AI Researcher Reflects on 2018 Highlights Including NVIDIA Move
A prominent AI researcher looks back at a busy 2018 that includes joining NVIDIA, earning a named chair professorship at Caltech, and launching new initiatives in autonomous systems and AI for science.
The author starts a new research group focused on core AI and machine learning at NVIDIA after joining the company in September. Alongside this career move, the author highlights several major NVIDIA launches from late 2018, including Rapids for multi-GPU machine learning, Clara for medical imaging, and an open-source 3D simulation framework called Physx.
Caltech honors the author as the youngest named chair professor in the institute's history, marking the highest individual faculty recognition for the 2017-18 academic year. Before leaving Amazon Web Services, the author also contributes to the launch of AWS Ground Truth, a service that uses private workforces and active learning to overcome data barriers in AI adoption.
Exciting research directions emerge throughout the year across multiple fronts, including autonomous systems and a DARPA-funded project that infuses physics into AI algorithms to create a neural lander for drones. Additionally, the author helps launch the AI4Science initiative at Caltech to integrate artificial intelligence into domains like high-energy physics and earthquake detection, while core ML research explores holistic views combining data, algorithms, and systems.