The Cryptography Research Center (CRC) of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi is co-hosting the 21st Cryptology and Network Security Conference (CANS 2022) in cooperation with Springer, IACR, and NYU Abu Dhabi. The conference includes a workshop on AI and automation in cryptography and network security, with talks from experts like Claudia Diaz from Nym Technologies. Topics covered include post-quantum cryptography, blockchain security, and cryptanalysis techniques. Why it matters: This event highlights the UAE's growing role as a hub for cutting-edge research in cryptography and cybersecurity, fostering collaboration between academia and industry.
Petar Stojanov from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard will give a talk on cancer data analysis, covering the fundamentals of cancer, the nature of large-scale data collected, and main analysis objectives. The talk will also address open questions in cancer data analysis and how machine learning and generative modeling can help. Stojanov's research focuses on applying machine learning to genomic analysis of cancer mutation and single-cell RNA sequencing data. Why it matters: Applying AI and machine learning to cancer research can lead to a better understanding of the disease and development of new therapies.
A research paper co-authored by Dr. Maxim Panov and Kirill Fedyanin from the AI and Digital Science Research Center (AIDRC) has been accepted for publication at NeurIPS 2022. The paper, titled “Nonparametric Uncertainty Quantification for Single Deterministic Neural Network”, proposes a fast and scalable method for uncertainty quantification in ML models. The method disentangles aleatoric and epistemic uncertainties and was validated on text classification and image datasets including MNIST and ImageNet. Why it matters: This demonstrates the growing AI research capabilities and contributions from the UAE to the global AI community, particularly in fundamental machine learning research.
Researchers at MBZUAI have developed a new machine learning method called survival rank-n-contrast (SurvRNC) to improve survival models for cancer prognoses. The method is designed to predict survival times for head and neck cancer patients using multimodal data while accounting for censored data (missing values). Numan Saeed presented the team’s work at the 27th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI). Why it matters: Accurate prognoses can significantly improve patient outcomes, and this research contributes to advancements in machine learning techniques for handling complex and incomplete medical data.
MBZUAI faculty and researchers had 27 papers accepted at the 2022 NeurIPS conference. 12 MBZUAI faculty members have at least one paper accepted, with Professor Kun Zhang leading with 10 papers. Other faculty with accepted publications include Eric Xing, Le Song, and Fahad Khan. Why it matters: This achievement highlights MBZUAI's growing prominence in the global machine learning research community.
Professor Mérouane Debbah, Chief Researcher at AIDRC, and his co-authors received the 2022 IEEE TAOS TC Best GCSN Paper Award for their work on federated quantized neural networks. The paper, presented at IEEE ICC 2022, explores the tradeoff between energy, precision, and accuracy in these networks. The research proposes an optimal quantization level to minimize energy consumption during training, making it less prohibitive for mobile devices. Why it matters: The award recognizes work that reduces the carbon footprint of large-scale AI systems, a key challenge for sustainable AI deployment in the region and globally.
Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia are participating as Team TII-EuroRacing in the Autonomous Challenge at CES 2022 in Las Vegas. TII is also a premier sponsor of the event, which features head-to-head autonomous racecar competition at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Team TII-EuroRacing will compete with its DO12 racecar, a Dallara AV-21 retrofitted for automation, after making it to the finals at the Indy Autonomous Challenge in October 2021. Why it matters: This event highlights the UAE's commitment to advancing autonomous robotics and positions TII as a leader in the development of autonomous racing systems.