AI Research Stalwart, Former UT Austin Computer Science Chair, Prof. Bruce Porter, Launches Research Organization at SparkCognition

-- Two-term Chairman of the CS department at the University of Texas joins Full-Time as Chief Science Officer to Launch AI Research Organization

News provided by

SparkCognition

Jun 25, 2019, 06:00 ET

AUSTIN, Texas, June 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SparkCognition has announced the creation of an artificial intelligence (AI) research organization with Prof. Bruce Porter's move to full-time Chief Science Officer (CSO) of the leading AI company. Prof. Porter will bring 35 years of experience in research and academia at a top 10 ranked university for computer science to further drive internal innovation at SparkCognition. Prof. Porter's full-time transition to SparkCognition comes two years after the initial announcement of his appointment as the company's CSO.

The research group is formed to further solidify SparkCognition's core value of advancing the science of artificial intelligence and will be made up of long-term research partners and initially about a dozen faculty and researchers from universities including the University of Texas at Austin, with many top minds in the field joining the growing team. Along with the longer-term group of researchers, there will be rotations on a quarterly or project basis made up of SparkCognition employees in its engineering, data science, and customer success departments. The employees will be selected per project based on their relevant areas of expertise and interests.

"Establishing this research group ensures each member of the SparkCognition family knows they have a hand in building the future of AI," said Prof. Bruce Porter, Chief Science Officer at SparkCognition. "The research team will offer SparkCognition customers access to leading edge capabilities, and provide employees the opportunity to work first-hand on special projects that may otherwise be outside of the scope of their daily job and will accelerate the science of the products they work with on a regular basis."

The types of projects the research group anticipates to launch include technology that will contribute to SparkCognition's current suite of products as well as frontier areas and solutions the company is exploring. Many of the projects will be research collaborations with SparkCognition's most strategic clients while others will be internally funded. The SparkCognition research team will also offer technology transfer to other departments throughout the organization. Employees who are rotated into the team will be able to take the knowledge learned from their time with the research group back to their original departments. This will bring the results of the research projects into SparkCognition's existing products, while accelerating the company's publications and patents.

"When I was a student in the University of Texas at Austin computer science department, it was a privilege to have Prof. Porter as one of my first professors. He not only served as a role model for me then, but I continuously learn from him to this day," said Amir Husain, Founder and CEO at SparkCognition. "We are thrilled that Prof. Porter's full-time transition and establishment of a research organization will bring unparalleled innovation to our clients and offer SparkCognition employees access to one of the foremost luminaries in the field."

To learn more about the products the research group will augment, visit https://www.sparkcognition.com/products/

About SparkCognition:

With award-winning machine learning technology, a multinational footprint, and expert teams focused on defense, IIoT, and finance, SparkCognition builds artificial intelligence systems to advance the most important interests of society. Our customers are trusted with protecting and advancing lives, infrastructure, and financial systems across the globe. They turn to SparkCognition to help them analyze complex data, empower decision-making, and transform human and industrial productivity. With our leading edge artificial intelligence platforms, our clients can adapt to a rapidly changing digital landscape and accelerate their business strategies. Learn more about SparkCognition's AI applications and why we've been featured in CNBC's 2017 Disruptor 50, and recognized three years in a row on CB Insights AI 100, by visiting www.sparkcognition.com.

About Dr. Bruce Porter:

A two-time Chair of the University of Texas Computer Science Department, Dr. Bruce Porter serves as SparkCognition's Chief Science Officer, where he leads the company's many R&D initiatives.

As University Professor, Dr. Porter's research focused on machine reading, a technology that holds tremendous potential for capturing knowledge for automated inference, question answering, explanation generation, and other AI capabilities.

Dr. Porter also directed UT's Knowledge Systems Research Group, an AI organization with the goal to develop methods to build knowledgeable computers. He has won the Best Paper Award at the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, the College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award, the National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award, and the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award.

Selected Awards & Honors:

Best Paper Award, National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)

Recipient of the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award by the University of Texas at Austin

Recipient of a Presidential Young Investigator Award by the National Science Foundation

For Media Inquiries:

John King
SparkCognition
[email protected]
512-956-5491

SOURCE SparkCognition