Rice Computer Science Department

Faster neural network training is achievable. Rice CS faculty member Anastasios Kyrillidis and his PhD student Fangshuo Liao prove Nesterov’s momentum accelerates convergence rates in deep neural networks. https://bit.ly/3ZEfVbc

Over the last few years, we’ve made remarkable strides in advancing the deployment and fine-tuning of #LLM and #FoundationModels, making them orders of magnitude more #accessible, energy-efficient, and aligned with the principles of #ResponsibleAI. This week, we’re in the City of Vancouver for #NeurIPS2024, where we’ll present three papers on innovative approaches to LLM efficiency! 🎉 The real heroes are always the amazing students doing the real work: Aditya Desai Tianyi Zhang Zhaozhuo Xu Oscar Wu Jonah Yi I’ve also shared my thoughts on this exciting line of work in a short blog: "Thinking Beyond Low-Rank (LoRA) and Quantization: Future of Accessible LLM Fine-tuning and Deployment" Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gzpJFarE If these ideas spark your curiosity, let’s connect—drop me a note or find me at #NeurIPS24! Proudly representing Rice University Rice University School of Engineering and Computing Rice Computer Science Department Rice Ken Kennedy Institute #AI #DeepLearning #MachineLearning #Innovation NeurIPS

“La Era de la Inteligencia Artificial” is an Emmy Award-winning Telemundo documentary about Ameca, the world’s most advanced humanoid robot—and experts from Rice Computer Science Department are featured in the production. Rodrigo Ferreira, Vicente Ordóñez-Román, Carlos Quintero and Paola Castante-Bonilla shared their perspective on the impacts and risks of artificial intelligence, emphasizing the need for responsible AI usage and equitable societal benefits. https://bit.ly/3BgDGhg

Congratulations to Rice CS faculty member Anastasios Kyrillidis on his new appointment as an inaugural Dean Fellow! “As Dean Fellow for Computing and AI,” Kyrillidis said, “I’ll serve as a bridge between our technical innovations and their responsible implementation. I aim to champion initiatives that position our school at the forefront of AI advancement while ensuring our research benefits humanity through ethical and sustainable computing solutions.”

Last week the Ken Kennedy Institute hosted a Distinguished Lecture on "Role of Edge Computing in Age of Machine Learning and Energy Constraints" with Klara Nahrstedt, Swanlund Chair Professor at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and Director of the Coordinated Science Laboratory at University of Illinois. ICYMI: A recording of the lecture is available on our YouTube channel. #EdgeComputing #Computing #MachineLearning #ML #Energy

📆 TODAY, 12/3! Chad Jenkins (University of Michigan) will discuss Humanoid Robotics. Join us for a reception beforehand at 3:30pm in Duncan Hall, Martel Atrium. The talk will be in DH1064 at 4pm CST. For the full abstract: https://bit.ly/3NlepEU

Alireza Fallah, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of California, Berkeley, will present Incentive-Driven Design of Algorithms in Machine Learning as part of our Rice CS Colloquium Series.   The talk will place on Wed, December 4th at 4pm CST in Duncan Hall Room 1070. For additional details, visit: https://bit.ly/3VcigbM *Photo by Aaron Fagerstrom for SLMath

We are excited about the launch of Rice Global India, which will include deeper collaborations with the Indian Institute Of Technology, Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru. These partnerships will foster advanced research initiatives, student and faculty exchanges and collaborations in areas such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology and sustainable energy. https://lnkd.in/gVBAsfGW

Rice CS faculty member Rodrigo Ferreira visited YES Prep Public Schools and encouraged the students to challenge stereotypes. Ferreira, a member of Rice’s Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) committee, spoke to the group as part of the school’s LatinX Leadership Summit, whose 2024 theme was “Mosaic de Cultura - Piecing Together LatinX Heritage.” “My favorite part of the summit was to learn what it means to be Latinx through different types of views,” said one attendee. “We learned that ‘Latin’ is a definition of our own,” said another. https://bit.ly/3CslXnh

Rice CS Assistant Professor Konstantinos Mamouras and his group have published findings on a ‘safer’ way to code. The paper articulates and solves a key problem that can occur when using regular expressions (regex). The team's research won a Distinguished Paper Award at this year's PLDI Conference in Copenhagen. https://bit.ly/3O7fUHy