Leadership

President

Aniket Sharma (He/Him)

Role

The President advocates for Computing Science graduate students and brings students' concerns to the department chair, the grad chair, or the graduate program coordinator.

About

I am an MSc student. I have a passion for all things related to computers and have tried my hands in many different sub-fields of software engineering during my previous internships. Currently, I am focusing on machine unlearning because I find it interesting.

Fun Fact

I can't make it through a movie and usually sleep after about 20-25 minutes (not sure if it's a fun fact or a sad fact 😅).

Vice-President

M Mahmud Hasan (He/Him)

Role

Collaborating with the President on all matters of business is the primary responsibility of the Vice-President. In order to establish the goals of CSGSA for the current term, the Vice-President works in conjunction with the President. Their tasks include setting high-level plans and scheduling events, as well as managing event-related tasks such as submissions. The Vice-President is responsible for ensuring the successful execution of each event and supporting other executives in organizing their activities. In the event that the President is absent or unable to perform their duties, the Vice-President assumes the role of President.

About

I'm a master's student in Computing Science, specializing in Multimedia. I'm currently supervised by Professor Dr Irene. My research interests are mostly related to computer vision, AI in multimedia, and software engineering.

Fun Fact

I am a sports lover. In my spare time, I love to play Soccer and badminton. I am also a social and chill person and try to spend time with my family and friends doing fun activities. I also love to travel. Whenever I get a chance, I go for a drive with my friends.

Director of Finance (Treasurer)

Srinjoy Bhuiya (He/Him)

Role

Managing the day-to-day finances of the association and opening smooth communication channels between the CSGSA and other institutions. it is also my responsibility to oversee budget management for events, handling the association's bank account, and seeking funding from various sources.

About

I am a masters student, my focus of research currently is in the domain of low computation based computer vision.

Fun Fact

I was in rock band in high school and i toured several cities in india perfroming gigs in music festivals and rock competitions.

Director of Academic

Malcolm Nielsen (He/Him)

Role

In charge of enhancing the academic development of the students of the Computing Science department by promoting academic opportunities, offering workshops to develop academic-related skills, and by providing information about the graduate programs offered by the Computing Science department. Accountable for the buddy list, office assignments, academic events, and finding and promoting academic opportunities for Computing Science Graduate Students.

About

Hi! I'm a first year Masters student with an interest in both RL theory and it's applications. If you see me around campus, feel free to say hi, I'm always looking for a reason to procrastinate!

Fun Fact

I have an obsession with picking up expensive hobbies. To date I have picked up music, building model kits, coffee, gardening, board games, collecting vintage video games, and most recently Magic: The Gathering. Of course the most expensive (but rewarding) hobby of all is taking care of my lovely cats however 🐈‍⬛.

Director of Operations

Avani Tiwari (She/Her)

Role

Work closely with the Vice-President regarding the logistics of organizing events such as room booking, event submission, and equipment rentals. Accountable for the smooth operations of each event and assisting other execs to organize the events related to their role.

About

Hello, I am Avani a first year master student from India. I am a part of Prof. Levi Lelis' research group hoping to work in program synthesis.

Fun Fact

I completed my undergrad from Abu Dhabi so will be literally moved from desert to snow (kinda scared for the first winter here). I like reading a lot and took some philosophy classes. I will love to chat about ethics anytime!

Director of Communications and Digital Media

Jiayin He (She/Her)

Role

In charge of promoting the CSGSA and communicating with the student body through emails and social media. Accountable for the branding of the organization, formatting and proofreading documents, managing social media, and sending and answering most of the emails.

About

I am a Master's student in Computing Science. My current focus of study is Machine Learning in general.

Fun Fact

I love traveling, although I have a terrible sense of direction and I am also very bad at planning the trip. That's why I get lost during the trip a lot of time.

Director of Diversity and Inclusion

Jai Riley (He/Him)

Role

This role tries to create a bridge between the Turing Society & EDI Committee and the CSGSA, as well as oversee that the CSGSA remains an inclusive organization for all students. The lead of diversity and inclusion is accountable for ensuring that events are inclusive to everyone.

About

I am a Master’s student in Computing Science. I am supervised by Dr. Greg Kondrak. My area of study is focused on Natural Language Processing, mainly computational linguistics and semantics.

Fun Fact

I have an adorable 5-pound Yorkie-Poodle puppy named Sunday that I am more than happy to inundate you with photos of upon request.

Director of External Relations & Partnerships

Mohammadjavad Ardestani (He/Him)

Role

The Director of External Relations and Partnerships seeks to build relationships with local companies and organizations, propose joint events with such organizations, and find new sources of funding.

About

I am a master's student focusing on Natural Language Processing, specifically on analyzing the completeness of answers generated by Large Language Models. I am conducting my research under the supervision of Dr. Davood Rafiei.

Fun Fact

After four years of collaborating with my undergraduate student scientific association, I "retired" from volunteering. However, my friend Jai tried to "scam" me back into it, and he was successful!

Director at Large

H M Quamran Hasan (He/Him)

Role

Assist other execs on their role, but also propose new ideas for events and reimagine old events to introduce some novelty to them. Not accountable for any specific task, but usually take on one particular project that is different from what is currently offered by the CSGSA and ensure that such a project is a success.

About

I am an MSc student working in the xAI lab. My research interests include NLP and Data Science. Currently I am working on the integration of LLMs in the domains of medical and legal data. Previously I did my undergrad at KAIST where I worked in multiple research labs and did internships in multiple startups across South Korea.

Fun Fact

I bench more than I squat. Also we cant be friends if you think that the bass is an overrated instrument.

GSA Counsellor

Iain Smith (He/Him)

Role

Represents the computing science graduate students in the GSA council once a month. Main responsibilities are to attend council meetings, advocate for the interest of the computing science graduate students at the GSA council, and send out a summary of the council meeting to the computing science graduate students.

About

I'm a Master's student under the supervision of Professor Osmar Zaiane. My current research focuses on explainable AI, which I fell into after a course in machine learning theory and multiple papers in clustering, wondering why people should trust our results if sometimes we can't even understand how we got them.

Fun Fact

I am a second generation U of A graduate, my mother got her Master's degree here! If you ever see a wicker duck in a night cap, she made them! Along with that, Dr. Mohamad El-Hajj, who I did a lot of research with during my undergraduate degree, was also supervised by Professor Zaiane.

GSA Alternate Counsellor

Khaled Elbastawisy (He/Him)

Role

Attends council meetings when the GSA Councilor is unable to attend, fulfilling all the relevant duties of the GSA Councillor for that particular meeting.

About

I’m a first year Masters student working under the supervision of Dr. Carrie Demmans Epp. My research interests are NLP applications into educational domains. I have a disjointed list of interests that range from videogames, to photography. I’m also a film buff and I try to exercise (sometimes) (

Fun Fact

I once submitted a picture of a sandwich for my assignment and got the full grade 😂

Past Executive Teams

2023/2024

President: YanQing WU

Vice President: Alireza Kazemipour

Director of Finance (Treasurer): Srinjoy Bhuiya

Director of Academics: Aniket Sharma

Director of Communications and Digital Media: Jia HU

Director of Diversity and Inclusion: Mahdieh Mallahnezhad

Director of External Relations and Partnerships: Mohammad Mahdi Maghouli

GSA Councillor: Maksym Lishchynskyi

2022/2023

President: Sheila Schoepp

Vice President: Dhruv Mullick (May - September 2022), Yanqing Wu

Vice President Operations: Vishwajeet Ohal(September 2022 - May 2023), Karansinh Padhiar (June 2023 - August 2023)

Vice President External Relations & Partnerships: Justin Stevens

Diversity and Inclusion Lead: Maliha Sultana, Niko Yasui

Member at Large: Sacha Davis, Mahdieh Mallahnezhad, Mahdi Maghouli

Treasurer: Daniela Teodorescu

Academic Director: Alex Lewandowski

Publicity Director: Shahin Atakishiyev (May-August 2022), Samuel Iwuchukwu

GSA Councillor: Uduak Ituen (May-August 2022), Sajad Ramezani

GSA Councillor Alternate: Ty Lazar

2021/2022

President: Dawn McKnight

Vice-President: Rohan Saha

Treasurer: Varshini Prakash

Academic Director: Esra'a Saleh

Diversity and Inclusion Lead: J. Fernando Hernandez-Garcia

Publicity Director: Kalvin Eng

VP External Relations & Partnerships: Michael Przystupa

Member at Large: Rejwana Haque

GSA Councillor: Ifaz Kabir

GSA Councillor Alternate: J. Fernando Hernandez-Garcia

2020/2021

President: Doug Rebstock

Vice-President: Shivam Garg

Treasurer: Aidan Bush

Academic Director: Rohan Saha

Diversity and Inclusion Lead: Michael Przystupa

Publicity Director: Tanya Joon

VP External Relations & Partnerships: Fatima Davelouis

Member at Large: Christoph Sydora

GSA Councillor: J. Fernando Hernandez-Garcia

GSA Councillor Alternate: Kalvin Eng

2019/2020

President: Juan Fernando Hernandez Garcia

Vice-President: Shadan Golestan

Treasurer: Athar Mahmoudi-Nejad

Academic Director: Sepehr Kazemian

Diversity and Inclusion Lead: Fatima Davelouis Gallardo

Publicity Director: Leticia Farias Wanderley

VP External Relations & Partnerships: Farnoosh Fatemi Pour

Member at Large: Abhishek Naik

GSA Councillor: Moein Owhadi Kareshk

GSA Councillor Alternate: Chris Sydora

2018/2019

President: Ashley Herman

Vice-President (Fun): Mahdi Rahmani

Academic Director: Moein Owhadi Kareshk

Treasurer: Ehsan Kamalloo

Publicity Director: Pouneh Gorji

Diversity and Inclusion Lead (New Position): Taher Jafferjee

GSA Councillor: Dylan Ashley

GSA Councillor Alternate: Sara Soltaninejad

2017/2018

President: Erick Ochoa Lopez

Vice-President (Fun): Mehran Mahmoudi

Academic Director: Bernard Llanos

Co-Academic Director: Nouha Dziri

Treasurer: Juan Fernando Hernandez Garcia

Publicity Director: Shrimanti Ghosh

GSA Councillor: Melissa Woghiren

GSA Councillor Alternate: Shrimanti Ghosh, Juan Fernando Hernandez Garcia, Michael Disyak

Interim VP: Michael Disyak

2016/2017

President: Rodolfo Wottrich

Vice-President (Fun): Megha Panda

Academic Director: Vivek Veeraiah

Treasurer: Gautham Vasan

Publicity Director: Sepideh Hosseinzadeh

GSA Councillor: Roshan Shariff

GSA Councillor Alternate: (Vacant)

2015/2016

President: Marlos Machado

Vice-President (Fun): Zaheen Ahmad

Academic Director: Nadia Ady

Treasurer: Tim Yee

Publicity Director: Neda Aslsabbaghpour hokmabadi

GSA Councillor: Victor Guana Garces

GSA Councillor Alternate: Candy Pang

2014/2015

President: Hamman Samuel

Vice-President: Arash Karimi

Academic Director: Victor Guana

Treasurer: Joshua Campbell

Publicity Director: Sheehan Khan, Hamidreza Anvari

GSA Councillor: Neda Aslsabbaghpourhokmabadi

GSA Councillor Alternate: Candy Pang

2013/2014

President: Nathaniel Rossol

Vice-President (Fun): Marius Stanescu

Academic Director (New Position): Marios Fokaefs

Treasurer: Mohammed Elmorsy

Publicity Director: Talat Iqbal Syed

GSA Councillor: Hamman Samuel

GSA Councillor Alternate: (Vacant)

2012/2013

President: Richard Zhao

Vice-President (Fun): Saeed Mohajeri

Treasurer: Kevin Quinn

Publicity Director: Afra Abnar, Talat Iqbal Syed (Interim)

GSA Councillor: Hamman Samuel

GSA Councillor Alternate: Mohsen Hajiloo

2011/2012

President: Felicity Allen

Vice-President (Fun): Dave Churchill

Treasurer: Kit Chen

Publicity Director: Sheehan Khan

GSA Councillor: Hamman Samuel

GSA Councillor Alternate: Aaron Luchko

2010/2011

President: Rick Valenzano

Vice-President (Fun): Xiaoyu Shi

Treasurer: Nolan Bard

Publicity Director: Rich Gibson

GSA Councillor: Jess Enright

GSA Councillor Alternate: Aaron Luchko

2009/2010

President: Mike Johanson

Vice-President (Fun): Jacqueline Smith

Treasurer: Barry Gergel

Publicity Director: Sheehan Khan

GSA Councillor: Amin Jorati

GSA Councillor Alternate: (Vacant)

2008/2009

President: Neesha Desai

Vice-President (Fun): Dave Scnhizlein

Treasurer: Nicholas Boers

Publicity Director: Dave Chodos

GSA Councillor: Rick Valenzano

GSA Councillor Alternate: Kevin Waugh

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