Seminar by Dr. Sasha Luccioni (University of Montreal)

Title: Machine Learning as a Tool for Positive Social Impact

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) research is a powerful tool that can help society tackle some of its most pressing problems. Working at the intersection of AI and topics such as education, health, and the environment provides exciting fundamental research opportunities, while opening the door to tackling different societal issues. My research agenda focuses on developing innovative AI applications with the participation of domain experts, ensuring effective tools that can be used to achieve lasting positive social impact. I will illustrate my research approach through several case studies, spanning different modalities such as Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing, applied to topics such as climate change and humanitarian response.

Bio: Sasha Luccioni is a postdoctoral scholar at Université de Montréal and Mila, where she leads projects at the nexus of machine learning and societal impacts. Sasha received her PhD in Cognitive Computing from UQÀM in 2018 and later spent two years working in applied machine learning research in industries such as customer service and finance. Since joining Mila in 2019, she has been working on projects that use AI approaches such as Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision applied to issues such as climate change, education and healthcare. She is also highly involved in her community, serving as a mentor for Women in Machine Learning and Deep Learning Indaba and as an organizer, reviewer and area chair for conferences such as ICLR, ACL and IJCAI.