From The Director
As we reflect on the past year at MATRIX AI Consortium, it is with immense pride and gratitude that I share our journey and achievements in this Biennium Report. Our journey and achievements, detailed in this Biennium Report, are a testament to the creativity, dedication, and expertise that define our young and dynamic research consortium. We are driven by a shared vision: to advance AI research with a focus on enhancing human well-being in a rapidly evolving world.
MATRIX AI Consortium is emerging as one of the country’s leading and most sophisticated hubs for neuro-inspired AI and neuromorphic computing research. Our success is fueled by a vibrant, transdisciplinary collaboration. This synergy fosters the cross-fertilization of ideas among 87 research scientists across 4 unique organizations.
2023 marks a strategic inflection point for MATRIX AI Consortium. Together, we have not only expanded our capabilities but have also inspired one another to dream bigger. I share some of our key accomplishments:
•Research Funding: Since our inception, we have secured $24M in funding. This has facilitated the establishment of three new Centers of Excellence, including ARPA-H Spoke.
•NSF Emerging Frontiers in Research Innovations: Our team is at the forefront of two NSF EFRI projects on brain-inspired energy-efficient AI.
•NSF Partner AI Institute: Our team secured the NSF Partner AI Institute on Neuro-Inspired AI for the edge (NAIAD) in the inaugural cohort.
•Publications: Our scientists have published >40 publications in top-tier AI conferences and journals, including AAAI, NeurIPS, CVPR, IEEE S&P, PMLR, and Nature Machine Intelligence. They have conducted AI/ML workshops at flagship outlets such as CVPR, IJCAI, NeurIPS, NASEM, Texas Public Radio, & NICE.
•Student Engagement: We've organized 52 AI seminars on cutting-edge topics, engaging about 50 universities worldwide and collaborating with around 20 industry partners.
•Education Innovations: We have led the development of the nation’s first MD/MS in AI program, along with a comprehensive MS in AI.
• Global Partnerships: Our strategic partnerships span four global AI research institutes in Germany, Sweden, Mexico, and India.
•Community Engagement: We have worked closely with the city of San Antonio to deploy AI solutions for COVID-19.
To amplify this positive momentum in our R&D efforts, we provide faculty mentoring, student internships, access to a wide network of collaborators, advanced research infrastructure, and robust networking opportunities to support new research initiatives.
Innovation thrives when the best and most diverse minds work closely together, and MATRIX will continue to foster this collaborative environment for the benefit of greater San Antonio and the nation.
Thank you for being a part of our journey.
Dhireesha Kudithipudi, PhD MATRIX AI Consortium
Collaborate | Discover | Community | Inclusive
MATRIX, a transdisciplinary AI consortium, empowers scientists to collaborate, discover, and transcend institutional boundaries. Our mission is to invent, deploy, and advance AI solutions at scale, ultimately to promote human wellbeing. Comprising ~80 researchers from four leading organizations in the San Antonio area, MATRIX is at the forefront of tackling fundamental research challenges across four core thrusts.
Notable Scholarship
Hosting AI/ML Tutorials, Competitions & Workshops
• ML Workshops at NeurIPS, CVPR, AAAI, S&P
• National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine AI & Automation ‘24
•NICE ’22 & ’23
•MISI Dreamport, TPR
•10th NICE Conference at UTSA '23
•Texas State Neuromorphic Computing
AI Thought leadership
Keynote/plenary talks at premium research outlets
•Federal Orgs: DOE, DOD, AFOSR, NRL, AI2C, ARL, DHS, ARPA-H, DARPA ERC/L2M
•Reputed Orgs: Schloss Dagstuhl, IEEE S&P, AI Hardware Summit, IBM AI, ORNL Atoms, ELLIS
•Policy: US Bipartisan AI R&D Policy, AI Roundtables @the Hill, COSA
Awards Led by MATRIX
•2 NSF EFRIs
•NSF AI Partner Institute
•ARPA-H CxHub Spoke
•NIH AIM-AHEAD AI/ML Center
•NSF Community Research Infrastructure
Flagship AI publications
•Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Outlook, IEEE Signal Processing
• AAAI, IJCAI, CVPR, ICML-W, IJCAI-W, TinyML, IEEE S&P
Our research Thrusts
Neuro-Inspired AI
Augmenting Human Capabilities
Ethics is the Crosscutting theme that inspires our work
Trustworthy AI
Machine Learning in Healthcare & Defense
Grand Challenge: to create a new type of AI systems that can proactively interpret and learn from multimodal data, solve unfamiliar problems from past knowledge, and operate with the energy efficiency of the human brain.
Our Partners
MAPS: Matrix AI Partnership Strategy
Building sustainable partnerships for the MATRIX AI Consortium
Produce Roadmaps for emerging research in AI
Establish strong partnerships and sustainable sources of funding
• Establish MATRIX Affiliates Program (Annual Membership Models)
• Develop AI & AI-guided training partnerships for emerging technology hubs and unconventional workforces
Assess the societal benefits of MATRIX AI partnerships
• Workforce training by quantifiable metrics and return on investment
• Impact on domain (e.g., social medicine, tourism) and community (e.g., caregivers for patients, usage of city parks)
“MATRIX AI’s rapid growth over the last year affirms the critical demand to invent, deploy, and advance AI applications to solve society’s grandest challenges and improve the well-being of our community and communities across the globe. The consortium’s trajectory is aligned with the university’s advancement toward becoming a great public research university to grow the knowledge economy and impact the economic development of our city, state and nation.”
- Taylor Eighmy P , h.D. President
“UTSA is swiftly gaining momentum in the interdisciplinary field of AI and health. The consortium has an incredible opportunity to conduct valuable research that bridges disciplines and, most importantly, improves patient outcomes.”
-JoAnn Browning, Ph.D. Interim Vice President of Research
Thrust Leads Spotlight
Dr. Amina Qutub accepts the position of Assistant Director for Strategic Initiatives
Dr. Mark Goldberg joins MATRIX as the Augmenting Human Capabilities Thrust Lead
Dr. Mark Goldberg is a Professor of Neurology specializing in stroke and cerebrovascular disorders. His laboratory research is focused on mechanisms of recovery after stroke and brain injury. As Associate Vice President for Strategic Research Initiatives, Dr. Goldberg works to increase research capacity and funding opportunities for UT Health San Antonio.
“My affiliation with MATRIX AI provides an engaged and expert community that spans institutions and disciplines. These interactions help us with scientific collaboration to support ML/AI projects. Perhaps more importantly, this is an opportunity for thoughtful analysis of the impacts of AI on medicine, science, and learning, and for constructive approaches to important disparities in health and education.”
Dr. Amina Qutub is an Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Director of the UTSA-UT Health Sciences Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering. Qutub has focused her career on pioneering methods at the interface of computer science, neurovascular biology and engineering in order to understand how human cells communicate during processes of growth and repair, and to use this fundamental knowledge to help eradicate hematological and neurological diseases.
“In order to develop AI technologies that truly augment human performance, researchers need a deeply integrative mindset that transcends a single discipline and focuses on common goals. In the past two years within the MATRIX Consortium, I have had the opportunity to work closely with MATRIX leadership, co-thrust lead Dr. Mark Goldberg, our MATRIX researchers and collaborating medical centers to help launch several center-scale initiatives that are poised to revolutionize how human health is studied and treated through the introduction of emerging AI to clinical and biomedical problems.”
Three New Centers Founded
Our long-term vision is to establish a network of research centers of excellence within MATRIX. This year, we are funded by NSF, NIH (AIM AHEAD), and AFRL, to launch three centers that will sustain over a 5-year period.
1. NSF PARTNER Institute on Neuro-Inspired AI for the Edge (NAIAD)
Despite the remarkable recent progress in AI systems, significant challenges remain. Modern AI is still not capable of high-level reasoning, lifelong learning in real-world contexts, or dynamic adaptation to adversarial scenarios in resource-constrained environments. In addition, AI models are notoriously power-hungry. The integration of neuro-inspired mechanisms into AI system design holds the promise of significant progress towards energy-efficient and robust solutions. The main research agenda of this center is to expand neuro-inspired AI research efforts, to develop common frameworks and robust computational models, and integrated AI systems. NAIAD leverages the latest neuronal theories of biological intelligence to develop new AI models and systems for resource-constrained edge environments. NAIAD brings together a multidisciplinary team from UTSA and Duke University NSF ATHENA AI Institute to open new avenues in edge AI for a wide range of applications, including nextgeneration augmented reality, virtual reality in mobile networks and AI-assisted autonomous vehicles.
New mentoring models will facilitate graduate students and faculty from UTSA to immerse themselves in Duke research labs, while ATHENA faculty will reciprocally spend a week at the AI school hosted by UTSA. This initiative aims to foster cross-pollination of research ideas and expertise.
Sponsor: NSF
UTSA Team: Dhireesha Kudithipudi, Murtuza Jadliwala, Panagiotis Markopoulos, Gabriela Ciocarlie, Fidel Santamaria, Amina Qutub, and Itamar Lerner.
Collaborator: NSF AI Institute ATHENA at Duke University (Helen Li, Maria Gorlatova, Miroslav Pajic)
Three New Centers Founded
2. MATRIX-Provided AI/ML Open-Source Resource Center for Behavioral Health EmpoWERment [M-POWER]
This center provides real-time support and concierge service for open-source data analysis and AI/ML tools in behavioral health. This is a partnership between UTSA and UT-Health and NIH AIM AHEAD data infrastructure communities. The team will categorically build capacity in clinical healthcare literacy, understand where AI/ML toolkits are critical for behavioral health, use active feedback to improve accessibility and user-friendliness of the open-source toolkits and tutorials, prioritize patient safety as a key design choice, and ensure the team is well-informed about AI solutions that seamlessly integrate into clinical workflows while optimizing healthcare delivery. M-POWER center will explore existing AI tools and resources and identify unmet needs of the healthcare stakeholders, accelerate innovation and collaboration among members through open-source AI/ML toolkits build a vibrant community of researchers through training.
Sponsor: NIH AIM AHEAD
UTSA Team: Dhireesha Kudithipudi (Lead MPI), Amina Qutub (MPI), Ambika Mathur (MPI), Kevin Desai, Panagiotis Markopoulos, Anandi Dutta, and Erica Sosa
UT Health San Antonio: Mark Goldberg (MPI)
3. Center of Excellence on Brain-Derived Neuromorphic Computing
Seven PIs from five universities have formed a team to establish a University Center of Excellence, Center Of Neuromorphic Computing undeR ExTreme Environments (CONCRETE), to explore and discover the physics and theoretical foundations of reliable neuromorphic computing under extreme conditions. Researchers from University of Southern California (USC-lead institution), University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Duke University, and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) collaborate to develop new AI accelerators that work under extreme environments. The team will develop novel materials and devices, in concert with neuromorphic circuits, algorithms, and architectures, that facilitate robust and efficient implementation of learning and inference for radiation hard environments.
Sponsor: AFRL/AFOSR
UTSA Team: Dhireesha Kudithipudi (PI)
Dynamic Duo
Jiannan Cai & Ao Du
Making Construction
Industry Safer Through AI
The new NSF grant, received by Jiannan Cai and Ao Du, develops innovative methods for disaster recovery by focusing on community resilience and collaboration. The ultimate goal is to enhance preparedness and recovery efforts in the face of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, by leveraging community networks and resources. The team will analyze the complexities involved in disaster recovery processes, including the social, economic, and infrastructural aspects. By understanding these dynamics, the research seeks to develop more effective strategies for mitigating the impacts of disasters and facilitating faster recovery.
They will leverage interdisciplinary approaches, including researchers from social sciences, engineering, and public policy.
Full articles:
utsa.edu/today/2024/03/story/professors-recei ve-funding-for-disaster-recovery-research.html
utsa.edu/today/2022/11/story/nsf-awards-fun ding-for-future-of-work-projects.html
Leadership in Brain-Inspired AI: Two NSF Emerging Frontiers in Research Innovation Awards
By: Sean M. Wood
Our team is making significant progress in fundamental AI research, highlighted by our leadership role in securing a $4 million NSF EFRI BRAID grant for MATRIX researchers. PI (Kudithipudi), with co-PIs Itamar Lerner (MATRIX core member), an assistant professor in the UTSA Department of Psychology and Christopher Kanan (University of Rochester).
This $2 million research grant helps bridge the gap between human brain processing efficiency and the limitations of current artificial intelligence (AI) models. This project seeks to create a new form of AI that rapidly learns, adapts to and operates in uncertain conditions, all while effectively addressing the energy challenge plaguing modern AI.
The team will draw ideas from the Temporal Scaffolding Hypothesis, a theory that mirrors the human brain's ability to process temporal patterns during both wakefulness and sleep. Unlike contemporary AI models, the human brain is great at doing lots of different things and handling information relating to different time frames, all while exerting very little energy. This stark contrast serves as the driving force behind the quest to create AI models that can emulate the human brain's adaptability and efficiency.
According to the hypothesis, our brains are good at understanding patterns by replaying our daily experiences quickly while we sleep. The research team wants to create computer systems that work similarly, helping us solve complex problems efficiently. These systems could be used in important areas like health care, self-driving technology and national security.
"This research will help create new computer programs that quickly simulate and understand our past experiences in a simpler way. By combining brain science ideas and real-life experiments, we can test and improve how these computer programs work, changing the way we study them,” Kudithipudi said. “Copying how our brain learns about time helps AI require less power, which is a big issue in today's AI technology."
"We are all very proficient in detecting temporal patterns, even when we are not expecting them,” added Lerner. “For example, think about when you first realized that the number of times a church bell rings tells the current hour. This project aims to explore the possibility that sleep helps us capture such non-trivial patterns and attempts to implement it in AI systems through machine learning thus pushing forward the AI landscape informed by neuroscientific principles."
Full article:
utsa.edu/today/2023/11/story/matrix-ai-awarded-nsf-grant-to-study-lifelong-learning-ai.html
Thrust Lead, Dr. Fidel Santamaria,
received a $2 million grant to develop new artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the most energy-efficient manner
By: Ari Castañeda
Fidel Santamaria, MATRIX thrust lead for Neuro-Inspired AI, is collaborating with University of Tennessee Knoxville Professor Stephen Sarles, Portland State University Professor Christof Teuscher, and University of South Carolina Professor Yuriy V. Pershin. The research team is combining their work in biology, physics, computer science, and engineering to test the least energy-hungry electronic models.
For machine-learning tools to analyze new data, they must first sort data into various categories. For example, if a tool is sorting photos by color, then it needs to recognize which photos are red, yellow or blue to accurately classify them. While this is an easy chore for a human, the task presents a complicated and energy-hungry job for a machine.
“We want powerful AI, but to train that AI requires a lot of energy. That’s a national challenge. That’s the challenge of AI,” Santamaria said. “We, as humans, have a good abstraction processing of information with very, very little energy consumption compared to computers. On top of that, we are very flexible in learning. We can process things and use history to retrofit or use as feedback. We’re history dependent.” One objective of neuroscience is to build better computers by modeling them from the function of the brain. In this project, the research team will use a mathematical theory that explains how real neurons adapt their responses based on their previous activity and apply it to design electric circuits that are both computationally and energetically efficient.
Neuromorphic computing—computer engineering modeled after systems in the human brain—relies on the connectivity between neurons that are identical. But Santamaria says this cannot be further from the biological reality of neurons.
“A single neuron can change because it’s history dependent. It can react differently on its own with no signal from other neurons. That adaptation is history dependence, which is a computational property that has been overlooked, and it underlines efficient computation,” explained Santamaria.
From biological observations, a series of equations called fractional order differential equations can be written. These equations are the natural mathematical language describing history dependent processes, and they explain how neurons behave.
“All the electronics we are using right now are based on resistors. Instead, math told us that if we can find a capacitor—a device for storing electrical energy—that is history dependent; then, we will be able to translate what we know from neuroscience to actually build a circuit that will have the same properties of the real neurons we have been investigating,” Santamaria said.
Full article: utsa.edu/today/2023/11/story/fidel-santamaria-awarded-nsf-grant.html
Expanding Horizons
Community Research Infrastructure
MATRIX thrust lead, Murtuza Jadliwala, is the lead PI on the $2 million NSF award to design, develop, deploy, and manage a community research infrastructure called ScooterLab.
ScooterLab's research infrastructure comprises of a highly customizable fleet of micromobility vehicles, such as dockless e-scooters, operating within and around the campuses of the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). By means of custom sensing hardware integrated with these vehicles and a suite of efficient sensing and data processing software, this community research infrastructure will serve as a state-of-the-art crowd-sensing platform that will enable the collection of diverse and high-precision contextual and mobility data for addressing a variety of computing and multidisciplinary research challenges in machine learning, computer vision and image processing, high-performance computing, big data analytics, and privacy enhancing technologies, urban planning and civil engineering.
Jadliwala, together with UTSA collaborators Sushil Prasad and Greg Griffin and University of Oklahoma collaborator Anindya Maiti, is planning to launch an initial fleet of 20 e-scooters later this year in a trial run. These scooters will be available for short-term and long-term checkouts for UTSA students, faculty, and staff for their micromobility needs. The ScooterLab team also plans to host community engagement events such as rider information sessions and a micromobility research workshop to apprise the student and research community of the latest developments in ScooterLab and to increase participation and research engagement.
ScooterLab is located in San Pedro 1 - room 108 (downtown San Antonio).
Media Mentions
Thrust Lead, Douglas Brooks from Southwest Research Institute, feature in the San Antonio Express News expressnews.com/business/article/AI-Artificial-intelligence-radiologists- Xray-17089163.php
Director, Dhireesha Kudithipudi, feature in the San Antonio Express News expressnews.com/business/article/UTSA-researcher-feels- responsibility-17203305.php
USC’s article on Dr. Kudithipudi’s Nature Article techxplore.com/news/2022-04-people-animals.html
AI & Quantum symposium, hosted by MATRIX, featured in Catalyst - The Magazine of the College of Sciences issuu.com/utsanantonio/docs/utsa_2022_cos_catalyst_spring22_issuu
Nature’s Feature on Lifelong learning go.nature.com/3vA12sk
The AI Whirlwind sombrilla.utsa.edu/the-ai-whirlwind/
Thrust Spotlight: Trustworthy AI
Cyber AI Winter School
sprite.utsa.edu/cyberaiwinterschool/
In the era of rapid digital transformation, cyber and cyber-physical systems are evolving with increased connectivity and complexity. This interconnectedness and a surge in individuals entering the cyber world have expanded the vulnerability to cyber-attacks. The reliance on complex deep learning models further intensifies the security challenges. The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) MATRIX thrust lead Murtuza Jadliwala and the Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) researchers address these concerns in deep technical dive sessions. These week-long technical discussions on securing modern cyber systems, focusing on Security and Privacy of AI, and building trustworthy AI, have led to joint projects and initiatives amongst MATRIX and TU Darmstadt. More than 100 graduate and undergraduate students benefited from these focused sessions, offered by several thought leaders in the field.
MATRIX helps build the nation’s first MD/MS in AI program in the Nation
By: Christi Fish and Eileen Teves
UTSA charged Dhireesha Kudithipudi with leading the development of the MS in AI curriculum in collaboration with three colleges. Over the course of one year, she closely collaborated with the faculty and chairs from three departments at UTSA and with UT Health San Antonio’s faculty. This effort resulted in the creation of new courses in AI, which will provide students with a rigorous cross-disciplinary training experience and reduce entry barriers for non-traditional students.
“AI is transforming our world, and UTSA’s approach to AI is grounded in transdisciplinary collaboration, underscoring our commitment to generating high-impact solutions to advance human well-being by engaging multiple and diverse audiences,” said Mathur. “Through this innovative partnership with UT Health San Antonio, aspiring medical leaders will gain mastery in the emerging technologies that will shape the health care profession for generations to come.”
In 2021, a pilot program was introduced to UT Health San Antonio medical students. Two students who applied for and were accepted into the MD/MS program for fall 2023 are projected to graduate in the spring of 2024. For these students, the combined degrees mean multiple possibilities in health care.
“I believe the future of health care will require a physician to navigate the technical and clinical sides of medicine,” Aaron Fanous, a fourth-year medical student. “While in the program, the experience opened my mind to the many possibilities of bridging the two fields. I look forward to using my dual degree, so that I can contribute to finding solutions to tomorrow’s medical challenges.”
Eri Osta, is also a fourth-year medical student in the program. Osta said, “The courses were designed with enough flexibility for us to pick projects from any industry, and medical students were particularly encouraged to undertake projects with direct health care applications. My dual degree will help align a patient’s medical needs with technology’s potential. I am eager to play a role in shaping a more connected and efficient future for health care.”
Full article:
utsa.edu/today/2023/09/story/UTSA-UT-Health-first-dual-degree-in-medicine-and-AI.html
Project Lovelace
First Cohort of MS in AI Program
This is the first cohort of the institute wide MS in AI program launched at UTSA in Fall 2022. The projects our students have undertaken are a testament to the high standards they have set. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Edge Impulse for their contribution of hardware. The impulse training and deployment platforms were seamlessly integrated into the classroom, enhancing the learning experience for our students.
artificial intelligence utsa matrix
Fostering AI Innovation Through Community Building
Weekly Seminar Series
We hosted a total of 52 seminars at UTSA, unifying the San Antonio community on cutting-edge AI topics. The MATRIX Seminar Series, led by Drs. Dhireesha Kudithipudi, Gabriela Ciocarlie, Dharanidhar Dang and Panagiotis Markopoulos, featured a diverse range of seminars by distinguished leaders in AI. These leaders represented various subfields of algorithms, theory, systems, autonomy, AI for healthcare, and accelerators, showcasing the wide-ranging applications of AI. The presenters, hailing from both industry and academia, including Meta, Cerebras DeepLite, Georgia Tech, and University of Pennsylvania, further enriched the series. YouTube link to recorded talks:
youtube.com/channel/UCZNs8TmfIizWArb2qKZdLyg
MATRIX director Kudithipudi led the signing of UTSA’s pledge with the Department of Energy - Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) for the DOE Energy Efficient Scaling (EES2) program, which aims to achieve 1000x energy savings in computing.
More events: Invited talks on next-generation AI numerical format by John Gustafson, AI unit tour at the core partner Southwest Research Institute site hosted by our thrust lead Douglas Brooks, PhD, PMP, and an AI collaboration day at National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC) by Guy M. Walsh, founding executive director. Our scientists, Drs. Panagiotis Markopoulos, Murtuza Jadliwala, Anthony Rios, Mimi Xie, Kevin Desai, and Jiannan Cai, shared their recent findings.
NICE 2022 - 2023
MATRIX and UTSA virtually cohosted the 9th Annual Neuro-Inspired Computational Elements (NICE) workshop, as well as the 10th Annual Conference in beautiful San Antonio, Texas. Experts discussed the development of neural algorithms and hardware architectures that are inspired by the brain’s processes, with the potential to revolutionize the field of computing.
MATRIX Success Story at Chancellor’s Executive Meeting 2023
One of the panel conversations included UTSA President Taylor Eighmy and Director of MATRIX, Dhireesha Kudithipudi. The panel discussed the global impact and advances UTSA is making in data science, cyber security, and artificial intelligence. The University of Texas at San Antonio and UT Health San Antonio hosted The University of Texas System Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee Meeting at San Pedro I.
Technical Engagements
The Health Cell – The State of the Industry
Augmenting Human Capabilities, Dr. Amina Qutub, shared her story, along with other San Antonio healthcare and bioscience leaders, in understanding brain health across the human lifespan through innovations in neuroscience and engineering.
AI Systems Summit Panel
Dr. Kudithipudi was a panelist on the AI Systems Summit Panel discussing “Large Scale Inference on HPC Systems and the Potential of Neuromorphic Co- Processors.”
NSF Workshop
MATRIX hosted NSF workshop on Large Scale Neuromorphic Computing in Knoxville, Tennessee on July 28, 2022. This brought together 100 globally recognized leaders in neuromorphic computing and its application domains to initiate discussions on the opportunities and challenges in designing large scare neuromorphic computing systems. The team presented the findings to NSF leadership in Fall 2023.
15th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks
MATRIX was proud to sponsor the 15th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks where our thrust lead, Dr. Murtuza Jadliwala was a conference organizer. Dr. Gabriela Ciocarlie, also a MATRIX thrust lead, gave the keynote talk.
Outreach on AI for Public Good
Dr. Panos Markopoulos & Stacy Cantu Pawlik represented MATRIX in the UTSA Day at the Capitol and shared the impact of AI research with the community leaders
ForceCon 2022 Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Panel at Port San Antonio
MATRIX Director, Dr. Dhireesha Kudithipudi, was a panelist at ForceCon ‘22, which is a global platform for state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and cybersecurity technologies tailored for military use.
Full article: afimsc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3043948/forcecon-2022-spurs-collaborationinnovation-for-air-force-industry-academia/
Cyber Warriors ‘22
Thrust Lead – Murtuza Jadliwala hosted Cyber Warriors ’22 where they had 9 middle/high schoolers from San Antonio, TX learning essential cybersecurity skills, and having fun while at it!
Learn more:sprite.utsa.edu/cyberwarrior24/
Bootcamp
MATRIX hosted a 2-week bootcamp for incoming MD/MS AI students. Dr. Anandi Dutta is pictured here with student Niklesh Akula
Global Partnerships
Mexico
A delegation of experts in artificial intelligence, from Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), our partner university in Mexico, to discuss potential partnering opportunities.
India
UTSA and City of San Antonio representatives visited India, hosted by the US Embassy. The two-week trip proved productive in advancing UTSA’s research and teaching portfolio, culminating in signed memorandums of understanding and initiated agreements with six elite institutions, all ranked in the top 100 globally and ranked top 20 in India. These institutions include Vellore Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Sciences, Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Udaipur and IIT-Delhi.
Global Partnerships
French Consulate
MATRIX research team partnered with UTSA Global initiatives to host Valérie Baraban, of the Ministère des Affaires étrangères français, to showcase the great neuro-inspired AI work.
Council General of India
Counsel General of India, Mr. Aseem R. Mahajan, visits UTSA & the MATRIX and Neuromorphic AI Lab to learn about our research. Pictured here are Drs. Lisa Montoya, Ambika Mathur, Dhireesha Kudithipudi, and Mr. Don Peterson.
The Rustic in August 2022 Matrix
Social Events
MATRIX Thrust Holiday get togethers 2021, 2022 & 2023
Scholarly & Professional Activities and awards
In this perspective article, a large group of Dr. Kudithipudi’s team from Neuroscience, Biology, Machine Learning, Electrical and Computer Engineering posit that studying neuronal and non- neuronal learning in biology can help us design a new generation of continual learning systems. Read more here: tinyurl.com/yt52sj5z
Thrust lead Dr. Amina Qutub’s co-authorship on the role of AI in deep space missions, a review from a NASA workshop. nature.com/articles/s42256-023-00643-3
Dr. Amina Qutub, Augmenting Human Capabilities Thrust Lead, elected to the National Academies Transformative Science and Technology for the Department of Defense: Standing Committee and Seminar Series as well as the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Standing Committee on Advances and National Security Implications of Transdisciplinary Biotechnology. nationalacademies.org/our-work/standing-committee-on-biotechnology-capabilities-andnational-security-needs#sectionCommittee
Dr. Dhireesha Kudithipudi –was selected for the Class of 2022-2023 of Drexel University’s Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES) program. The ELATES program is a national leadership development program designed to promote women in academic STEM fields, and faculty allies of all genders, into institutional leadership roles. drexel.edu/provost/priorities/initiatives/elates/current-fellows/
Dr. Jiannan Cai, MATRIX member and an assistant professor in the UTSA Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Management, has received the Alfred Noble Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for her paper on a new computational framework for tracking multiple workers on construction job sites.
Stacy Cantu Pawlik, Associate Director, was selected for the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber’s Alexander Briseno Leadership Development Program. sahcc.org/sahcc-s-alexander-briseno-leadership-development-program- announcesmembers-of-2022-class
MATRIX member, Dr. Amanda Fernandez, named Senior Member of the Academy of Inventors
Dr. Joseph Houpt, MATRIX core member - Project with Meta - Predicting Cognitive Performance with Audio/Visual Information Streams - Project with Raytheon- RTX Application of Artificial Intelligence to Defense Systems Human Machine Teaming (RAAIDS-HMT).
The UTSA Academy of Distinguished Researchers has inducted Dr. Dhireesha Kudithipudi, whose innovative research program is focused on artificial intelligence, specifically brain-inspired algorithms and neuromorphic computing.
MATRIX Thrust Lead, Dr. Fidel Santamaria, was named UTSA Post-Doctoral Mentor of the Year
Dr. Amina Qutub, along with Courtney Rouse (SwRI), received a San Antonio Medical Foundation Collaborative Grant ($200,000) “Automated Tracking of Brain Cell Health: A Precision Medicine AI- Approach”.
MATRIX member, Dr. Jiannan Cai—assistant professor of construction science and management—will serve as the Principal Investigator on the Future AI and Robotics for Women in Smart Engineering (FAIR4WISE) project. She was also awarded the NSF Early Career Award.
Dr. Panagiotis Markopoulos, MATRIX Core Member and First Faculty Hire, was awarded AFOSR Young Investigator Program Award entitled Theory and Efficient Algorithms for Dynamic and Robust L1-Norm Analysis of Tensor Data
MATRIX Member, Dr. Itamar Lerner, was a recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, one of the NSF’s most prestigious programs.
Core members, Drs. Yongcan Cao and Kevin Desai, were awarded the University Teaching Excellence Award in 2022.
Core member, Dr. Miltos Alamaniotis, was awarded the University Research Achievement Award in 2022.
New Core Faculty
Over the last two years, we expanded our core team with strategic new hires to MATRIX, specifically in Machine Learning and AI Accelerators, to advance research in focused areas. These AI innovators will not only fuel high-impact partnerships but also bring valuable domain expertise.
Our first hire for Fall 2022: Dr. Panagiotis (Panos) Markopoulos, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Margie and Bill Klesse Endowed Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science, at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).
He is also a core faculty member of the UTSA School of Data Science and MATRIX. “MATRIX is an excellent hub for multidisciplinary partnerships, driving impactful AI solutions across a wide range of science and engineering fields. In addition to providing state-of-the-art research infrastructure, MATRIX has offered me numerous opportunities for networking and collaborations, and it has significantly supported my mission to promote explainable and trustworthy AI in the service of human well-being. I’m very excited about my part in MATRIX and confident that MATRIX researchers will continue driving AI research at UTSA to new heights of discovery.”
Dr. Carolina Vivas-Valencia established the healthcare analytics (HEAL) laboratory in January 2023 at UTSA. She is leading a multidisciplinary team with a focus on advancing precision population medicine for behavioral health through data analytics. She is interested in conducting health informatics research to advance the treatment of autism and opioid use disorder. She is also leveraging real-world healthcare data to better understand the impact on health outcomes among pregnant and postpartum populations.
Dr. Vivas-Valencia is passionate about making healthcare more accessible, inclusive science, and working with the community to address community-based health problems. Prior to joining UTSA, Dr. Vivas-Valencia completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and The Massachusetts General Hospital. She earned her MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Purdue University.
New Core Faculty
Ke Yang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science, College of Sciences, University of Texas at San Antonio. She found the Cohort for AI REsponsibility (CAREAI) at UTSA. Her research centers around data management and machine learning, emphasizing algorithmic fairness, model explanation, and the social impact of AI and machine learning. Prior to joining UTSA, she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Dr. Yang received her Ph.D. degree from New York University. She has received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Center for Data Science at UMass and a Pearl Brownstein Doctoral Research Award from the Tandon School of Engineering at NYU.
Dr. Chen Pan received his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 2017 and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019. Dr. Pan is currently a tenure-track Assistant Professor with the Department of ECE at UTSA and the director of the Artificial Intelligence of Everything (AIoE) lab. He is gladly joining UTSA and AI-Matrix Center where he finds the ideal to pursue cutting-edge research in Intelligent IoT with rich resources and supports.
Besides, within the collaborative research ecosystem fostered by AI-Matrix, there will be more opportunities to spark groundbreaking new ideas for delivering impactful and productive research outcomes.
Dr. Dharanidhar Dang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA). At UTSA, he directs the LUCENT lab that focuses on designing highly energy- efficient AI accelerators using novel technologies such as silicon photonics and resistive memory. His research interests include AI hardware, silicon photonics, computer architecture, bioinformatics, and AI/ML healthcare.
MATRIX AI CONSORTIUM MEMBERS
Core Members
Thrust 1: Augmenting Human Capabilities
David Akopian, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Ian Caine, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Urban Planning
Mark Goldberg, Ph.D. (Thrust Lead) UTHSCSA, School of Medicine, Neurology
Byron Hepburn, M.D. UTHSCSA, School of Medicine, Military Health Institute
Joseph Houpt, Ph.D. UTSA, HCaP, Psychology
Brian Kelley, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Hakima Ibaroudene, M.S. SwRI, Group Leader - R&D
Neda Norouzi, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Architecture
John Quarles, Ph.D. UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Amina Qutub, Ph.D. (Thrust Lead) UTSA, KCEID, Biomedical Engineering
Michael Rushforth, Ph.D. UTSA, COLFA, Modern Languages
Pankil K Shah, M.D., MSPH, Ph.D. UTHSCSA, Urology, Infectious Diseases
Carolina Vivas-Valencia, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Biomedical Engineering
Thrust 2: Machine Learning and Deployment
Adel Alaeddini, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Mechanical Engineering
Miltos Alamaniotis, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Kiran Bhaganagar, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Mechanical Engineering
Douglas Brooks, Ph.D., PMP (Thrust Lead) SwRI, Assistant Director
Jiannan Cai, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Construction Science
Yongcan Cao, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Debaditya Chakraborty, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Construction Science
David Chambers, M.S.
SwRI, Principal Engineer
Kevin Desai, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Diako Ebrahimi, Ph.D.
Texas Biomed Research Institute, Quantitative Biology
Juan Gutierrez, Ph.D. UTSA, COS, Mathematics
Murtuza Jadliwala, Ph.D. (Thrust Lead) UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Yufang Jin, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Fazel Khayatian, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Architecture
Max Kilger, Ph.D.
UTSA, COB, Data Analytics
Sushil Prasad, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Jeff Prevost, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Chunjiang “CJ” Qian, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Anthony Rios, Ph.D.
UTSA, COB, Information Systems and Cybersecurity
Eric Schlegel, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Physics and Astronomy
Tulio Sulbaran, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Construction Science
Hongjie Xie, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Mimi Xie, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Ke Yang, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Dakai Zhu, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Thrust 3: Neuro-Inspired AI
Alfonso Apicella, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Erick Olivares Bravo, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Yidong Chen, Ph.D.
UTHSCSA, Biomedical Sciences, Epidemiology & Biostatics
Kal Clark, M.D.
UTHSCSA, MARC, Radiology
Dharanidhar Dang, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Peter Fox, Ph.D. (Thrust Lead) UTSA, KCEID, Biomedical Engineering
Edward Golob, Ph.D. UTSA, HCaP, Psychology
Mohamad Habes, Ph.D. UTHSCSA, School of Medicine, Research Imaging Ctr
Jenny Hsieh, Ph.D. UTSA, COS, Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Itamar Lerner, Ph.D. UTSA, HCaP, Psychology
Leslie Neely, Ph.D. UTSA, COEHD, Educational Psychology **Thrust 1: Augmenting Human Capabilities
Jeremy Nelson, Ph.D. UTHSCSA, Military Health Institute
Chen Pan, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Jianhua Ruan, Ph.D. UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Fidel Santamaria, Ph.D. (Thrust Lead) UTSA, COS, Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Felipe Santiago Salinas, Ph.D. UTHSCSA, School of Medicine, Research Imaging Ctr
Francesco Savelli, Ph.D. UTSA, COS, Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Nilam Soni, M.D. UTHSCSA, School of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Diseases
Ivanka Stamova, Ph.D. UTSA, COS, Mathematics
Todd Troyer, Ph.D. UTSA, COS, Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
MATRIX AI CONSORTIUM MEMBERS
Thrust 4: Trustworthy AI
Gabriela Ciocarlie, Ph.D. (Thrust Lead) UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Amanda Fernandez, Ph.D. UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Yanmin Gong, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Richard Guo, Ph.D. UTSA, COB, Information Systems and Cyber Security
Ram Krishnan, Ph.D. (Thrust Lead) UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Panagiotis (Panos) Markopoulos, Ph.D. UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Paul Rad, Ph.D.
UTSA, COB, Information Systems and Cyber Security
Raghav Rao, Ph.D. UTSA, COB, Information Systems and Cyber Security
Ravi Sandhu, Ph.D. UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Claire Walton, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering / Math
Wenbo Wu, Ph.D. UTSA, COB, Information Systems and Cyber Security
Min Wang, Ph.D. UTSA, COB, Management Science & Statistics
Shouhuai Xu, Ph.D. UCCS, EAS, Computer Science
Hongyi Zhu, Ph.D. UTSA, COB, Information Systems and Cyber Security
Affiliate Members
Nicholas Asher, Ph.D.
Toulouse, ANITI
Patrick Benavidez, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Rajendra Boppana, Ph.D.
UTSA, COS, Computer Science
Guenevere Chen, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Robert A. Clark, M.D.
UTHSCSA, Medicine, Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics
Mario Flores, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Jeffrey Howard, Ph.D.
UTSA, HCaP, Public Health
Mohamed Kaaniche, Ph.D. Toulouse, ANITI
Kristian Kersting, Ph.D. TU-Darmstadt, Depart. & Centre for Cognitive Science
Weiming Lin, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Nikita Ruparel, DDS, Ph.D. UTHSCSA, Dental School, Endodontics
Sudha Seshadri, M.D. UTHSCSA, MARC, Neurology
Guy M. Walsh Executive VP, NDIA
Michelle Zhang, Ph.D.
UTSA, KCEID, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Meredith Zozus, Ph.D., CCDM UTHSCSA, Medicine, Clinical Informatics
Advisory Board
Kim Branson, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Global Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, GSK
Matthew Mattina VP of AI Systems Architecture, Microsoft
Hava Siegelmann, Ph.D. Ex-DARPA Program Manager; Provost Professor, University of Massachusetts
Michael Snyder, Ph.D. Director, Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine; Professor, Stanford University
Gustavo Stolovitzky, Ph.D. IBM Fellow; Program Director, Translational Systems Biology and Nanobiotechnology at IBM Research
