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NEW LOCATION for monthly Fellows seminars - Amii HQ 2nd floor event space at 10065 Jasper Ave (regular weekly seminars remain in UComm 2-108)
RSVP required for in-person attendance. Submit by 9 am on the day of.
RSVP required for in-person attendance. Submit by 9 am on the day of.
January 16
January 16
Speaker
Alex Ayoub, PhD student at the University of Alberta, supervised by Dr. Csaba Szepesvári & Dr. Dale Schuurmans
Title
Learning to Reason Efficiently with Discounted Reinforcement Learning
Abstract
Large reasoning models (LRMs) often consume excessive tokens, inflating computational cost and latency. We challenge the assumption that longer responses improve accuracy. By penalizing reasoning tokens using a discounted reinforcement learning setup (interpretable as a small token cost) and analyzing Blackwell optimality in restricted policy classes, we encourage concise yet accurate reasoning. Experiments confirm our theoretical results that this approach shortens chains of thought while preserving accuracy.
Presenter Bio
Alex Ayoub is a PhD student at the University of Alberta working on pre and post training large language models to solve reasoning problems like mathematics.
Timing & Location
UComm Seminar Room 2-108
pizza from 11:30, seminar from noon to 1
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January 23
January 23
Monthly Amii Fellow Seminar
Speaker
Dr. Quinn Lee, Amii Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta
Title
Neural representations of changing environments for navigation and memory in brains and machines
Abstract
The ability to learn and remember to navigate a changing world is essential for survival. To do so, our brains construct a representation of the environment from available senses to perceive where we are and where we are going. While animals rapidly learn and adapt to changing environments, this presents a significant challenge for modern AI. I will discuss how we can combine state-of-the art techniques to record activity in the brain and machine learning to build brain-inspired AI that efficiently learns and remembers in a changing world.
Presenter Bio
Dr. Quinn Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology (Faculty of Science) at the University of Alberta, a Fellow at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), and CIFAR AI Research Chair. Dr. Lee leads the Navigation and Memory Systems (NMS) Lab, which combines cutting-edge methods for high-yield neural and behavioral recording to understand how we learn and remember in changing environments. To this end, his group leverages machine learning techniques both as tools for neuroscientific data analysis and theoretical modelling to advance our understanding of biological and artificial intelligence. Previously, Dr. Lee earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge with Drs. Robert J. Sutherland and Robert J. McDonald, and completed his postdoctoral research with Dr. Mark Brandon at McGill University.
Timing & Location
Amii HQ 2nd floor event space (10065 Jasper Ave)
pizza from 11:30, seminar from noon to 1
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January 30
January 30
Speaker
Shuai Liu, PhD student, University of Alberta, supervised by Dr. Csaba Szepesvári & Dr. Xiaoqi Tan
Title
Sample Complexity for Zero-Discounted MDP with Linear / Logistic Function Approximation and connections to RLHF
Abstract
I will discuss ideas behind algorithms that achieve nontrivial sample complexity guarantees for 0-discounted MDPs with linear/ logistic function approximation, a.k.a. stochastic contextual linear / logistic contextual bandits, including a deterministic UCB-like algorithm and a computationally efficient Thompson Sampling variant. Finally I’ll discuss if sigmoid function, which is widely used in RLHF, is a good choice for modelling human preference, in this special case.
Presenter Bio
Shuai Liu is a PhD student in the Computing Science department at University of Alberta, co-supervised by Dr. Csaba Szepesvári and Dr. Xiaoqi Tan. His current research interest lies in reinforcement learning theory (policy gradient methods), bandit algorithms and optimization. Before that, he obtained his MSc in Computing Science at University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Szepesvári and obtained a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science at the Harbin Institute of Technology.
Website
Timing & Location
UComm Seminar Room 2-108
pizza from 11:30, seminar from noon to 1
Add event to calendar
February 6
February 6
Monthly Amii Fellow Seminar
Speaker
Dr. Russell Dinnage, Amii Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta
Title
TBA
Abstract
TBA
Presenter Bio
TBA
Timing & Location
Amii HQ 2nd floor event space (10065 Jasper Ave)
pizza from 11:30, seminar from noon to 1
Add event to calendar
TBA
February 13
February 13
Speaker
TBA
February 20
February 20
NO SEMINAR - Reading Week
February 27
February 27
Speaker
TBA
March 6
March 6
Monthly Amii Fellow Seminar
Speaker
Dr. Tian Tian, Amii Fellow & Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta
Title
TBA
Abstract
TBA
Presenter Bio
TBA
Timing & Location
Amii HQ 2nd floor event space (10065 Jasper Ave)
pizza from 11:30, seminar from noon to 1
Add event to calendar
TBA
March 13
March 13
Speaker
TBA
March 20
March 20
Speaker
TBA
March 27
March 27
Speaker
TBA
More dates coming soon!
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