University of Alberta to offer pioneering AI education to all undergraduate students

Innovative course will equip students across disciplines with crucial AI understanding

2023-09-12

(Press-News.org) The University of Alberta (U of A), a globally recognized leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, along with Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute), are breaking new ground with the launch of "Artificial Intelligence Everywhere," a new online introductory course accessible to all U of A undergraduates. The course is the cornerstone for an in-development AI certification, which will be one of the first in Canada.

The course equips students across all disciplines with essential AI literacy skills. With AI permeating sectors from health care to finance, this initiative bridges the AI skills gap, further positioning graduates for success in a competitive job market.

The "Artificial Intelligence Everywhere" course, available starting in January, offers a non-technical, foundational understanding of AI and where it can be applied. Led by Canada CIFAR AI Chairs and Amii Fellows Adam White and Alona Fyshe, participants will engage in real-world AI projects, simulations, and case studies.

“AI continues to reshape all aspects of society, so AI literacy is no longer an option but a necessity,” says Bill Flanagan, President and Vice-Chancellor of the U of A. “The launch of ‘AI Everywhere’ as part of our in-development AI certification, builds on our expertise in AI education, and reaffirms our commitment to teach the next generation of leaders the skills they need to thrive in an ever-changing world.”

“Amii is thrilled to leverage our world-leading expertise in AI for the benefit of even more students at the University of Alberta,” says Cam Linke, CEO of Amii. “By equipping both technical and non-technical undergraduates with AI literacy skills, we are laying a strong foundation for a talented and versatile workforce that can collaborate seamlessly with AI experts, driving transformative breakthroughs and solidifying Canada's position as a global leader in AI advancement.”

“Alberta’s tech talent is creating new and exciting technologies every day. Many of today’s most exciting innovations incorporate Artificial Intelligence, and the demand for AI-driven solutions is growing exponentially,” says Nate Glubish, Minister of Technology and Innovation, Government of Alberta. “This new program offered by Amii and the University of Alberta will help bring Artificial Intelligence skills to a broader audience. I can’t wait to see what innovations they will come up with once equipped with this training.”

As a leader in advancing Canada's AI potential, Amii, one of the named centres of excellence in the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, is collaborating with the U of A in driving AI research excellence. The "AI Everywhere" initiative dovetails with the U of A and Amii's recent announcement of $30 million in funding for 20 new AI researchers at the U of A, propelling Canada's AI innovation.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Making mammography inclusive for patients with disabilities

2023-09-12

Lene Andersen, MSW, has been living with rheumatoid arthritis and disability since childhood. Her personal experience with limited mobility and the challenges faced in accessing mammography screening in Toronto, Ontario, has fueled her determination to advocate for change. Her story is featured in an upcoming themed issue of the Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences on the topic of specialized populations, published by Elsevier. In this personal narrative, Lene, an advocate and accessibility consultant, teamed up with Natasha Batchelor, MHSc, MRT(R), a medical imaging technologist from the York region in Ontario with expertise in creating an accessible mammography ...

New imaging technique measures elasticity of multiple eye components simultaneously

2023-09-12

The eye is a highly complex organ, composed of intricate structures combining several types of specialized tissues. Under normal conditions, these structures work seamlessly together to provide clear images of the world around us as well as maintain intraocular pressure. However, when ocular diseases set in, the biomechanical properties of eye components change, disrupting their normal functioning. Most importantly, the alternations in biomechanical properties of the eye often lead to significant ocular diseases and vision loss. In order to study, diagnose, and monitor ocular diseases, it is, therefore, ...

Novel emerging nano-assisted anti-cancer strategies based on the STING pathway

2023-09-12

https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/AMM-2023-0023 Announcing a new publication for Acta Materia Medica journal. Activation of simulator of interferon genes (STING), which induces the production of proinflammatory factors and immune effector cell activation, is considered a promising strategy for enhanced anti-cancer intervention. However, several obstacles prevent STING signaling in solid tumors, such as delivered molecules’ rapid degradation, restriction to tumor sites, insufficient intracellular concentrations, and low responsivity. ...

'Team Waponi' advances to finals of $10M XPRIZE Rainforest Competition with 'Limelight', earns $300K semi-finalist prize

2023-09-12

NJIT biology professor Eric Fortune and a team of scientists, known as “Team Waponi”, have reached the final stage of the five-year, $10M XPRIZE Rainforest Competition. In June, Fortune and 13 other team members traveled to the rainforests of Singapore to compete in the semi-finals of the global competition, which challenged teams to develop and demonstrate new technologies for mapping the vast biodiversity of the world's tropical forests. The team’s biodiversity sampling device, called “Limelight”, has captured exactly that so far — securing them a spot among six finalists to advance from the field of 13 teams, while earning ...

Charging ahead: New electrolyte goes extra mile for faster EV charging

2023-09-12

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are taking fast charging for electric vehicles, or EVs, to new extremes. A team of battery scientists recently developed a lithium-ion battery material that not only recharges 80% of its capacity in 10 minutes but keeps that ability for 1,500 charging cycles. When a battery operates or recharges, ions move between electrodes through a medium called the electrolyte. ORNL’s Zhijia Du led a team who developed new formulations of lithium salts with carbonate solvents to form an electrolyte that maintains better ion flow over time and performs well when high current heats up the battery ...

Smartphone technology expected to advance assessment of neurological soft signs in schizophrenia

2023-09-12

September 12, 2023 — Since the 1980s, we have known that neurological soft signs (NSS) can distinguish people with schizophrenia from psychiatrically healthy individuals. NSS are subtle neurological impairments that principally manifest as decreased sensory integration (trouble receiving and responding to information transmitted to the brain through the senses) and difficulties with balance, rapid successive movements, and right–left orientation. NSS doesn't always cause impairment of daily living, but identifying them could improve the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia and enhance understanding of the ...

Kessler Foundation receives $725,000 grant for study to accelerate functional recovery in multiple sclerosis

2023-09-12

East Hanover, NJ – September 12, 2023 – Carly Wender, PhD, associate research scientist in the Center for Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Research at Kessler Foundation received a three-year $725,499 grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for her study, “A Novel Combinatory Approach to Maximize Functional Recovery of Learning and Memory in Multiple Sclerosis.” Cognitive impairment is a common symptom in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) that can be particularly ...

Older adults with digestive diseases experience higher rates of loneliness, depression

2023-09-12

While life expectancy rates for older Americans are rising, nearly 40% of adults report living with a digestive disease of some kind. “Many people don’t realize that these conditions are very common in ambulatory care,” said Michigan Medicine gastroenterologist Shirley Ann Cohen-Mekelburg, M.D., who specializes in conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. “Ultimately, this creates an excess in health care spending in the United States. Not only are these conditions debilitating for the millions of people living with them, ...

Mount Sinai receives NIH grant to develop vaccines that can protect against many different types of coronaviruses

2023-09-12

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai a five-year, $13 million grant to bring together experts from multiple disciplines across five research institutions to create better vaccines against current as well as emerging coronaviruses. The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has infected 280 million people and caused more than five million deaths worldwide since late 2019. While considerable progress has been made to develop interventions (i.e., monoclonal antibodies, antivirals, vaccines) to treat and prevent COVID-19, ...

Setting the gold standard in diagnosis of lupus nephritis

2023-09-12

In the ever-perilous autoimmune disease world of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus), up to 60% of adult patients and 80% of children will develop lupus nephritis (LN), and up to half of those will move on to end-stage renal disease. LN occurs when the immune system wrongly attacks the kidneys, preventing them from doing their job, i.e., cleaning blood, balancing body fluids and controlling hormones that impact blood pressure. Unfortunately, the most precise way to diagnose LN hasn’t been ...

In a landmark study, an NYBG scientist and colleagues find that reforestation stands out among plant-based climate-mitigation strategies as most beneficial for wildlife biodiversity

University of Alberta to offer pioneering AI education to all undergraduate students

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: