participate in the full Symposium, as we envision participants gaining as much by interacting with their peers as by having their presentations critiqued by the faculty panel.
Partial financial assistance will be available to students presenting at the Symposium, as funding allows.
Graduate Student Symposium Co-chairs
Amilcar Soares
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science, Memorial University
Website
Renata Dividino
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science, Brock University
Website
FAQ
Q1. Do I have to be a graduate student to submit my work?
A1. The first author, or a solo author, has to be a graduate student. An undergraduate student can be a co-author if they have helped with experiments. Note that the work has to be presented by the graduate student.
Q2. Can I submit an abstract of my completed dissertation?
A2. The Graduate Student Symposium aims to help students to define and make progress on their thesis. We accept submissions that show work in progress – during the period from thesis proposal formulation through to theoretical proofs and empirical studies.
Q3. Should my supervisor(s) support my GSS submission?
A3. We expect a one-page support letter from your supervisor(s). The letter must be sent together (as one PDF) with the 4-page abstract or 2-page research plan and the student cover letter. Financially, we are hoping that supervisors are able to support their students.
Q4. Can my supervisor(s) co-author the submissions?
A4. Supervisor(s) should be acknowledged somewhere in the abstract but are not to be co-authors. Front page’s footnote or Acknowledgement before Bibliography are good places to list the name(s). However, your supervisor(s) cannot co-author the abstract. The same rule applies to post-doctoral fellows: we would not accept abstracts co-authored by post-doctoral fellows.
Q5. We are two graduate students and want to submit one abstract for our two research projects. Is this OK?
A5. We encourage you to submit separate abstracts. If a joint project is better explained via one abstract, then you can try to make the case in your cover letter.
Q6. I have an abstract accepted by GSS. Can I have some financial support to attend GSS?
A6. We encourage you to apply for GSS funding in your cover letter. Presenting students will compete for (partial) funding of their GSS expenses. You can also apply for financial support for the conference volunteers.
Q7. I do not have an abstract accepted by GSS. Can I apply for financial support to attend?
A7. We are working to keep the cost of attending the GSS a low as possible (see the AI conference website). Financial support is designed for students whose abstracts have been accepted. You can also apply for financial support for the conference volunteers.
