Friday Seminar: QRA Labs
AIDA and Jodrey School of Computer Science
SEMINAR PRESENTATION
Friday, March 17, 2017
2:30 PM
Carnegie Hall 113
Dean Tsaltas – CEO, QRA
Mike Traynor – Software Engineer, QRA
Neural Nets and the Meanings of Words
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QRA is an engineering software company that specializes in early stage design
verification. Our QVscribe product helps engineers write better requirements by
using natural language processing. QRA is currently investigating how deep
learning might be used to improve QVscribe.
This talk will provide a high level look at neural networks and what they can learn
about natural language. Specifically, we will look at getting networks to represent
the semantics and syntax of words. Expect live demonstrations! No prior machine-learning
knowledge is necessary; this is intended to be a fun overview of neural nets
and their applicability to NLP.
QRA is an exciting place to work. We have some tough problems to solve and a fun
environment in which to solve them. If you think you'd like to help us - and particularly
if you enjoyed the content of this talk - then you should get in touch. You can contact
Dean Tsaltas directly at dean.tsaltas@qracorp.com.
About the Speakers
Dean Tsaltas is co-founder and CTO of QRA Corp. Leading the technology strategy and implementation, Dean has worked with some of the most ambitious and successful system integrators in the world to enable QVTrace to be an incredibly useful tool for any engineering team.
Dean has delivered streamlined strategies to companies ranging from burgeoning tech startups to Fortune 500 tech giants. He has authored numerous books and articles on software development, and teaches children how to program in his spare time. Dean holds a master’s degree, with distinction, in Software Engineering from Oxford University, UK.
Mike Traynor is a software engineer at QRA Corp. Mike graduated from Dalhousie with a Bachelors in Cognitive Psychology and Religious Studies, and went on to receive a Masters in Computer Science with a focus on deep learning and neural networks from Dalhousie in 2016. Mike has been with QRA for almost two years, and is working to expand their NLP techniques to include deep learning.