Sept. 8, 2015
Professor Brendan Frey of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) on the basis of his exceptional contributions to Canadian intellectual life.
He and Professor Levente Diosady, of the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, are among 87 leading Canadian researchers named as Fellows for 2015. The Society’s mission is to recognize scholarly, research and artistic excellence, to advise governments and organizations, and to promote a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada. Fellowship in the RSC is one of the highest honours that Canadian researchers can achieve.
Over the past twenty years, Brendan Frey has played a key role in the emergence of new areas of research and application in machine learning and genome biology. He was one of the first researchers to successfully train a deep neural network, and he was a pioneer in inventing message-passing algorithms, which are now widely used. He is a co-inventor of the affinity propagation algorithm and of the factor graph notation for graphical models.
Frey also co-developed the long-sought-after ‘splicing code’ for determining how genes are expressed and introduced a new approach to understanding the genetics of disease. His technique has successfully identified previously unknown genetic determinants of major human disorders, including autism, certain cancers and spinal muscular atrophy. Frey recently cofounded the start-up Deep Genomics, developing deep learning technologies to predict the consequences of genomic changes.
Read more about how Frey is applying machine learning principles to decode the human genome.
He has served on the technical advisory board of Microsoft Research, holds seven patents and has served as an expert witness in patent litigation. Professor Frey is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. His many research awards include the NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Fellowship and the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Biological Computation.
“Professors Levente Diosady and Brendan Frey are trailblazing researchers who are expanding our understanding of what is possible and improving lives,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “They exemplify the very best of engineering innovation and the outstanding calibre of research conducted at our Faculty; we are extremely proud that they are being recognized for their extraordinary achievements.”
The new RSC Fellows will be formally inducted at a ceremony in Victoria, B.C. on Nov. 27, 2015.
More information:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997; marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca