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UMass INFORMS Speaker Series: A Talk by Dr. Thiago Serra

Today, March 22nd, our Student Chapter organized with pleasure a talk by Dr. Thiago Serra who is a visiting research scientist at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs. His presentation was entitled: “Bounding and Counting Linear Regions of Deep Neural Networks”. Dr. Serra presented both theoretical and empirical approaches for investigating the number of linear regions of the function modeled in the framework of a piecewise linear neural network. Numerous useful graphs were included in his presentation, thus allowing for the audience to fully comprehend his work. As a result, a vivid discussion on the content of the presentation was held at the end of his talk.

Prof. Anna Nagurney, our chapter’s advisor, performed the speaker’s introduction and emphasized on the prestigious awards that he has received.

Our chapter’s President, Katerina, referred to our speaker’s academic and research background.

Dr. Serra started his presentation with a slide entitled “The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything” that intrigued all attendees.

Many graphs and figures in the presentation made its content clear, which led to several valuable questions on behalf of the attendees.

The audience showed vivid interest and developed a fruitful discussion with our speaker.

The presentation was followed by the speaker’s interview! The content will be available soon on our YouTube Channel! Don’t forget to subscribe for updates!

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UMass INFORMS Speaker Series: A Talk by Dr. Jurij Paraszczak

Today, March 8th, our Student Chapter enthusiastically organized an exciting talk by Dr. Jurij Paraszczak who is a consultant to IBM’s Corporate Communications and Corporate Affairs group. His presentation was entitled: “Smarter Cities and their Analysis”. Dr. Paraszczak highlighted the value of Information Technology and its role in enhancing city operations efficiency. His presentation included useful insights into the analytical approaches that IBM follows in their projects, as well as very interesting videos that traveled us around the world. It is noteworthy that Dr. Paraszczak encouraged the audience’s vivid participation by asking questions and commenting on the received feedback.

Prof. Nagurney, our Chapter’s advisor, introduced our speaker to the attendees.

Our President, Katerina, presented our speaker’s academic and professional background.

Dr. Paraszczak demonstrated interesting videos to further explain and support his statements.

By the end of the presentation, the attendees asked many questions that led to a valuable discussion.

Our Student Chapter would like to wish a Happy Spring Break to everyone! Don’t forget to stay tuned to our Youtube Channel!