Discovering the brain’s internal algorithms: Leveraging neuroscience to develop machine natural intelligence
IEEE San Diego Big Data Science & Engineering Special Interests Group joint by Young Professionals Affiliate Group, Consumer Electronics, AESS and RAS present
Discovering the brain’s internal algorithms: Leveraging neuroscience to develop machine natural intelligence
Speaker: Dr. Gabriel A. Silva
Abstract:
The Center for Engineered Natural Intelligence (CENI) at the University of California San Diego brings together faculty, students, and industry partners in order to push the boundaries of existing artificial intelligence through neuroscience. Our goal is to arrive at engineered natural intelligence in machines that emulates the unique computational capabilities of the human brain. In particular, our focus is on the development of systems and methods capable of achieving robust and adaptive contextual learning and analytics with minimal training at ultra low power. What are the ‘algorithms’ that achieve this? How does the neurobiology execute such algorithms? And how can we leverage what we learn to engineer forms of natural machine intelligence? Our philosophical approach is grounded in the perspective that pursuing a systems engineering understanding of the biological brain does not necessarily mean that we have to reverse engineer it to the point that we are modeling every aspect of how the biology itself implements the brain’s internal algorithms. The ’stuff’, the wetware, that the brain is made from necessitates that biology rely on mechanisms that make use of genetic programs to produce proteins, ion channels, and other molecular structures that interact with a wide range of chemical factors in an aqueous environment. But the rules and algorithms that make up the repertoire of its computational properties are independent of the biological substrates that implement them. Our goal is to arrive at an understanding of the brain’s algorithms in a way that puts them in context with their biological implementation, but which are based on mathematical descriptions independent of the biological details responsible for executing them. Towards these goals, we are pursuing two major projects. The first is aimed at achieving original and creative machine-generated data and novel ‘ideas’ in cognitive computing systems. The second involves the development of machine learning on networks that structurally adapt in near real time to available data resolution and computational resources. At the same time, an engineering approach to neuroscience provides a unique perspective on systems neuroscience. We will also discuss applications of this work to dynamic connectomics and cell signaling.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Gabriel A. Silva is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Bioengineering, and Professor of Neurosciences at the University of California San Diego. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Engineered Natural Intelligence and holds a Jacobs Faculty Endowed Scholar in Engineering. He also has additional appointments in the Department of NanoEngineering, the BioCircuits Institute, the Neurosciences Graduate Program, Computational Neurobiology Program, and Institute for Neural Computation. Professor Silva received an Hon.B.Sc. in human physiology and a B.Sc. in biophysics from the University of Toronto, Canada in 1996, followed by an M.Sc. in neuroscience also from the University of Toronto in 1997. He then did his Ph.D. in bioengineering and neurophysiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, graduating in 2001, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Institute for BioNanotechnology and Medicine (IBNAM) and the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University in Chicago from 2001 to 2003. He joined the faculty at the University of California, San Diego in 2003. Prof. Silva has received numerous awards and recognitions for his research and teaching, including the IEEE/EMBS Excellence in Neural Engineering award, Wallace Coulter Foundation Early Career award, Faculty of the Year award for undergraduate education from the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society, selection to “Nanoscience: The best of NATURE publications”, and the YC Fung Young Investigator Award and Medal. He has published over 50 different peer reviewed papers, book chapters, and books, over 100 abstracts and conference proceedings at national and international meetings, and has given over 130 lectures and invited talks. He is an Associate Editor of four different journals and is on the editorial board of 16 journals. He has also reviewed grants for numerous national federal and private organizations, including NIH, NSF, and DoD, as well as a number of international organizations from countries all over the world, including France, the UK, Singapore, Israel, Canada, Hong Kong, and Ireland. Of particular note, he served on the NIH Neurotechnology study section as a standing member for eight years. Dr. Silva is a co-inventor on thirty issued or pending patents, is a co-founder of several start-up companies, and is on a number of executive and scientific advisory boards.
Questions: yongxin.zhang@ieee.org
Date and Time
Location
Hosts
Registration
- Date: 28 Nov 2017
- Time: 06:30 PM to 08:00 PM
- All times are (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
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- Qualcomm Building AZ Auditorium
- 10155 Pacific Heights Blvd
- San Diego, California
- United States 92121
- Building: AZ
- Room Number: Auditorium
- Click here for Map
- Starts 14 November 2017 12:00 AM
- Ends 28 November 2017 08:00 PM
- All times are (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
- No Admission Charge
Agenda
6:30 – 6:45 PM: Networking and Refreshments
7:00 – 8:00 PM: Presentation
8:00 – 8:15: Open Q/A and open forum discussions