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Our Mentors

Chenqiu Zhao, PhD Candidate, University of Alberta

Chenqiu Zhao received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in software engineering from Chongqing University, Chongqing, China, in 2014 and 2017, respectively. He used to be a Research Associate with the Institute for Media Innovation from 2017 to 2018, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore . He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in Multimedia Research Center, Department of Computing Science in the University of Alberta. His current research interests include computer vision, video segmentation, pattern recognition, and deep learning.

Chris Chen, Lead Data Scientist, Competition Master at Kaggle

Chris Chen received his degree in Computer Science in 2001 at Chongqing University of Posts & Telecom. He is a Lead Data Scientist with extensive experience in leading Advanced Analytics projects in Telecom and Oil & Gas industry. He is a Competition Master at Kaggle, the largest and most influencing data science competition platform, and has ranked top 1% globally. Chris is a lifetime learner, the chief family cheerleader, and an untalented yet persistent cook.

LinkedIn

Leyuan Yu, NLP Data Scientist, Manulife

Leyuan specializes in solving industrial NLP challenges, from problem define to solution delivery. Leyuan currently works at Manulife Advanced Analytics team as an NLP Data Scientist, prior to that he worked at Deloitte OmniaAI as a Data Scientist and various companies as a software developer for years.


Tian Liang, PhD, Simulation Specialist, RTDS 

Tian Liang (S’16, M’20) received the B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering from Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, in 2011. He received the M.Eng. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2014. He received his Ph.D. degree in Energy System at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 2020. He is working as a simulation specialist in RTDS technology, the world’s benchmark company for real-time power system simulation.  His research interests include real-time emulation of power systems, power electronics, artificial intelligence, fault detection and isolation, and System-on-Chip.

Xian Chen, PhD, VP & CTO, Zhejiang WalkGIS

Xian Chen received the B.Eng. degree and M.Sc. degree in Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, China. He received a Ph.D. degree in the Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Canada, in 2010. His research focused on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Clouding Computing and Software Engineering, etc. He has worked as a senior manager in information technology enterprises since 2011 and accumulated rich experience in the industry. He is currently focusing on GIS-based solutions in Smart City and Natural Resource Management.

Xinli Cai, Fire Weather Research Analyst, Natural Resources Canada

Xinli Cai is a Fire Weather Research Analyst at Natural Resources Canada. Her domain expertise is wildfire prediction, with a strong understanding of statistical analyses and machine learning. Her recent projects are around spatial wildfire danger mapping, predicting extreme fire weather events with deep learning, and downscaling precipitation with deep super-resolution. Currently, she is also finishing up her second MSc in Computer Science at the University of Alberta. Outside of work, Xinli co-founded the Google Developer’s Group (GDG) Cloud Edmonton, one of the fastest-growing developers’ communities in Alberta. She is looking forward to meeting more interesting people and to building the Alberta Developers’ community together!

Xinyao Sun, PhD Candidate, University of Alberta

Xinyao Sun received BASc degree in Computing Science from the University of Alberta and got Master degree at UofA with a Specialization in Multimedia. He is working toward a Ph.D. degree in UofA, and his research interests mainly include computer vision, signal processing, machine learning and blockchain technology. His main focus now is using signal decomposition techniques to improve the remote sensing processing pipeline using Synthetic Aperature Radar (SAR) for wide-area monitoring of earth from space. 

LinkedIn

Yongzhe Hong, MD, MSc, PhD, Data Analyst

Dr. Hong provides consultation on the design and analysis of clinical studies to the members of

Division of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Alberta. He has more than 7 years of experience dealing with large population-based health data.  Dr. Hong applied a variety of statistical methods for primary and observational studies, including descriptive analysis, survival analysis, time series analysis, longitudinal analysis, and risk adjustment and modelling. He is currently a member of the Biomedical AnaLytics Studio And Methods unit (BALSAM). His research interests include Causal inference and AI in Healthcare.

LinkedIn

Yuxi Li, PhD, CEO, Attain.ai

Yuxi Li, author of the 150 pages Deep Reinforcement Learning: An Overview, with around 500 citations, ​at https://bit.ly/2AidXm1​, and is writing a book about reinforcement learning applications. He is the lead guest editor for a Machine Learning Special Issue, lead co-chairs for an ICML 2019 Workshop and a 2020 virtual workshop, all on reinforcement learning for real life. He was a co-organizer for AI Frontiers Conference in Silicon Valley in 2017 and 2018. ​He has published refereed papers at venues such as NIPS, AISTATS, and INFOCOM. ​He obtained the Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Alberta and was a postdoc there.  He serves as TPC Members/reviewers for conferences and journals, like AAAI 2019-2021, PLOS ONE and TKDD. He was an associate professor in China and a senior data scientist in the US. He founded attain.ai.

Advisory Committee

  • Dr. Randy Goebel, Amii Fellow and Cofounder, Associate VP (Research and Academic), University of Alberta
  • Dr. Tony Qiu, Associate Professor, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Intelligent Transportation Systems, University of Alberta
  • Dr. Bin Zheng, Associate Professor, Director of Surgical Simulation Research Lab, University of Alberta
  • Dr. Li Cheng, Associate Professor, Vision and Learning Lab, University of Alberta
  • Dr. Eleni Stroulia, Professor, Director of the AI4Society Signature Area, University of Alberta
  • Dr. Irene Cheng, Scientific Director, Multimedia Research Centre, Adjunct Professor, University of Alberta
  • Dr. Bo Cao, Assistant Professor, Canada Research Chair in Computational Psychiatry (Tier 2), University of Alberta
  • Dr. Yuxi Li, Ph.D., CEO of Attain.ai
  • Dr. Pierre Boulanger, Professor, CISCO Chair in Healthcare, Director of the Advanced Man-Machine Interface Laboratory, University of Alberta
  • Lan Tan, Director, Entrepreneur Development, TEC Edmonton
  • Frank Wang, Honorary President, Tsinghua Alumni Association of Edmonton
  • Dr. Shi Jin, VP Engineering, Data Garden
  • Dr. Marcin Mizianty, VP Data Science, AltaML
  • Lawrence Lee, Councillor, the City of Red Deer

Our Sponsors

SAS (Canada)

In 1988, SAS opened its physical operation in Canada. SAS (Canada) has many long-standing customer relationships and recently celebrated 25th anniversaries with RBC, Bell Canada, CIBC and BMO. SAS Canada employs industry experts to ensure that our business solutions align and solve our customers’ business problems. Headquartered in Toronto, SAS Canada employs more than 300 people across the country at its Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto offices.

The SAS Canada headquarters at 280 King Street East is Canada’s first LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified new commercial office building. Awarded LEED Silver certification, the building meets all of LEED Canada’s criteria for environmentally innovative building methods. In 2008, the SAS Canada building consumed over 65% less energy than the equivalent typical Ontario office building. It continues to serve as a model both for City of Toronto planners and other companies interested in green architecture.

More information about SAS (Canada) can be found at: https://www.sas.com/en_ca/home.html

 VIKING Financial Solutions Inc.

VIKING is honored to be a primarily referral-based investment* and insurance firm. There is no greater testimony to the quality of our services then when our clients feel comfortable sending their closest family and friends to us.

 Viking Financial Solutions Inc. delivers the highest level of service to every client by treating them like family and adhering to our core values of Professionalism, Excellence and Integrity. These aren’t vague promises, these are strict standards that govern our work. We follow these core values at all times and every stage of our relationship with you.​

 *Mutual Funds and some Segregated Funds provided by the Fund Companies are offered through Worldsource Financial Management Inc., sponsoring mutual fund dealer.

 More information about VIKING can be found at: https://www.vikingfinsolutions.com

Sister Association: East China Immigrants Society of Edmonton


East China Immigrants Society of Edmonton (ECISE) is a non-profit, non-political and non-religious organization in Edmonton. The members mainly came from  Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and their friends. It was established in 2005.

Official website: www.ecise.ca

Immigration Community Alberta Network Association (ICAN)

ICAN (Immigration Community Alberta Network Association) was established in 2014 and is a non-profit organization registered by the Alberta Provincial Government.

The purpose of the Association is to strengthen the relationships between Alberta Canada and New immigrants, to enhance fellowship, promote multi-culture, encourage social and cultural exchanges, and actively participate in social welfare activities. Strive for the interests and rights of New Immigrants. The simple expression is “Love Canada, integrate ethnicity and serve the immigrants.”

AI Mentor Session

Do you want to learn about Artificial Intelligence (AI) but don’t know where to start?

Are you taking some online AI courses but lack of real world hands-on project experiences?

Are you at the advanced level but having difficulty understanding a state-of-the-art algorithm or looking for peers who can learn from each other?

No matter what level of your AI knowledge, you can come to AlbertaAI Mentor Session to find peers and seek help and guidance from AlbertaAI senior members. We will break out attendees into the Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. In each breakout room, our senior members will provide help and guidance and the attendees at the same level can discuss and exchange ideas with each other.

Our next monthly mentor session is on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM MST. To register, click on the link https://www.meetup.com/startupedmonton/events/274511336/