[Colloquium] JOB TALK TODAY: Ryan Adams, University of Toronto

[Katie Casey]

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Place: Ryerson 251, 1100 E. 58th Street

***Please note non-standard day and time***

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Speaker:		Ryan Adams

From:		University of Toronto

Web page:	http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~rpa/

Title: 		Understanding the World with Infinite Models and Finite Computation

Abstract:  	We are undergoing a revolution in data.  As computer scientists, we
have grown accustomed to constant upheaval in computing resources --
quicker processors, bigger storage and faster networks -- but this
century presents the new challenge of almost unlimited access to raw
information.  Whether from sensor networks, social computing or
high-throughput cell biology, we face a deluge of data about our
world.  We need to parse this information, to understand it, to use it
to make better decisions.  In this talk, I will discuss my work to
confront this new challenge, developing new machine learning
algorithms that are based on infinitely-large probabilistic graphical
models.  In principle, these infinite representations allow us to
analyze sophisticated and dynamic phenomena in a way that
automatically balances simplicity and complexity -- a mathematical
Occam's Razor.  Our computers, however, are inevitably finite, so how
can we use such tools in practice?  I will discuss how my approach
leverages ideas from Bayesian statistics to develop practical
algorithms for inference in models with infinite capacity, while using
finite computation.  I will discuss how combining a firm theoretical
footing with practical computational concerns gives us tools that are
useful both within computer science and beyond, in domains such as
computer vision, computational neuroscience, biology and the social
sciences.

Host: 		Pedro Felzenszwalb

Refreshments will be served following the talk at 4:00 in Ryerson 255.