DawsCon

PRESENT

Montreal’s FREE Conference

For Students, Industry, and Educators

Featuring Student Talks & Weekend Data Storytelling Challenge 

DAWSCON at Dawson College | March 24-26

Dawson College will be hosting a free conference and weekend Data Journalism challenge in Montreal aimed at students and educators of any background.

Attendees will be exposed to a wide range of AI topics from ethics and bias to data manipulation and machine learning. Presentations will be given by Dawson students and faculty from the AI Teaching and Research Communities of Practice as well as partner organizations, external researchers and industry professionals.

Talks will take place on Friday, March 24 and the day will end with networking and the challenge kick off. The rest of the weekend will be devoted to workshops and the Data Journalism Challenge open to teams of college students.

The tentative schedule will be updated as presenters confirm their participation.

Students can register for the Data Journalism Challenge here.

DawsCon 2023 is proud to feature student lightning talk sessions. College students (current or graduated) are invited to present their work or interest.

Conference Schedule – Friday, March 24

Data Journalism Challenge – Friday, March 24 to Sunday, March 26

Speakers

Bernard Duval

6G, Next G) Team, Senior Advisor – Mitacs Future Networks (5G

Bernard Duval est un conseiller en gestion de la transformation technologique qui se concentre notamment sur les technologies perturbatrices de la 5G, 6G, des réseaux du futurs, l’informatique de pointe et l’internet de prochaine génération. Il gère plusieurs projets de recherche collaborative entre le secteur privé et des universités. Il collabore activement au programme ENCQOR,…

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Bernard Duval

6G, Next G) Team, Senior Advisor – Mitacs Future Networks (5G

Bernard Duval est un conseiller en gestion de la transformation technologique qui se concentre notamment sur les technologies perturbatrices de la 5G, 6G, des réseaux du futurs, l’informatique de pointe et l’internet de prochaine génération. Il gère plusieurs projets de recherche collaborative entre le secteur privé et des universités. Il collabore activement au programme ENCQOR, le premier corridor d’infrastructure numérique 5G pré-commercial du Canada. Le projet a pour but de rendre les réseaux 5G accessibles aux entreprises, aux chercheurs et aux universités canadiennes, les aidant à réaliser son potentiel, à promouvoir la croissance économique à long terme à l’intérieur de l’écosystème de l’innovation du Canada. Bernard œuvre également à la mise sur pied d’une stratégique canadienne pour la 6G qui inclura notamment une collaboration internationale.

Avec plus de 20 ans d’expérience de gestion et de conseils dans les secteurs des technologies de l’information, du commerce électronique et des communications, Bernard se voue à la négociation et à la création de partenariats, concrétisant ainsi une entente d’affaires ou un projet d’innovation.

 

Bernard Duval is a technology transformation management senior advisor focusing on disruptive technologies such as 5G, 6G, future networks, next generation internet & edge cloud computing . He manages several collaborative research projects between industry and universities. He closely collaborates with ENCQOR project, Canada's first pre-commercial 5G digital infrastructure corridor. The project is intended to make 5G networks accessible to Canadian businesses, researchers, and universities, helping them realize its potential, promoting long-term economic growth within Canada’s innovation ecosystem. Bernard is also working on establishing a Canadian 6G Strategy that will include international collaboration.

With over 20 years of managerial and advising experience in the information technology, e-commerce and communication sectors, Bernard focuses on negotiating and building partnerships, thereby bringing a business agreement or an innovation project to fruition.

Bessam Abdulrazak

Professor at the University of Sherbrooke

Bessam is a professor of computer science at the Université de Sherbrooke and the director of the AMI-Lab (an interdisciplinary laboratory on ambient intelligence for active aging). He is also an active researcher at the Research center on Aging (CdRV) and at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation (3IT). His research interests include ubiquitous and…

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Bessam Abdulrazak

Professor at the University of Sherbrooke

Bessam is a professor of computer science at the Université de Sherbrooke and the director of the AMI-Lab (an interdisciplinary laboratory on ambient intelligence for active aging). He is also an active researcher at the Research center on Aging (CdRV) and at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation (3IT). His research interests include ubiquitous and pervasive computing, Ambient Intelligence, Smart Environments, Assistive Living Technologies, context-awareness and software engineering. He has over 180 peer-reviewed publications, served as general chair for a number of conferences and workshops, serves on the editorial board of numerous international journals, as well as program committee of several conferences related to his research interests. You can learn more about him and AMI-Lab at https://ami.usherbrooke.ca.

Elham Kheradmand

Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Montreal

Elham is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Montreal working on developing machine learning methods in sustainable finance, especially climate change-related topics. She was also a lead AI scientist at Clearsum and Research and Development Scientist at Axionable. She is an AI project manager at AI Launch Lab and supports students in successfully accomplishing…

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Elham Kheradmand

Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Montreal

Elham is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Montreal working on developing machine learning methods in sustainable finance, especially climate change-related topics. She was also a lead AI scientist at Clearsum and Research and Development Scientist at Axionable. She is an AI project manager at AI Launch Lab and supports students in successfully accomplishing AI-based projects. Elham was a Mentor at Mila and Athena pathway to help Mila’s students and women achieve their personal and professional development objectives. She is a Women in AI and Women in Climate Tech member to empower and amplify the voices of women and non-binary individuals in AI and climate tech. Her mission is also to encourage more women to join the AI world. She has specialties in algorithm development, machine learning, and optimization. She got her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Polytechnique Montreal in 2020. Before her Ph.D. she was the head of a bank's banking software development team in Iran. She came to Montreal to start a new journey by continuing her education. Her interest is mainly in applying artificial intelligence for social good. Because of her contribution to AI for good, she won one of the 2022 women in artificial intelligence awards in North America.

Henri Tremblay

Managing Director and Head of TS Imagine Canada

Henri Tremblay is a Java Champion. He leads EasyMock and Objenesis open source projects. When he was young, he made popular mocking classes, invented partial mocking, and was coding with pragmatism. The social side of him leads the Montréal JUG and Devoxx4kids Québec. He has been a developer, CTO, software architect, enterprise architect, startup founder,…

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Henri Tremblay

Managing Director and Head of TS Imagine Canada

Henri Tremblay is a Java Champion. He leads EasyMock and Objenesis open source projects. When he was young, he made popular mocking classes, invented partial mocking, and was coding with pragmatism. The social side of him leads the Montréal JUG and Devoxx4kids Québec.

He has been a developer, CTO, software architect, enterprise architect, startup founder, teacher and performance expert. With pragmatism. He is currently Managing Director and Head of TS Imagine Canada.

He loves optimization and productivity. In Java and in general. He tries to be useful. He is pragmatic.

Hugo Larochelle

Montreal Team Lead at Google Brain

Hugo Larochelle is a Research Scientist at Google Brain and lead of the Montreal Google Brain team. He is also a member of Yoshua Bengio’s Mila and an Adjunct Professor at the Université de Montréal. Previously, he was an Associate Professor at the University of Sherbrooke. Larochelle also co-founded Whetlab, which was acquired in 2015…

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Hugo Larochelle

Montreal Team Lead at Google Brain

Hugo Larochelle is a Research Scientist at Google Brain and lead of the Montreal Google Brain team. He is also a member of Yoshua Bengio's Mila and an Adjunct Professor at the Université de Montréal. Previously, he was an Associate Professor at the University of Sherbrooke. Larochelle also co-founded Whetlab, which was acquired in 2015 by Twitter, where he then worked as a Research Scientist in the Twitter Cortex group. From 2009 to 2011, he was also a member of the machine learning group at the University of Toronto, as a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Geoffrey Hinton. He obtained his Ph.D. at the Université de Montréal, under the supervision of Yoshua Bengio. Finally, he has a popular online course on deep learning and neural networks, freely accessible on YouTube.

Joel Trudeau

Project Lead at DawsonAI; Professor of Physics at Dawson College

Since 2004, Joel has taught in the Physics Department. In 2007 he founded SPACE (Sciences Participating with Arts and Culture in Education), an initiative that seeks to expand academic discussion and collaboration across and within disciplines at Dawson College and beyond. He is also project lead of the DawsonAI initiative. Joel’s work in education lies…

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Joel Trudeau

Project Lead at DawsonAI; Professor of Physics at Dawson College

Since 2004, Joel has taught in the Physics Department. In 2007 he founded SPACE (Sciences Participating with Arts and Culture in Education), an initiative that seeks to expand academic discussion and collaboration across and within disciplines at Dawson College and beyond. He is also project lead of the DawsonAI initiative. Joel's work in education lies in the domain where sciences, arts and technology overlap.

Over the years, Joel has been involved with Physics and Science Education research with a special focus on design-based, active and experiential learning. With colleagues at Dawson, he is involved in the enterprise of creating nextgen curriculum that develops the critical hard and soft skills needed for solving the pressing, emerging and potential future problems we all share. Current interests concern innovation: the mindsets, pedagogies, and infrastructure needed for inspiring, mentoring and realizing collaborative creative or technical projects which can find application in academic, entrepreneurial, and/or social impact contexts.

Ken Fogel

Scholar in Residence at Dawson College

Ken retired from the Computer Science Technology program at Dawson College after 31 years and served as department chair for 25 of those years. Currently he is a Research Scholar in Residence at Dawson. He is a Java Champion and a member of the Java Community Process (JCP) Executive Committee. He was awarded the JCP…

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Ken Fogel

Scholar in Residence at Dawson College

Ken retired from the Computer Science Technology program at Dawson College after 31 years and served as department chair for 25 of those years. Currently he is a Research Scholar in Residence at Dawson. He is a Java Champion and a member of the Java Community Process (JCP) Executive Committee. He was awarded the JCP Participant of the year for his work in encouraging Java in education. He is also leading the team that organizes the annual Java Champions Conference. He is the author of a video on learning Java for Apress and the author of Transitioning to Java for Packt that should be published in early 2023. You can read his blog at www.omnijava.com and you can follow him on Twitter @omniprof or Mastodon @omniprof@mastodon.social.

Nick Gertler

Graduate Student in Media Studies at Concordia University

Nick Gertler is a graduate student at Concordia University whose work focuses on the policy and politics of AI in Canada. His thesis research focuses on algorithmic impact assessments and community-led AI governance. Nick also works at Concordia’s Applied AI Institute, and he is a member of the Machine Agencies working group at the Milieux…

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Nick Gertler

Graduate Student in Media Studies at Concordia University

Nick Gertler is a graduate student at Concordia University whose work focuses on the policy and politics of AI in Canada. His thesis research focuses on algorithmic impact assessments and community-led AI governance. Nick also works at Concordia’s Applied AI Institute, and he is a member of the Machine Agencies working group at the Milieux Institute.

Patrick Downing

Vice President - Identity and Access Management at Morgan Stanley

Patrick Downing currently holds the position of Vice President at Morgan Stanley and is responsible for spearheading strategic initiatives in the Identity & Access Management domain. Patrick boasts a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a Master’s degree in Information Security, and possesses multiple professional certifications in the areas of cyber security, finance, and quantum computing….

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Patrick Downing

Vice President - Identity and Access Management at Morgan Stanley

Patrick Downing currently holds the position of Vice President at Morgan Stanley and is responsible for spearheading strategic initiatives in the Identity & Access Management domain. Patrick boasts a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, a Master's degree in Information Security, and possesses multiple professional certifications in the areas of cyber security, finance, and quantum computing.

Patrick has served at Morgan Stanley for nearly ten years and has been at the forefront of various cutting-edge technologies, particularly quantum computing. He has gained recognition on an international level as a skilled developer in this field and has been recently appointed as one of only nine Qiskit Advocates in Canada. Patrick's proficiency in this field has been critical in driving innovation and enabling Morgan Stanley to maintain its competitive edge.

Reshem Khan

AI Ethics & Equity Learning Lead at AI Launch Labs

Reshem is a policy and management professional with expertise in tech ethics and stewardship, data equity and quality, and social and health policy. She specializes in social impact and centres the perspectives and priorities of equity-deserving and marginalized groups when considering change at the systems’ and ground level. She is the AI Ethics & Equity…

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Reshem Khan

AI Ethics & Equity Learning Lead at AI Launch Labs

Reshem is a policy and management professional with expertise in tech ethics and stewardship, data equity and quality, and social and health policy. She specializes in social impact and centres the perspectives and priorities of equity-deserving and marginalized groups when considering change at the systems' and ground level. She is the AI Ethics & Equity Learning Lead at AI Launch Labs and has a background in health and social policy with her current role as a Data Quality Lead at the Public Health Agency of Canada. In previous roles, Reshem has led key strategic, operational and EDI initiatives and has had the privilege of working with youth advocates, racialized communities, and low-income communities to drive equitable change. Reshem has a Masters in Political Science from the University of Waterloo.

Robert Stephens

Humanities Philosophy at Dawson College

Robert Stephens teaches Philosophy and Humanities at Dawson College, and is the current Coordinator of the ALC Arts & Culture Profile. He has a PhD in Philosophy from McGill University, where is dissertation was focused on defending a computationalist theory of human cognitive architecture, in which problems faced in the development of AI are used…

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Robert Stephens

Humanities Philosophy at Dawson College

Robert Stephens teaches Philosophy and Humanities at Dawson College, and is the current Coordinator of the ALC Arts & Culture Profile. He has a PhD in Philosophy from McGill University, where is dissertation was focused on defending a computationalist theory of human cognitive architecture, in which problems faced in the development of AI are used to help illuminate how the human mind is organized, and how human cognitive limits may in turn be usefully studied to inspire new designs for artificial minds. In his classes at Dawson, he tries to facilitate student understanding and analysis of the impacts of widespread deployment of autonomous decision-making algorithms/artificial intelligence systems (AIS) with respect to three interrelated areas: potential economic/employment displacement, the essential data literacy and technical competency that all members of society will require, and the need to manage the transition to widespread integration of AIS in a socially beneficial, ethical, and equitable fashion. Before coming to Dawson, Robert was a High School English and Drama teacher. In his spare time, he builds custom electric guitars and ukuleles.

Rotshennón:ni Two-Axe

Dawson College Science Program

Rotshennón:ni Two-Axe is Kanien’keha:ka from Kahnawa:ke. He is a member of the turtle clan and is a second-year Enriched Health Science student at Dawson College. He is currently a volunteer with the First Aid Student Team and an Indigenous Peer Tutor who co-coordinates IndigeSTEM support meetings for Indigenous students in math and science courses. Outside…

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Rotshennón:ni Two-Axe

Dawson College Science Program

Rotshennón:ni Two-Axe is Kanien'keha:ka from Kahnawa:ke. He is a member of the turtle clan and is a second-year Enriched Health Science student at Dawson College. He is currently a volunteer with the First Aid Student Team and an Indigenous Peer Tutor who co-coordinates IndigeSTEM support meetings for Indigenous students in math and science courses. Outside of school, he is a coach and athlete for competitive canoe/kayak.

Saba Hamedi

Vice President - Cryptography at Morgan Stanley

Saba Hamedi is currently a Vice President technical product owner at Morgan Stanley. Her main focus is on evaluating and providing data protection solutions across various types of demands within the company. She joined Morgan Stanley in 2017 after being a telecommunication engineer and product manager at Ericsson and iBwave in Montreal. She holds a…

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Saba Hamedi

Vice President - Cryptography at Morgan Stanley

Saba Hamedi is currently a Vice President technical product owner at Morgan Stanley. Her main focus is on evaluating and providing data protection solutions across various types of demands within the company. She joined Morgan Stanley in 2017 after being a telecommunication engineer and product manager at Ericsson and iBwave in Montreal. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Hardware Engineering and Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as technical certificates in Cybersecurity and Cryptography.

Her current role exposes her to many products serving in cryptography and digital secret management. As part of her responsibilities, she establishes strategical roadmaps and works closely with developers and engineers to build and maintain solutions to protect the customers’ digital assets. She is an active advocate of strengthening contribution of women in technology and partners with different organization, like Girls Who Code, to help narrowing the gender gap in the domains of technology and particularly in Computer Science.

Sourour Ben Cheikh

Mitacs Senior Advisor – Colleges and CEGEPs

Sourour Ben Cheikh is a senior advisor at Mitacs. Her focus is supporting Colleges and CEGEPs to build collaborative applied research projects with businesses and not-for-profits organizations. She works closely with college faculties to establish and maintain partnerships with industry to address innovation challenges, thereby providing internships opportunities for students and Postdoctoral researchers. Prior to…

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Sourour Ben Cheikh

Mitacs Senior Advisor – Colleges and CEGEPs

Sourour Ben Cheikh is a senior advisor at Mitacs. Her focus is supporting Colleges and CEGEPs to build collaborative applied research projects with businesses and not-for-profits organizations. She works closely with college faculties to establish and maintain partnerships with industry to address innovation challenges, thereby providing internships opportunities for students and Postdoctoral researchers.

Prior to her mandate with colleges and CEGEPs, Sourour worked in conjunction with Prompt, to drive innovation in the Information Technology (IT). She contributed on the ENCQOR project, Canada's first pre-commercial 5G digital infrastructure corridor. In addition, she managed the PARTENAR-IA program, which is the first concerted call for projects in Artificial Intelligence aimed at deploying funding in targeted industrial sectors.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial Engineering and an M.Sc. A. and Ph.D. in Chemical engineering from the École Polytechnique de Montreal.

For more information, contact us at dawscon@dawsoncollege.qc.ca.