Second annual symposium to highlight new approaches to valuable data extraction, provide students with insight into machine learning

Doha, Qatar, 1 February 2015: Building on the overwhelming success of last year's inaugural symposium, Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) and Boeing [NYSE:BA] are once again partnering to host the second edition of the Machine Learning and Data Analytics Symposium (MLDAS 2015). Open to students, researchers and industry experts, the event will take place on 9 and 10 March in Doha, Qatar, and will feature top global experts discussing applications, recent advances and new solutions in the fields of machine learning and data analytics.  The deadline for submitting research abstracts is 7 February.

Supplementing the two-day symposium will be a hands-on machine learning workshop aimed at secondary school and university students, which will take place on 12 March, further helping to demonstrate QCRI's long-term commitment to support Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) in its mission to build the country's innovation and technology capacity in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030.

"We are proud to organise this event for the second year with our valued partner Boeing," said Dr Ahmed K. Elmagarmid, Executive Director, QCRI.  "The positive response to the first symposium was telling, and proved the interest and relevance of data analytics and machine learning in decision making today. QCRI is a leader in cutting-edge fundamental and applied research in this area, and Boeing is an expert in putting such techniques to work.  Together, we have leveraged our expertise and networks to develop a substantial program this year."

With the continuing growth of big data - in healthcare, science, social media, finance, transportation and aerospace as examples - it has become critical to extract value from such data in the most efficient way possible in order to make sound decisions.  The symposium provides a tremendous opportunity to gain insight into advanced analytics for big data such as machine learning, by engaging with leading experts who will discuss case studies and the latest research in the field.

"We continue to work closely with QCRI to bring innovation to our joint project, and to support efforts that provide university students to have first-hand experiences that help them develop their skills and enrich their experience," said Jeff Johnson, President of Boeing Middle East. "We continue to contribute to building an innovative future generation in the country," he added.

MLDAS 2015 will serve as a platform for the exchange of ideas, identification of important and challenging applications, and discovery of possible synergies with potential collaborators.  The first day of the symposium will focus on the area of health and bioinformatics, a developing field that uses mathematics, statistics and information technology to extract, analyse and understand large amounts of data generated from biological experiments. Day two of the symposium will focus on the topics of cyber security and social media. The symposium program features presentations by invited speakers from both industry and academia, panel discussions and contributed talks by the authors of accepted papers.

The list of distinguished speakers for MLDAS 2015 symposium confirmed to date include Rich Caruana, Microsoft Research; Mark Craven, University of Wisconsin; Christos Faloutsos, Carnegie Mellon University; Polo Chau, Georgia Tech; Jenna Wiens, University of Michigan; and David Page, University of Wisconsin.

A primary constituent of the research and development enterprise at Qatar Foundation, QCRI is a national research institute focused on tackling large-scale computing challenges that address national priorities for growth and development. 

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., Boeing is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners and defence, space and security systems. Boeing Research & Technology collaborates with customers, suppliers, universities and R&D agencies throughout the world to provide a broad base of innovative and affordable technologies for Boeing's business units.

Further information including submission guidelines and registration details for the Machine Learning and Data Analytics Symposium can be found at www.mldas.org.

For more information, please contact:
Kimberly Mathern 
Qatar Computing Research Institute  
Tel: + (974) 4454 2515
Email: kmathern@qf.org.qa

Fakher Daghestani 
Middle East Communications
Boeing 
Office: +971 4 213 4703
Email:  Fakher.a.daghestani@boeing.com

About Qatar Computing Research Institute
Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) was established in 2010 by Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, a private, non-profit organisation that is supporting Qatar's transformation from a hydrocarbon-based economy to knowledge-based economy.  

QCRI is a national research institute supporting Qatar Foundation's mission to build Qatar's innovation and technology capacity by focusing on large-scale computing challenges that address national priorities for growth and development. 

In doing this, QCRI conducts world-class multidisciplinary computing research that is relevant to the needs of Qatar, the wider Arab region, and the world. It performs cutting-edge research in such areas as Arabic language technologies, social computing, data analytics, distributed systems, cyber security and computational science and engineering. 

The research conducted at QCRI is aligned with the Qatar National Research Strategy and supports the strategic priorities outlined in the Qatar National Vision 2030.  For more information, please visit www.qcri.qa.

About Boeing Company
Boeing is the world's largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners and defence, space and security systems, with more than 165,000 employees in 70 countries. Boeing products and tailored services include commercial and military aircraft, satellites, weapons, electronic and defence systems, launch systems, advanced information and communication systems, and performance-based logistics and training. For more information about Boeing please visit: www.boeing.com.

© Press Release 2015