relAI at the MDSI Opening Ceremony

People

On 14 September, the Munich Data Science Institute (MDSI, TUM) celebrated its official opening at the Science Congress Center in Garching. The event included inaugural words by the Bavarian State Minister for Science and the Arts, M. Blume, and the TUM President, Prof. Dr. T. Hofmann. Top-class scientific lectures from MDSI Members, presentations of outstanding MDSI projects, a panel discussion, and a poster session rounded the program. 

The Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Reliable AI (relAI), a joint project between TUM and LMU funded by DAAD, which had been initiated through an MDSI Focus Topic, was one of the projects highlighted at the opening. relAI Coordinator Dr. Andrea Schafferhans introduced relAI to the audience, giving an excellent overview of its educational and research programs as well as its people. relAI was also widely represented at the poster session by relAI Master students and PhD researchers from the TUM University, who discussed their research projects with the numerous guests of the event, among them, MDSI partners and representatives from industry and other research institutions.

We are proud that our network is constantly growing and welcome the industry partners Infineon and Volkswagen into the relAI family!

One of relAI’s main objectives is to transfer the research results in reliable AI technology to industry. The partnership of relAI with industry not only ensures this transferability, but also contributes to the education of future experts in reliable AI, dedicated to guaranteeing the safety, security, and privacy-preservation in AI-based applications in domains such as autonomous driving (Volkswagen) and AI-based semiconductor solutions (Infineon).

This partnership  is mutually beneficial to both, our students and our industry partners: The students have the opportunity to work with renowned companies to gain practical knowledge during projects, workshops and internships.Our partners get to work with talented young scientists from all over the world, with cutting-edge expertise in reliability. 

 

relAI is happy to welcome five new relAI fellows from TUM, LMU and the research center Helmholtz AI.

The expertise of the new fellows on reliability AI  will strengthen the relAI research and education, particularly on the Mathematical and Algorithmic Foundations relAI Focus area. New fellow Prof. Dr. Daniel Cremers (TUM) is specialised in computer vision and has worked in the AI field for many years, covering aspects of reliable AI. Prof. Dr. Reinhard Heckel (TUM) is interested in developing methods that are robust to worst case perturbation and most importantly to distribution shifts, an integral aspect of reliable AI. Prof. Dr. Johannes Maly (LMU) ´s research is naturally aligned with the goals of relAI. It focuses on understanding how to leverage intrinsic model or data structure and how the loss of information caused by digital processing (quantization) affects theoretical results. LMU fellow Prof. Christoph Kern works at the intersection of statistics, (computational) social science, and data science. His research goals overlap considerably with the research areas and themes of relAI. The research of Dr. Vincent Fortuin (Helmholtz AI) on uncertainty quantification with Bayesian methods also fits perfectly within relAI, especially with the central theme of safety. The contribution of the new relAI fellows to research support, seminars, and lectures will enrich the relAI curriculum and advance the theoretical research of the relAI field.

 

We are proud to report that our relAI fellow Prof. Pramod Bhatotia has received the EuroSys 2023 Jochen Liedtke Young Researcher for his work on systems research.

The EuroSys Jochen Liedtke Young Researcher Award rewards junior European researchers who have demonstrated exceptional creativity and innovation in systems research, broadly construed. The selection committee chooses the recipient based on demonstrated contributions that have had impact and are creative and innovative, along with demonstrated promise for making lasting and fundamental contributions to the field. 

The award is named in honor of Jochen Liedtke, one of the most prominent researchers on microkernel architecture. His work culminated with the L4 microkernel design, which rethought inter-process communication from the ground up. The award is given annually at the EuroSys conference, in memory of Jochen and his fundamental contributions to the systems community.

Find more information here.

We are proud to announce the election of the relAI Fellow Prof. Frauke Kreuter as the 2023-2024 Vice President/ President of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). AAPOR is the leading professional organization of public opinion and survey research professionals in the United States, with members from academia, media, government, the nonprofit sector, and private industry.

We are excited to announce that applications for the relAI Master program are now open. Interested candidates can apply through our website. Deadline for applications is June 16th, 2023.

The novel, innovative MSc relAI program offers a cross-sectional training for successful education in AI including scientific knowledge, professional development courses and industrial exposure, providing a coherent, yet flexible and personalised training.

Funded applicants will receive a stipend of up to 934 EUR (depending on independent income). We expressly encourage international students to apply. They will be further supported by travel grants for home travel.

We encourage candidates with an excellent bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in computer science, mathematics, engineering, natural sciences or other data science/machine learning/AI related disciplines and a genuine interest to work on a topic of reliable AI to apply (in parallel to applying for a master program at TUM or LMU).

For the 6th time already, LMU is organizing the DataFest Germany this year. From April 14th – 16th, teams of students will have the opportunity to work with a large set of real life data and analyze it to discover insights. At the same time, they will have the chance to meet with leaders and companies in the field of statistics. The best teams will be awarded prizes for best insight, best visualization and best use of outside data.

RelAI is proud to be supporting the organization of the event this year and will also be sending a team of students there to join this exciting competition and networking event.

On December 1st, relAI director Prof. Stephan Günnemann was awarded the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Medal. TUM presents its highest scientific award to individuals who, through their exceptional achievements in science, technology or medicine, have rendered a great service to the university in their capacity as outstanding lecturers and researchers.
The relAI team congratulates Prof. Günnemann on this recognition of his work and is proud to be headed by this distinguished scientist.

We are excited to announce that applications for the relAI PhD program are now open. Interested candidates can apply through our website. Deadline for applications is January 9th, 2023.

The novel, innovative PhD relAI program offers a cross-sectional training for successful education in AI including scientific knowledge, professional development courses and industrial exposure, providing a coherent, yet flexible and personalised training.

Funded applicants will be hired for three years, including social benefits (TV-L E13 of the German public sector). They are further supported by travel grants, e.g. for conference attendance or research stays. Doctoral students enrol at TUM or LMU depending on the hosting relAI fellow.

We encourage candidates with an excellent master’s degree (or equivalent) in computer science, mathematics, engineering, natural sciences or other data science/machine learning/AI related disciplines and a genuine interest to work on a topic of reliable AI to apply.