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Ashley Llorens
Professional Background
Ashley Llorens is a highly accomplished technology leader with an extensive career focused on artificial intelligence and engineering. Currently serving as the Vice President, Distinguished Scientist, and Managing Director of Microsoft Research Outreach, Ashley is at the forefront of leading innovative research initiatives and advocating for responsible AI development. Her impressive career trajectory reflects a commitment to leveraging technology for societal benefit and advancing the field of computer engineering.
Before joining Microsoft, Ashley played a significant role at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), where she contributed to various leadership positions including Artificial Intelligence Strategy Lead and Chief of the Intelligent Systems Center. Throughout her tenure at APL, she was instrumental in advancing research programs that have had far-reaching impacts on AI and intelligent systems, thereby establishing herself as an expert in the field. Ashley’s expertise does not stop at research; she has also been influential within organizational structures, having served as Chair of the Johns Hopkins Diversity Leadership Council, emphasizing her dedication to promoting diversity and inclusion in STEM fields.
In addition to her leadership roles, Ashley contributed to the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence through her involvement with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This experience highlights her commitment to global collaboration and ethical considerations surrounding AI technology, making her a respected voice in international discussions.
Education and Achievements
Ashley’s educational background lays the foundation for her exceptional career. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and later a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the prestigious University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her rigorous academic training in these specialized fields equipped her with the technical skills and theoretical knowledge necessary to excel in various engineering and research roles.
In her early professional journey, she served as Section Supervisor, Assistant Section Supervisor, and Senior Research Scientist and Engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. These roles not only honed her technical acumen but also developed her capabilities in team leadership and project management. She gradually ascended to more senior positions, ultimately becoming the Chief of the Intelligent Systems Center, where she oversaw a range of significant research projects.
A notable achievement in Ashley's career includes her founder role at Wandering Soul Records, which showcases her innovative spirit beyond the conventional realms of technology, blending her passions for both music and engineering.
Achievements
- Leadership at Microsoft: As the Vice President, Distinguished Scientist, and Managing Director at Microsoft Research Outreach, Ashley orchestrates initiatives that push the boundaries of technology while ensuring responsible development of AI resources.
- Global Collaboration: Her role on the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence positioned Ashley as a thought leader in international AI discussions, advocating for policies that enhance the benefits of AI technologies for all.
- Promoting Diversity: As Chair of the Johns Hopkins Diversity Leadership Council, Ashley significantly contributed to fostering an inclusive environment within the institution, advocating for underrepresented groups in technology.
- Innovative Research: Ashley has made considerable advancements in intelligent systems, contributing to various high-profile research projects that address real-world challenges.
- Entrepreneurial Spirit: By founding Wandering Soul Records, she demonstrated her ability to combine her technical background with creative ventures, showcasing her multifaceted capabilities and innovative approaches to challenges.
These achievements underline Ashley Llorens's impact on both the technology and academic communities, marking her as an inspirational figure in engineering and artificial intelligence.
Highlights
Paige in collaboration with the team at Microsoft Research has just released Virchow, the first "million-slide" foundation model for clinical-grade cancer detection. This model exhibits state-of-the-art performance on identifying 16 types of cancer, including seven rare ones. Virchow was trained using billions of image tiles from 1.5 million diverse cancer slides, opening doors to new applications in cancer diagnosis previously deemed impossible due to limited data.
Kudos to the entire team for this contribution to the application of generative AI in healthcare. Their work, now published in Nature Medicine, marks a significant advancement in the field of cancer detection.
https://lnkd.in/gbxdKHwQ
Today we’ve announced a new research collaboration with Sanctuary AI.
This collaboration marks a key step forward in Microsoft's research in embodied #AI (EAI): foundation #models and other scalable capabilities for systems that interact with the virtual and physical world. This research could enable new classes of systems such as general-purpose #robots that combine physical capabilities like manipulation and mobility with cognitive capabilities such as reasoning under uncertainty.
Together with collaborators across industry and academia, we are advancing research directions including multimodal sensory #perception, spatially and temporally grounded #reasoning, efficient long-horizon #planning, goal-oriented behaviors, and #safe and #effective collaboration among humans and intelligent systems.
I can’t think of a better place than Microsoft to foster an EAI research ecosystem toward deeper scientific understanding, impactful applications, and new tools to #empower people across many fields of work.
