Students of ETI Faculty at a meeting with a researcher and vice president of META | Gdańsk University of Technology

Professor Yann LeCun received the Turing Award in 2018 (often treated as the "Nobel Prize in Computer Science"). In addition to his work at a New York college, he is vice president and principal AI researcher at Meta (Facebook). Students of the ETI Faculty, together with their supervisor, professor Jacek Rumiński, were invited to a meeting with the team of professor Yann LeCun to discuss the mutually conducted work. During the meeting, scientists from New York presented extremely interesting papers on the development of machine learning algorithms and their application, e.g. for the synthesis of music or the synthesis of chemical compounds. Also, Gdańsk Tech group members had the opportunity to present their research work, especially that carried out as part of their master's projects. The subject of works by Polish students aroused great interest among the participants of the meeting.

The study visit was possible thanks to several years of cooperation between professor Jacek Rumiński and professor Alfredo Canziani, a direct collaborator of Yann LeCun. Professor Alfredo Canziani is considered one of the best teachers in the field of machine learning and has visited the ETI Faculty several times as part of the group organized by prof. Jacek Rumiński for four editions of the International Summer School on Deep Learning (www.dl-lab.eu).

A group of Polish students had previously visited another American university: Virginia Commonwealth University at the invitation of professor Milos Manic. Professor Manic is the Director of the Cybersecurity Center and at the same time an outstanding IT specialist. During the study visit to VCU, the group from Poland visited numerous laboratories at two faculties: computer science and biomedical engineering. The group also showed a number of presentations on mutually conducted research. It is worth emphasizing that Virginia is a key American state in the field of data centers, which are so important in the development of modern artificial intelligence, and at the same time related to the provision of key infrastructure in the field of data security.

Participation in both visits was an inspiration for the development of research in the field of artificial intelligence. Study visits are an excellent method of expanding knowledge and gaining additional competences beyond traditional forms of learning. It became possible thanks to the implementation of the project "Academy of Innovative Applications of Digital Technologies (AI Tech)", co-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund Operational Program Digital Poland for 2014-2020, priority axis No. 3 "Digital competences of society", Action No. 3.2 "Innovative solutions for digital activation".