Two Department of Computer Science faculty members are among five University of Toronto researchers who have received prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships for 2021.

The five, all assistant professors, are:

David Curtin, Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts & Science
Roger Grosse, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science
Tovi Grossman, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science
Yevgeny Liokumovich, Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences , U of T Mississauga
and Sophie Rousseaux, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts & Science

The research fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to early career researchers in Canada and the United States “whose creativity, innovation and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of scientific leaders.”

“I’m thrilled that today four accomplished [Faculty of Arts & Science] researchers were named Sloan Research Fellows,” says Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. “We are very fortunate to have these promising early-career scholars among our faculty. They are, without a doubt, researchers to watch.”

“A Sloan Research Fellow is a rising star, plain and simple” says Adam F. Falk, president of the foundation. “To receive a fellowship is to be told by the scientific community that your achievements as a young scholar are already driving the research frontier.”

The 2021 cohort of 128 new fellows was selected from 1000 nominees. Each will receive a two-year, $75,000 fellowship to advance their research.

Roger Grosse is a machine-learning researcher whose work is contributing to fundamental advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in the deep neural networks (DNN) having an increasing impact in society through applications such as language processing, vision systems and e-commerce.

Grosse’s work is yielding advances in our understanding of what makes DNNs work and how to fully optimize network architectures and algorithms so that they train faster, generalize better, can reveal the underlying structure of a problem and make more robust decisions.

In addition to this optimization work, Grosse is also producing significant theoretical results — for example, with advances related to how networks converge on solutions.

And while his work is contributing to the greater realization of the potential of machine learning’s positive impact on computer science and real-world challenges, Grosse also investigates the ethics of AI to ensure that AI systems are consistent with human values.

“I am humbled and honored to receive the Sloan Fellowship which has supported generations of outstanding researchers,” says Grosse.

“It will help enormously to push forward my research on understanding neural network training dynamics and using this understanding to improve neural nets' efficiency, robustness and ease of use. I’m grateful for the career opportunities this recognition unlocks.”

Grosse received his PhD in computer science from MIT and joined U of T in 2014 as a postdoctoral fellow before becoming an assistant professor in 2016.

Tovi Grossman’s research encompasses diverse topics in the field of Human Computer Interactions (HCI). One focus of his work is the development of contextual, media-rich and personalized learning systems designed to help users adopt today’s increasingly complex software applications. This research into software learnability has many applications including the potential to make complex software accessible to all users.

Another focus of Grossman’s research is on computing technologies, wearable devices, virtual reality and their potential to transform how we learn to carry out a variety of tasks across different domains including fitness and athletics, electronic assembly, as well as workshop and makerspace tasks. This work on physical learning is having an impact on the ability of humans to work alongside automated technologies such as robotics.

A leader in the Canadian and international research communities, Grossman’s pursuit of research with real-world impact can be seen in technologies developed from his work — for example, in commercial products such as Autodesk Screencast and Autodesk Sketchbook Motion which was selected as Apple's 2016 iPad App of the Year.

“I’m incredibly grateful to be selected as a recipient for a 2021 Sloan Research Fellowship,” says Grossman. “The Department of Computer Science is composed of many outstanding early career scientists with exceptional promise, so to be recognized for such an award is humbling.

“This is a direct result of the fantastic students, collaborators and mentors I’ve had the privilege to work with throughout my research career. It is particularly rewarding that I can share this honour with my colleague and collaborator, Daniel Wigdor, and our shared PhD supervisor, Ravin Balakrishnan.

“Support from this award will allow my students and I to continue to contribute to this lineage of Human-Computer Interaction research excellence at University of Toronto.”

Grossman received his PhD in HCI from U of T and became an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science in 2018.

Adapted from an article originally published on Arts & Science News, with additional files from U of T Celebrates.