Please register before September 16th. The event is free and open for all.

Catherine Balcerzak-Wimmer is an Employer Experience Manager in Co-operative and Experiential Education at the University of Waterloo, Canada where she works to build and strengthen partnerships between employers, students, and the university. She also serves as the IWIL AI Program Manager for Waterloo, leading international collaborations that advance work-integrated learning and artificial intelligence initiatives between Waterloo researchers and NTNU. Her work focuses on connecting industry, academia, and innovation to create meaningful learning and talent development opportunities. 

John Zelek is a leading expert in computer vision and robotics.  He is a professor and co-director of the VIP (Vision Image Processing) lab. He is the current Director of the Systems Design undergraduate program and was formerly the Associate Graduate chair.  His current main research interests include autonomous robotic mapping and localization, AI based 3D scene understanding, building digital twins and physics accurate simulations of 3D mapped environments, drone navigation and control, man-made infrastructure assessment (e.g., roads, buildings, bridges), eye (fundus, OCT) image understanding for disease, athletic sport tracking & biomechanical understanding of play & ability from video feeds, to name a few.  His research has led to the spinoff of 5 startup companies, 3 patents, more than 8 best paper awards at international conferences, more than a dozen national best paper awards as well as a distinction award from the Canadian Computer and Robotic vision society.  His research has been featured on various media sources such as the Globe and Mail, CBC, BBC, Discovery Channel and various local newspapers and media outlets.  

Dr. Jian Zhao is an Associate Professor in the Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, where he directs the WVisdom research lab. His research lies in the intersection of Information Visualization, Human-Computer Interaction, Data Science, and Human-Centered AI. He is dedicated to developing advanced interaction and visualization techniques that promote the interplay between humans, machines, and data. Dr. Zhao received his Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, and joined the University of Waterloo in 2019 after working in the industry.

Rebecca Sherlock is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo whose research examines responsible innovation and responsible AI, with a particular focus on how critical and ethical approaches to technology can be translated into design and industry practice. Her work draws on critical design, new media studies, and responsible technology development to explore how practitioners can engage with the social and ethical implications of emerging technologies. She is also a researcher with the Critical by Design initiative at Waterloo’s Critical Media Lab. She is also the director of design at Electronic Arts (EA).

Edson Takei is currently Vice President of Projects at WAT.ai, where he helps oversee student-led technical projects and leads the organization’s student recruitment and hiring pipeline. Previously, he served as a Technical Project Manager, leading a project that leveraged LLM-based solutions to help seniors live independently. His connection to the Waterloo community began with a summer co-op research placement at the University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences in 2024, after which he became involved with WAT.ai. Through his work, he has gained experience in student project recruitment, project management, and the factors that contribute to successful and unsuccessful technical projects. He is particularly interested in the impact these projects can have on students, organizations, and the broader community. 

Mathumaran Thavarajah is the Co-President of UWaterloo Data Science Club. Computational Mathematics and Business Administration double-degree student exploring how data can be applied to solve real-world problems.

Please register before September 16th. The event is free and open for all.

“Star Wars Ewoks 74-Z speeder bikes: a performance model for autonomous drones outfitted with only a camera”, John Zelek 

Our goal is to autonomously control drones outfitted with a camera to be able to navigate to a target while avoiding obstacles.  One type of environment that is challenging is a forested environment, with many trees, foliage and branches waving to the wind.  This reminds me of the old Star War movies where Ewok’s navigated their speeder bikes through the forest at great speeds.  We are trying to do this with a minimalistic drone system, where its principal perception mechanism is a camera.  We want these drones to travel also more than 200 kph.  The standard way of doing this is to map the environment with all objects and track IMO (Independent Moving Objects).  This can be very computational which requires more onboard computing, heavier drones, more power requirements which is not what we want to do.  Alternatively, we use the motion field (i.e., optical flow field) or a computation called time to collision.  Time to Collision is based on the principle that when objects get larger in the camera’s field of view, they are getting closer and should be avoided.  The optical flow field can also be used to compute parallax in time, the same way we see with 2 eyes for stereo vision, except we are doing stereo through time.  We have explored Reinforcement Learning techniques to learn control behaviours with good results.  Alternatively, we are looking at other methods that provide exact solutions by minimizing hitting probabilities.  The best solution for control will probably be a combination of the two. 

"How to Design AI Systems that Matter to Humans?", Jian Zhao

This talk will introduce the science of human-computer interaction (HCI) in general, explain the foundations for designing effective and useful AI systems, and share several cutting-edge human centered AI technologies from my research as concrete cases. 

"Data Science: Bridging the Gap Between Academia and Industry", Mathumaran Thavarajah

An overview of the UW Data Science Club, our role within the University of Waterloo student community, and how we create opportunities for students to apply their academic knowledge to real-world problems through industry collaboration, workshops, projects, and other initiatives. 

About the Data Science club

The Data Science club is a MathSoc club dedicated to building a community of students passionate about exploring the field of Data Science. DSC hosts a number of workshops and events throughout the term, mostly academic focused. Our iconic mascots include Echo the Whale, Sharkira, and Bert!

"WAT.ai: The people and projects shaking up Waterloo", Edson Takei

In this presentation, we’ll introduce WAT.ai, speak on how it started, its purpose within the Waterloo community, and the people behind it. We’ll cover our hiring process and tips for successful recruitment, showcase some of the projects within our community, and share where our members have gone to, along with key stats about our organisation.

About WAT.ai 

WAT.ai is a student-run Artificial Intelligence (AI) Organization at the University of Waterloo and the undergraduate student body of the Waterloo AI Institute and member of the Sedra Student Design Centre (SSDC). 

Our goal is to establish an environment to enable the continued growth of AI talent and suitable access to opportunities within the Waterloo community. We provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to engage in impactful projects through collaboration with companies and internal research.

"Approaching Responsible AI with Critical by Design", Rebecca Sherlock

This talk introduces the work of Critical by Design, a research initiative based at the University of Waterloo’s Critical Media Lab. Critical by Design seeks to understand how responsible innovation might be integrated directly into technological design practices. Our resources promote consideration of issues related to EDI, in addition to the potential social, psychological, and ecological consequences of tech innovation to promote an inclusive and sustainable way of developing our future.

"NTNU and Waterloo: Connecting AI Research, Talent, and Opportunity", Catherine Balcerzak-Wimmer

The International Work Integrated Learning in Artificial Intelligence (IWIL AI) project has created valuable opportunities for collaboration between NTNU and the University of Waterloo. This presentation will share insights into Waterloo's AI research and work-integrated learning ecosystem and explore how international partnerships can strengthen research collaboration, expand student opportunities, foster global talent development, and create lasting impact. It will also consider opportunities for future collaboration beyond the current project.

Please register before September 16th. The event is free and open for all.