Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

From left: Soumita Ghosh, Amanda Mohabeer, Daniel Gilman, Fatema Tuz Zohora, Md Abdul Halim, Jessica Leivesley, Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Lisa Strug, and Gerard O’Leary at the Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellows Welcome Lunch in April 2023. (Photo by Johnny Guatto)

With the goal of accelerating scientific research through the application of artificial intelligence for the benefit of society, Schmidt Futures has invested $148 million in nine global universities, including the University of Toronto.

In 2022, Schmidt Futures announced the launch of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship program that aims to spark a significant increase globally in the number of scientists working with cutting-edge AI tools.

The program, which is run through the Schmidt Sciences branch of the organization, boosts the work of early-career scholars in engineering, mathematics and natural science by giving them training in vital tools in AI. Experience with AI is not a requirement, but fellows must have a desire to learn new AI methodologies that stand to accelerate discoveries in their domain.

U of T is the only Canadian university among nine from around the world that was chosen for the program, which globally supports nearly 300 postdoctoral fellows each year for six years.

The first cohort of 10 U of T fellows included researchers working on problems like mitigating methane emissions in cities, treating neurological disorders, cosmology, and other fascinating areas. The second cohort of fellows has just been selected and is set to start the program in May 2024.

The Schmidt Futures gift and collaboration was brought to U of T via the leadership and vision of the Acceleration Consortium and Data Sciences Institute teams, in partnership with the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. The program is co-led by Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and director of the Acceleration Consortium, and Lisa Strug, a professor in U of T’s Departments of Statistical Sciences and Computer Science, and academic director of the Data Sciences Institute.

“As the home of deep learning, the University of Toronto is proud to partner with Schmidt Futures on this forward-looking program, which will accelerate humanity’s ability to meet some of the most important challenges of our time,” said Meric Gertler, president of U of T.

The Schmidt AI in Science Conference, the first annual meeting for this program for all global fellows, sponsored and co-hosted by Schmidt Futures, was held at U of T in August 2023. Four of U of T’s fellows gave presentations about their research at the conference. Close to 120 of the world’s brightest minds attended the conference to exchange ideas, forge connections and friendships, and share their progress on projects harnessing machine learning across a dazzling array of fields and challenges.