Alona Fyshe
Fellow & Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Academic Affiliations
Industry and Research Affiliations
Areas of Expertise
Fellow & Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Academic Affiliations
Industry and Research Affiliations
Areas of Expertise
Alona Fyshe combines her interests in computational linguistics, machine learning and neuroscience to study the way the human brain processes language.
Alona Fyshe combines her interests in computational linguistics, machine learning and neuroscience to study the way the human brain processes language. Using machine learning to analyze brain images collected while people read, she studies how humans represent the meaning they encounter in text, and how they combine words to understand higher-order meaning. She’s also interested in how computers learn to represent meaning when trained on text or images. Developing algorithms that can generalize beyond common word usage, Alona works toward computer programs that can truly understand language, and develop a deeper understanding of the world in which we live. By using brain images of people reading, she explores how the human brain handles the complexities of language, which could inspire the next generation of semantic models. Alona has discovered interesting connections between meaning representations in computer models and those in the human brain. Those connections serve to advance both our understanding of the brain and the state of the art in machine learning.
Alona is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair and Fellow at Amii and an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in the departments of Computing Science and Psychology at the University of Alberta. She is also a Fellow of CIFAR’s Learning in Machines and Brains program – in addition to having been named a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar. Prior to her appointment at the University of Alberta, Alona was an Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria and, before that, a Software Engineer with Google using machine learning to create better online shopping experiences. Alona holds two degrees (BSc and MSc in Computing Science) from the University of Alberta as well as a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University. Alona has been invited to speak at leading international conferences such as the Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, the Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, and the annual meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics.
Jul 16th 2019
Research Post
Jun 1st 2018
Research Post
Jul 10th 2020
Research Post
Alona is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at Amii and a Fellow of CIFAR’s Learning in Machines and Brains program.
Oct 29th 2024
News
In the latest episode of Approximately Correct, reinforcement learning legend Rich Sutton (Amii Fellow, Canada CIFAR AI Chair & Chief Scientific Advisor) talks about what he thinks is holding AI research back.
Sep 27th 2024
News
In the latest episode of Approximately Correct, Andrew Butcher, co-founder of Artificial Agency, joins hosts Alona Fyshe and Scott Lilwall to discuss how his company is pushing the boundaries of AI in game development.
Aug 28th 2024
News
Get a glimpse at how reinforcement learning is being used to improve water treatment. In this episode of Approximately Correct, we’re looking at real-world RL and off-policy learning with Amii Fellow and Canada CIFAR AI Chair Martha White.
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