6 ms·

Right? This is an odd choice. Google just built their massive new campus in Waterloo, and University of Waterloo is one of the best engineer schools and compute

by AdamSC1 10y ago

Right? This is an odd choice. Google just built their massive new campus in Waterloo, and University of Waterloo is one of the best engineer schools and computer science schools in the world, but they build this an hour away in a market that is much more expensive? An odd choice for sure.

unavoidable 10y ago
Geoff Hinton has deep roots with the rival University of Toronto and the surrounding ecosystem. His role and influence undoubtedly played a large part in this decision.
goodJobWalrus 10y ago
> Right? This is an odd choice. Why? UofT / Hinton are doing the AI here...
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
kitcar 10y ago
It's part research center, part marketing expense...
karpathy 10y ago
I wasn't too surprised. If you look at the Vector Institute website (http://vectorinstitute.ai/#people http://vectorinstitute.ai/#people), you'll see many additional well-known researchers involved, in addition to Geoff Hinton: David Duvenaud, Sanja Fidler, Brendan Frey, Roger Grosse, Geoffrey Hinton, Jordan Jacobs, Tomi Poutanen, Daniel Roy, Raquel Urtasun, Richard Zemel. there is a lot more momentum at UofT in this specific area of research, more than there is at Waterloo.
- astrodust 10y ago
  The University of Toronto is probably a lot better funded than Waterloo, too, has a massive student base, and has connections to other local universities that are also much larger than Waterloo like York and Ryerson. This selection will certainly put a dent in Waterloo's reputation, though with any luck they'll be able to capitalize on it in some capacity due to their proximity.
  - canistr 10y ago
    Sure, but Toronto and Waterloo have different reputations when it comes to Engineering and Computer Science. And if it really matters to you that Waterloo be involved, it's obviously worth pointing out that Pearl Sullivan (Dean of Waterloo Engineering) is on the Board of Directors for the Vector Institute anyway.
  - 029r0823jr 10y ago
    > This selection will certainly put a dent in Waterloo's reputation, though with any luck they'll be able to capitalize on it in some capacity due to their proximity. Highly doubt it. Waterloo is known for being mediocre/trash for CS research. People go to Waterloo to get into industry and not academics.
    - AvenueIngres 10y ago
      >Waterloo is known for being mediocre/trash for CS research Are you out of your mind? Do you know why Waterloo's School of Computer Science is named after David R. Cheriton? Yeah, the same DRC who made a major exit to Cisco, seed funded Google and hold an emeritus professorship at Stanford. A sizeable chunk of the people who published Spark have done their undergrad' or research masters at UW. Waterloo is definitely top-notch at the undergrad', perhaps less impressive than schools with bigger endowment at the research level, but far from being "trash". Tons of Waterloo profs are on the steering committees of major CS conferences (VLDB most notably). This comment is so puerile, it has to be written by some jealous and petty undergraduate student. Or so I hope.
    - batty 10y ago
      The most recent Times Higher Ed world university rankings for Computer Science put Toronto at 17, Waterloo at 23. The QS rankings give Toronto 11, Waterloo 26. You can debate the merit of rankings, but there's simply no credible way to argue that a school that routinely appears in in the world's top 30 is "mediocre/trash". Relatedly, Waterloo is in fact included in the Budget 2017 funding for Canada's overall AI initiative, of which this Vector stuff is a part: "In this budget, the government announced the creation of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which will promote collaboration between AI hubs Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Montreal, and Edmonton. It will be dedicating $125 million towards the launch of this strategy."
- eigenvector 10y ago
  Funnily enough, I was searching for an official Vector website (which isn't linked from either the Google or U of T announcements), tried Googling it and didn't find anything. So thanks for the link.
- username223 10y ago
  Hinton? Wow. After decades of going on about neural nets while most machine learning folks pursued other things, he's sure milking his 15 minutes of fame for all they're worth!
  - cicero19 10y ago
    He has achieved "rock-star" status in academia - quite deservingly. I wonder how much more he will contribute directly to the field during the remainder of his career. I suppose once you reach his level focusing on these grander initiatives will help create a legacy. Funny aside: I saw him walking up University Ave a few weeks ago. He was all bundled up in a coat and hood. It was cold out, but I also suspect he is becoming recognizable as a celebrity by some and prefers to keep a low profile. If I had recognized him earlier I probably would have tried to stop and chat.
anthonyc51 10y ago
Waterloo is good at churning out entry-level software engineers. UofT is much stronger for ML and research in general.
rand_r 10y ago
From the perspective of someone who's lived in both cities, it makes perfect sense. Toronto is a much much nicer place to live and it'll be way easier to attract talent to it. I wouldn't move back to Waterloo for any amount of money.
- trapperkeeper79 10y ago
  Why? I've never lived there but it seems one of the few places with tech jobs and houses that don't cost a million bucks.
  - bigmanwalter 10y ago
    Waterloo is great for backyards and parking. Toronto is great for urban living. Take your pick :)
  - obstacle1 10y ago
    There's nothing there. It's a suburban wasteland. Yes, you can buy a house there more cheaply than in Toronto. But is owning a pile of bricks worth living in a wasteland? Personal preference, as they say.
JabavuAdams 10y ago
Few people want to live in Waterloo when they could live in Toronto instead.

by AdamSC1 10y ago

unavoidable 10y ago

Geoff Hinton has deep roots with the rival University of Toronto and the surrounding ecosystem. His role and influence undoubtedly played a large part in this decision.

goodJobWalrus 10y ago

> Right? This is an odd choice. Why? UofT / Hinton are doing the AI here...

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

kitcar 10y ago

It's part research center, part marketing expense...

karpathy 10y ago

I wasn't too surprised. If you look at the Vector Institute website (http://vectorinstitute.ai/#people http://vectorinstitute.ai/#people), you'll see many additional well-known researchers involved, in addition to Geoff Hinton: David Duvenaud, Sanja Fidler, Brendan Frey, Roger Grosse, Geoffrey Hinton, Jordan Jacobs, Tomi Poutanen, Daniel Roy, Raquel Urtasun, Richard Zemel. there is a lot more momentum at UofT in this specific area of research, more than there is at Waterloo.

astrodust 10y ago
The University of Toronto is probably a lot better funded than Waterloo, too, has a massive student base, and has connections to other local universities that are also much larger than Waterloo like York and Ryerson. This selection will certainly put a dent in Waterloo's reputation, though with any luck they'll be able to capitalize on it in some capacity due to their proximity.
- canistr 10y ago
  Sure, but Toronto and Waterloo have different reputations when it comes to Engineering and Computer Science. And if it really matters to you that Waterloo be involved, it's obviously worth pointing out that Pearl Sullivan (Dean of Waterloo Engineering) is on the Board of Directors for the Vector Institute anyway.
- 029r0823jr 10y ago
  > This selection will certainly put a dent in Waterloo's reputation, though with any luck they'll be able to capitalize on it in some capacity due to their proximity. Highly doubt it. Waterloo is known for being mediocre/trash for CS research. People go to Waterloo to get into industry and not academics.
  - AvenueIngres 10y ago
    >Waterloo is known for being mediocre/trash for CS research Are you out of your mind? Do you know why Waterloo's School of Computer Science is named after David R. Cheriton? Yeah, the same DRC who made a major exit to Cisco, seed funded Google and hold an emeritus professorship at Stanford. A sizeable chunk of the people who published Spark have done their undergrad' or research masters at UW. Waterloo is definitely top-notch at the undergrad', perhaps less impressive than schools with bigger endowment at the research level, but far from being "trash". Tons of Waterloo profs are on the steering committees of major CS conferences (VLDB most notably). This comment is so puerile, it has to be written by some jealous and petty undergraduate student. Or so I hope.
  - batty 10y ago
    The most recent Times Higher Ed world university rankings for Computer Science put Toronto at 17, Waterloo at 23. The QS rankings give Toronto 11, Waterloo 26. You can debate the merit of rankings, but there's simply no credible way to argue that a school that routinely appears in in the world's top 30 is "mediocre/trash". Relatedly, Waterloo is in fact included in the Budget 2017 funding for Canada's overall AI initiative, of which this Vector stuff is a part: "In this budget, the government announced the creation of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which will promote collaboration between AI hubs Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Montreal, and Edmonton. It will be dedicating $125 million towards the launch of this strategy."
eigenvector 10y ago
Funnily enough, I was searching for an official Vector website (which isn't linked from either the Google or U of T announcements), tried Googling it and didn't find anything. So thanks for the link.
username223 10y ago
Hinton? Wow. After decades of going on about neural nets while most machine learning folks pursued other things, he's sure milking his 15 minutes of fame for all they're worth!
- cicero19 10y ago
  He has achieved "rock-star" status in academia - quite deservingly. I wonder how much more he will contribute directly to the field during the remainder of his career. I suppose once you reach his level focusing on these grander initiatives will help create a legacy. Funny aside: I saw him walking up University Ave a few weeks ago. He was all bundled up in a coat and hood. It was cold out, but I also suspect he is becoming recognizable as a celebrity by some and prefers to keep a low profile. If I had recognized him earlier I probably would have tried to stop and chat.

anthonyc51 10y ago

Waterloo is good at churning out entry-level software engineers. UofT is much stronger for ML and research in general.

rand_r 10y ago

From the perspective of someone who's lived in both cities, it makes perfect sense. Toronto is a much much nicer place to live and it'll be way easier to attract talent to it. I wouldn't move back to Waterloo for any amount of money.

trapperkeeper79 10y ago
Why? I've never lived there but it seems one of the few places with tech jobs and houses that don't cost a million bucks.
- bigmanwalter 10y ago
  Waterloo is great for backyards and parking. Toronto is great for urban living. Take your pick :)
- obstacle1 10y ago
  There's nothing there. It's a suburban wasteland. Yes, you can buy a house there more cheaply than in Toronto. But is owning a pile of bricks worth living in a wasteland? Personal preference, as they say.

JabavuAdams 10y ago

Few people want to live in Waterloo when they could live in Toronto instead.