AI Research Stalwart, Former UT Austin Computer Science Chair, Prof. Bruce Porter, Launches Research Organization at SparkCognition

Two-Term Chairman of the CS Department at the University of Texas Joins Full-Time as Chief Science Officer to Launch AI Research Organization

SparkCognition has announced the creation of an artificial intelligence (AI) research organization with Prof. Bruce Porter’s move to full-time Chief Science Officer (CSO) of the leading AI company. Prof. Porter will bring 35 years of experience in research and academia at a top 10 ranked university for computer science to further drive internal innovation at SparkCognition. Prof. Porter’s full-time transition to SparkCognition comes two years after the initial announcement of his appointment as the company’s CSO.

The research group is formed to further solidify SparkCognition’s core value of advancing the science of artificial intelligence and will be made up of long-term research partners and initially about a dozen faculty and researchers from universities including the University of Texas at Austin, with many top minds in the field joining the growing team. Along with the longer-term group of researchers, there will be rotations on a quarterly or project basis made up of SparkCognition employees in its engineering, data science, and customer success departments. The employees will be selected per project based on their relevant areas of expertise and interests.

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“Establishing this research group ensures each member of the SparkCognition family knows they have a hand in building the future of AI,” said Prof. Bruce Porter, Chief Science Officer at SparkCognition. “The research team will offer SparkCognition customers access to leading edge capabilities, and provide employees the opportunity to work first-hand on special projects that may otherwise be outside of the scope of their daily job and will accelerate the science of the products they work with on a regular basis.”

The types of projects the research group anticipates to launch include technology that will contribute to SparkCognition’s current suite of products as well as frontier areas and solutions the company is exploring. Many of the projects will be research collaborations with SparkCognition’s most strategic clients while others will be internally funded. The SparkCognition research team will also offer technology transfer to other departments throughout the organization. Employees who are rotated into the team will be able to take the knowledge learned from their time with the research group back to their original departments. This will bring the results of the research projects into SparkCognition’s existing products, while accelerating the company’s publications and patents.

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“When I was a student in the University of Texas at Austin computer science department, it was a privilege to have Prof. Porter as one of my first professors. He not only served as a role model for me then, but I continuously learn from him to this day,” said Amir Husain, Founder and CEO at SparkCognition. “We are thrilled that Prof. Porter’s full-time transition and establishment of a research organization will bring unparalleled innovation to our clients and offer SparkCognition employees access to one of the foremost luminaries in the field.”

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