Bio

Professional Bio

Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad is a Research Scientist at the Harborview Medical Center. He is also an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at University of Washington (UW) in Bothell. Previously he was also a Visiting Research Scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur in Professor Nisheeth Srivastava’s Lab. He has over 50 publications in machine learning and artificial intelligence. He serves on program committees of select international conferences in AI & machine learning. Muhammad Aurangzeb received his PhD and Masters in Computer Science from University of Minnesota and Bachelors in Computer Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology with minors in Philosophy and Mathematics. His graduate research resulted in a spin-out start up company from Professor Srivastava’s lab at UMN.

Apart from his current appointments, he has extensive experience in both industry and academia: He was a researcher at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Minnesota (UMN) and research associate at the Center for Cognitive Science at UMN. His current research is focused on fairness, accountability, transparency, ethics (fate) in AI, explainable AI and AI in healthcare. He has worked in the area of applied machine in a number of industries: Commercial retail (Senior Data Scientist at Groupon), Gaming (Research Scientist at Ninja Metrics), modeling human mobility (GIS at UQU), energy sector (Consolidated Edison of New York), Population Studies (Research Assiatnt at Minnesota Population Center) and Biomedical devices (research interm at Boston Scientific).

Personal Bio

Here is a list of odd bits and ends that do not fit into a regular bio. I am fascinated by the social and societal implications of machine learning and artificial intelligence. My views are informed by real world experiences in industry, theoretical grounding in academia and observing how individual and groups are impact by society. I am semi-famous for creating a simulation of my deceased father so that my kids could interact with their grandfather. The project has been covered by the American and the global media. I am also an exhibited artist. My work lies at the intersection of multiple artistic traditions and algorithmic art. I am the founder and editor of the Islam and Science Fiction Project housed at the Texas A&M University. I often give talks on panels at different fan conventions (Cons) on this subject. I also believe in publically engaged scholarship, towards that end I occassionally talks and write articles in public forums. My writings have appeared in Aeon and Three Quarks Daily (3QD).