Svetha Venkatesh

Svetha Venkatesh is an Indian computed scientist who is one of the top 15 women in the world in Artificial Intelligence.[1] She is Indian/Australian and is an Alfred Deakin Professor in the Faculty of Science, Engineering & Built Environments,[2] in the Department of Pattern Recognition and Data Analytics at Deakin University, as well as a professor of computer science and director of the Centre for Pattern Recognition and Data Analytics (PRaDA) at Deakin.[2] She was elected a Fellow of the International Association of Pattern Recognition in 2004 for her contributions to the "formulation and extraction of semantics in multimedia data".[3] She was also elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2006[4] and an ARC Laureate Fellow in June 2017.[5] She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in May 2021.[6]

Venkatesh has developed new technologies in large-scale pattern recognition in big data.[7] Her work has led to start-ups such as iCetana which finds anomalies through video analytics to detect potential security threats in large data sets;[7] the development of a health analytics program which enables doctors to predict suicide risk;[8] and PRaDA's development of the Toby Playpad app which provides therapy for children with autism.[9][10] Her work on using surveillance data led to the development of a "virtual observer" which was used after the 2005 London bombings.[11]

Based on gender diversity analysis of 1.5m research papers, Venkatesh is one of the top 15 women in the world contributing to artificial intelligence research.[12] She is based in Geelong, Victoria.

Venkatesh delivered the 2015 Harrison Lecture for Innovation.[13] In addition to her research, in 2015 she founded SPARK Deakin - Deakin University's flagship entrepreneurship program.

Venkatesh's son, Akshay, a mathematician specialising in number theory and related topics,[14] was one of the four Fields Medal winners in 2018.[15]

Scholia has a profile for Svetha Venkatesh (Q27063015).
  1. ^ "Professor Svetha Venkatesh ranked in the top 15 women working in AI". A²I² Artificial Intelligence at Deakin. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Alfred Deakin Professor". Deakin University.
  3. ^ "IAPR Fellows", International Association of Pattern Recognition. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Professor Svetha Venkatesh" NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Suicide Prevention. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  5. ^ "Deakin celebrates: ARC Laureate Fellowship for Svetha Venkatesh". Deakin University. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Twenty-two Australians recognised among our nation's most distinguished scientists | Australian Academy of Science". www.science.org.au. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Andrea Morello, Cyrille BoyerIan Frazer, Ryan Lister, Ian Reid, Nalini Joshi and the STEM heroes". The Australian. 11 December 2015.
  8. ^ Lin, Anne. (29 July 2014). "Can computers stop suicides?, Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  9. ^ Foreshew, Jennifer. (4 October 2011). "Learning tool designed for autistic kids", The Australian. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  10. ^ Natasha MItchell interviews Svetha Venkatesh and Silvana Gaglia (8 October 2012). Toby Playpad: Autism therapy (mp3) (Radio broadcast). ABC Radio National.
  11. ^ "Computers model human behaviour". ABC Radio National. 6 June 2009.
  12. ^ "Gender Diversity in AI Research". nesta. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  13. ^ "Looking beyond Big Data", Deakin University. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  14. ^ Akshay, Venkatesh. "Akshay Venkatesh home page". Dept of Mathematics, Stanford University. Stanford University. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  15. ^ Fields Medal: Aussie genius Akshay Venkatesh wins 'Nobel Prize of mathematics', Michael Slezak, ABC News Online, 2018-08-02