SFU School of Computing Science

06/03/2026

Last week was a big week for SFU Computing Science! We were proud to host the Canadian Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, & Vision (AI/CRV) 2026, welcoming researchers, students, and industry leaders from across Canada and around the world. Over five days, the conference brought together some of the brightest minds in AI, robotics, and computer vision to share research, spark new collaborations, and explore innovations with real-world impact.

From keynote talks to poster sessions and workshops, AI/CRV highlighted emerging research directions while encouraging interdisciplinary exchange. Attendees connected directly with speakers, dived deeper into research, and explored how these innovations can shape real-world impact.

Thank you to our sponsors, speakers, organizers, and attendees for making this year's conference a success. We're especially proud of the many SFU faculty, students, and researchers who helped shape the event through their research, leadership, and contributions behind the scenes. Events like AI/CRV reflect the strength of our community and our continued commitment to advancing impactful, interdisciplinary research.

Read more about AI/CRV 2026 here: https://ow.ly/bsi450Z7mZz

Simon Fraser University | SFU Applied Sciences

06/03/2026

🎓The countdown to convocation is ON! Just one week until we celebrate the incredible achievements of our future computer scientists!

Are you graduating, or cheering on someone who is? We can’t wait to see the smiles, excitement, and proud moments as we gather to celebrate on Wednesday, June 10!

Join us for the Faculty Reception immediately following the ceremony in ASB. Connect with fellow graduates, strike a pose at our photo booth, and enjoy some cake as we mark this special milestone together.

Congratulations, Class of 2026, we’re excited to celebrate with you!

Simon Fraser University | SFU Applied Sciences

06/02/2026

Interested in Reinforcement Learning?

Join us on June 11 from 11:30AM to 12:30PM for a lecture by Csaba Szepesvari, who is a team lead of DeepMind’s Foundation team, a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Alberta, and a Principal Investigator of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute.

In his talk, “Foundations and Frontiers in Reinforcement Learning Theory”, Szepesvari offers a high-level overview of core questions in RL theory, with a focus on generalization, sample efficiency, and computational tractability.

The Distinguished Lecture Series provides the opportunity to meet world-renowned researchers to learn about the latest leading-edge research.

No registration required, see you there!

Simon Fraser University | SFU Applied Sciences

05/22/2026

Congratulations to Ali Mahdavi-Amiri on being named a recipient of the CHCCS 2026 Early Career Researcher Award (Graphics)!

The CHCCS 2026 Early Career Researcher Award (Graphics) is presented to Dr. Ali Mahdavi-Amiri for his pioneering contributions to geometric modeling, digital fabrication, and generative 3D methods. This award recognizes his technical excellence, his commitment to educating the next generation of graphics researchers, and his burgeoning leadership as a world-class researcher in computer graphics.

Ali Mahdavi-Amiri is an Assistant Professor in the Simon Fraser University School of Computing Science and the Director of the Master of Science in Professional Computer Science program. He is also the Vice President of Research at MARZ VFX, a Canadian start-up focused on AI applications in visual effects. His research focuses on Computer Graphics, with specialties in Geometric Modeling, Digital Fabrication, Machine Learning, and Computer Vision. His work has been published in leading venues including SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH Asia, ACM Transactions on Graphics, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICLR, NeurIPS, and Computer Graphics Forum. His research has also been recognized through several prestigious awards, including the NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, J.B. Hyne Research Innovation Award, and Michael A. J. Sweeney Award.

Learn more about his research here: https://ow.ly/SiXe50Z3jPs

Simon Fraser University | SFU Applied Sciences

05/20/2026

The School of Computing Science is proud to host the Canadian Conference on AI, Robots & Vision (AI/CRV) 2026, a premier national event that brings together the AI and computer vision community to share cutting-edge research, spark collaboration, and drive innovation forward.

This prestigious event will bring together leading AI and robotics researchers, practitioners, and professionals from academia, industry, government, and non-governmental organizations. The conference consists of four days of main conference sessions and one day of workshops focused on various themes.

Through involvement in events like the AI/CRV, SFU’s School of Computer Science continues to strengthen its role as a hub for innovation, talent development, and leadership in artificial intelligence and computer vision.

This leadership is further reflected in the conference’s organization with Assistant Professor Ke Li and Associate Professor Mo Chen serving as General Chairs.

Learn more about AI/CRV 2026 here: https://ow.ly/b53U50Z2pj3

Simon Fraser University | SFU Applied Sciences

Each year, the Canadian Conference on AI, Robots & Vision (AI/CRV) brings together leading AI and robotics researchers, practitioners, and professionals from academia, industry, government, and non-governmental organizations, for a focused exchange of ideas, research, and collaboration. This year, t...

05/11/2026

We hosted the annual MPCS Innovation Prize Competition, and three teams took home the $2,500 prize for their outstanding projects!

Multi-Agent Banking Assistant with Fraud Analysis using ML and RAG
Jiarui Yu, Wendy Zhao, Sarah Hsu, and Dezhao Feng built a multi-agent banking assistant that automates fraud detection and customer inquiries by converting natural language requests into structured plans executed by specialized agents for SQL analysis, machine-learning based fraud scoring, and RAG-powered policy retrieval.

Cross-Language Video Text Replacement
Hebin Yao, Yunshan Feng, and Liliana Lopez built an end-to-end system that replaces scene text in videos with translated text using a multi-stage pipeline combining detection, translation, generation, and frame-consistent propagation.

Adversarial Evasion Attacks and Defenses for ML-Based Network Intrusion Detection Systems
Alyssa Rusk, Jessy Chahal, and Shadman Hossain evaluated adversarial vulnerabilities in machine learning-based network intrusion detection systems and showed that constraint-aware attacks can be mitigated through adversarial retraining while maintaining high accuracy on clean traffic.

A huge congratulations to all teams! We are incredibly proud of all groups for their hard work, creativity, and dedication in bringing their projects to life.

Simon Fraser University | SFU Applied Sciences | SFU Professional Computer Science

05/11/2026

Pleased to see such strong engagement at the inaugural BC AI Research-to-Adoption Summit, co-hosted by SFU School of Computing Science and Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia. The summit brought together leaders from academia, industry, and government to explore how British Columbia can strengthen its position within Canada’s rapidly evolving AI ecosystem.

Throughout the day, conversations focused not only on BC’s exceptional research strengths, but also on the importance of translating innovation into real-world adoption and impact. From health and climate to advanced manufacturing and digital technologies, BC is uniquely positioned to lead in applied AI through meaningful cross-sector collaboration.

The strong turnout and thoughtful discussions reflected the momentum building across the province’s AI community. Thank you to our speakers, panelists, partners, sponsors, students, and attendees for contributing to such an engaging and forward-looking event.

Looking forward to the continued collaborations and conversations sparked throughout the summit.

Simon Fraser University | SFU Applied Sciences

05/05/2026

Rethink the future of computing! 🌎

Join us on Wednesday, May 13, from 11:30AM to 12:30PM for a lecture by Gregory Abowd, Dean of the College of Engineering at Northeastern University, as part of the School of Computing Science’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

In his talk, “Ubiquitous Computing Considered Harmful: A Two-Act Story of Getting Things Right for the Wrong Reason”, Abowd reflects on the rise of ubiquitous computing, and why its environmental impact calls for a radical rethinking of how we design, use, and suppose of computational technologies.

This lecture is a chance to hear from a world-renowned computer scientist and engage with timely questions about technology, sustainability, and our collective future.

No registration required, see you there!

Simon Fraser University | SFU Applied Sciences

04/24/2026

SFU is proud to recognize the recipients of the 2025 Excellence in Teaching Awards.

Across disciplines, these educators are shaping student learning through inclusive, student-centred, and experiential approaches—creating meaningful learning environments that connect theory to practice and support students in developing as critical thinkers.

Congratulations to this year’s award recipients. 🥳

Learn more about their work: https://www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/news/2026/04/2025-awards-for-excellence-in-teaching.html

04/24/2026

Congratulations to the winners of the Outstanding Graduate Student Awards!

We are proud to recognize and celebrate the exceptional graduate students who have made a positive impact in the School of Computer Science through their teaching, leadership, and research.

Winners of the Outstanding Student Teaching Award:
Morteza Badali
Zining Mao
Qimin Chen

Winners of the Outstanding Student Research Award:
Jingtao Tang
Chris Careaga
Yang He

Winners of the Outstanding Student Leadership Award:
Yiming Zhang
Xingguang Yan
Kumar Abhishek

Thank you to all the graduate students and their advisors for your hard work and dedication.