TLDR: The University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering has appointed Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi and Dr. Sirisha Rambhatla to new O’Donovan Chair positions, focusing on trustworthy and ethical AI research. These five-year appointments, starting September 1, come with $100,000 in annual research support each, aiming to address the critical need for safe, reliable, and human-aligned AI systems.
Waterloo, ON – The University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering has announced the appointment of two distinguished faculty members, Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi and Dr. Sirisha Rambhatla, to updated Val O’Donovan Chair positions. These strategic appointments underscore the Faculty’s commitment to advancing artificial intelligence through ethical research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and student engagement, particularly in the crucial areas of trust and safety in AI.
Effective September 1, Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi will assume the O’Donovan Chair in Trustworthy AI, while Dr. Sirisha Rambhatla will hold the O’Donovan Chair in Efficient, Safe and Adaptive AI. Both are five-year appointments, each accompanied by substantial annual research support of $100,000, totaling $200,000 annually for these pivotal roles.
Dr. Karimi, an assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering and a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute, leads the Collaborative Human-AI Reasoning Machines (CHARM) Lab. His research is dedicated to developing AI systems that facilitate safe, reliable, and human-aligned decision-making. Drawing on extensive industry experience from tech giants like Meta, Google Brain, and DeepMind, Dr. Karimi’s work focuses on critical areas such as causal inference, explainable AI, and neuro-symbolic methods. The CHARM Lab’s initiatives aim to enhance human-AI collaboration in sensitive fields like healthcare and finance by identifying issues, correcting errors, and integrating insights from social sciences and behavioural economics.
Dr. Rambhatla, an assistant professor in management science and engineering with cross-appointments in systems design engineering and computer science, leads Waterloo’s Critical Machine Learning (ML) Lab. Her appointment to the O’Donovan Chair in Efficient, Safe and Adaptive AI highlights the university’s broad approach to addressing the multifaceted challenges of modern AI.
Dr. Hassan Baaj, the Faculty of Engineering’s associate dean of research and external partnerships, emphasized the significance of these appointments. “AI is profoundly transforming every aspect of engineering,” Dr. Baaj stated. “We saw an opportunity to evolve the O’Donovan Chair into two distinct leadership roles — one focused on trust and human-AI collaboration, and one on critical real-world decision-making — reflecting both the urgency and complexity of this moment in history.”
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These appointments reinforce the University of Waterloo’s position at the forefront of AI research, particularly in developing responsible and impactful AI technologies for the future.
