2022 Data-Driven Science and AI Conference Brings Industry and Academic Leaders Together
June, 2022
The May 21, 2022, Data-Driven Science and AI Conference brought industry leaders and top researchers together to speak about a range of topics, from BioNFTs in the metaverse, using AI in finance, to discovering new solar energy materials using data science and AI.
This fourth conference for the Schmidt College of Science was supported for the first time by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
“The conference was reshaped this year to meet the growth of the Schmidt College of Science as well as the dynamic tech, data and AI community we work with in South Florida,” said William Kalies, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Conference Chair. “The funding provided by the NSF enabled us to conduct this conference again and provide opportunities for our local industry to interact with our researchers and students to spark future collaborations, internship and career opportunities.”
Throughout the day-long event, participants had the opportunity to attend two panel discussions, six themed minisymposium sessions, ranging from the use of AI in chemistry and molecular medicine to the urban applications of data science, and a student research poster competition.
Twenty-six students students from FAU High School and FAU’s undergraduate and graduate programs exhibited their research at the conference. Three students earned recognition for their studies from faculty judges. Congratulations to the research poster winners: Kayla Ahlness, Dawn Raja Somu, and Deepika Regmi.
“We introduced the Data and AI Research Exhibitions event, which took place on April 21, to increase awareness for the conference and a new AI collaboration space on campus for students, which turned out to be highly successful,” said Kalies. This event was held in the Rubin and Cindy Gruber Sandbox, located in the S.E. Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton campus, which provided exposure for data and AI research and opportunities that students can take advantage of in our college and across the University.
The conference also included sponsored panel sessions, including the Health Tech Panel that discussed, "Digital Transformation and Data-Driven Insight in Healthcare: Where We Are and Where We’re Going," with leaders in healthcare technology. Meggie Soliman, Director of Strategic Innovations at DSS, Inc., moderated the discussion and Pete Martinez, CEO of Sivotech Bioinformatics, joined as a panelist.
The Career and Internship Experiences Panel paired recent FAU alumni with their mentors to discuss how they secured an internship and their current full-time industry positions. They also answered students’ questions and shared advice.
This year marked the return to an in-person event for the first time since 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the last conference was held virtually in 2020.
This conference was made possible thanks to generous funding from the NSF. Much gratitude is owed to the South Florida Tech Hub for helping to promote the conference through their networks, creating and organizing the panel sessions, as well as lending assistance and support throughout the day of the conference.