Vector Institute

Maria and Anisha. Some of them you can see right now. So we'll be managing the entire process on behalf of Vector. On the AI engineering side, we have our technical lead Ananya and her teammate Franklin who will be supporting her. And the role is to overall support the students and companies on technical matters. And if you are selected as MLA, you will be working closely with these two teams throughout the cohort. In addition, we are also supported by HR

finance and the program governance team for any administrative and strategic support on the project. We can move on. So yeah, on this one, we will be starting with an overview of Vector Institute and the opportunities for students to engage with the industry. Moving on, Bushi to the next slide. Okay, so I'll start with an introduction of the Vector Institute. over the overall

If you look at the diagram on the right, there are sort of three national AI research hubs under CIFAR or the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, including Cuevector in Ontario, Amy in Alberta, and Mila in Quebec, Montreal specifically. So CIFAR supports the AI ecosystem by supporting and maintaining these centers of excellence and research talent development. So these initiatives overall are by about 200 million

of funding support till 10 years, till 2031. Now talking about Vector specifically, if you look at some of the notes, so Vector was set up in 2017 to push this mandate of accelerating Canada's AI positioning. Vector works across industries on AI application, adoption and commercialization in Canada. Yeah, I think this pretty much covers this. Now moving on.

Okay, now I'll be talking about some of the opportunities that students have to be associated with Vector Institutes. The overall focus is to help students with early career exploration and industry engagement. So starting with the Fastlane MLA program, which is what we'll be covering in more depth in the subsequent slides. It is a four month cohort based program. Students collaborate with SMEs, small and medium enterprises, to work on real world AI projects to deliver proof of concepts.

In addition, I mean there are a few other things, for example, industry innovation projects in which students can support industry as teaching assistants or technical expertise or use of PFC implementation. And these can also participate

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want to work with, you see their use cases and understand which one you want to work with. So you're also expected to research and design effective AI solutions aligned with the company's business goals, data readiness, and infrastructure constraints. And you're expected to break down complex problems into minimal milestones and, you know, plan for the whole project to ensure that everything is delivered on time. Of course, as an MLA too, you'll be expected to develop a proof of concept. And this will involve several steps, such as pre processing the data, developing, testing, and evaluating models and pipelines. But

deploying the solution, refining and optimizing it, and rapidly developing and delivering these solutions that are tailored to the company's use case. And finally, we have delivering business value, which means that you will engage in regular touch points with Vector, as I alluded to earlier in this presentation. You will have several learning sessions and office hours with Vector. And also I see

hand raised. So we'll have time for a Q&A down the line, Amir, so don't worry about that. And then you'll be expected to create project documentation, including a showcase day presentation and a final report to hand over to the company and Vector, of course. And of course, you will be expected to perform other duties as required to ensure that the project is successful. So for the minimum criteria, so the first one, and by the way, the image you see on the right is what you see in the application form, a sample of what you see in the application form.

But the first criteria is that your students are a recent graduate within one year of graduation from May 2026. So that means if you graduated before May 2025, unfortunately, you're not eligible for this. And you should have graduated from or you should have graduated from or you're currently studying in an AI related graduate program. So that is a master's or a PhD in Canada or a researcher working with vector faculty.

You also have some mission learning experience. I'll detail more about this in the next slide. Third thing is that you have to not have any additional commitment or a max of 20 hours per week if you're going to be part-time as an MLA. Fourth, of course, you're legally eligible to work in Canada during the program duration. So we do not offer visa sponsorships, just in case you're wondering. The fifth is you will...

reside in Canada during the duration of the cohort. And the next one, you did not participate as an MLA during the winter 2026 cohort, which is one of the cohorts that we're running right now. So I believe most of you might not have to worry about this. And the seventh one, you are not receiving IRAP and RC or MyTax funding during the program period. Now, diving deeper into these minimum criteria, specifically the education and experience,

requirements. So the first one, you're proficient in Python programming or similar programming language. You have knowledge of AI techniques related to Gen AI and agentec workflows. So for example, you know, prompt engineering techniques, retrieval, augmented generation, fine tuning, et cetera. You also have, it's also nice to have if you have some hands-on experience with leading machine learning frameworks and tools, which are commonly used in generative AI workflows, such as TensorFlow, Langchain, et cetera.

You have prior experience deploying AI solutions in real world or production environments. And lastly, you are familiar with any cloud infrastructure such as GCP, AWS, and Azure. Now I know that this might seem like a lot, but just if you feel like you meet some of these criteria, please still, we encourage you to apply. And we have here preferred qualifications. So you have a portfolio of ML or AI projects across academia or professional contexts. You have participated in rapid AI development settings such as hackathons.

You have published research or conferences in AI or conference papers. You have achieved or you've gotten some certifications related to ML or AI solution deployment or development. And you have received scholarships or awards and recognition of your great work in AI. Or you have experience with software development practices, tools, and workflows. Again, if you feel like you

meet some of these requirements, please still, we encourage you to apply. This is just a sample of what you would see when you go to the application page. The link will be shared down the line if it hasn't been shared already. And you'll be applying through ADP, which is our system we use to manage applications. So just basically to summarize the application process,

First, submit your ADP application. The deadline is February 16th. And please, we encourage you not to wait until the last day, which is February 16th. Submit as soon as you're ready and use the link which will be provided in the post-session email for you. After you've submitted your application, between January 27th and February 18th, selected applicants may be invited to complete a 10-minute interview on RibbonAI within...

48 hours. Afterwards, if you are longlisted by Vector, then you will receive a list of use cases, which you will rank according to your interest. Then next, you will prepare a pitch presentation. And if you're shortlisted in the previous step, you will receive a confirmation to pitch to at least one company. After this, after you've received this invitation, we're also going to have optional

preparation office hours. It's going to be about one to two hours to help answer your questions regarding preparing your pitch to the company. And then afterwards, you're going to pitch your solution. And this will be done. You will be asked to book an available slot. And then you'll pitch to the company that you chose during the use case selection. Though I guess the most, the highest rank for you mostly. And finally, you're expected to receive an offer if you're successful in the previous step by April 14th, if you're qualified and the company is happy with you. So please know that these dates here are tentative. They're subject to slight changes. So if maybe you haven't heard back from us,

within a day or two. Don't worry, we're still working on that. We'll update you as soon as we have an update. So I think we can open up the floor to questions now. So I see the chat is very, very busy. So, yeah, feel free to unmute yourself or send your messages in the chat and the FAQ section. And then we'll be...

Yeah, it was an answer. Please use hands. And while we wait for hands, Safi, maybe you and I can moderate some of the questions. So I'm going to start in the chat. I saw a question about if the program is open to undergrads with previous research experience. So Vector's mandate is to prioritize the graduate experience. So we will be prioritizing grad students with either enrolled in or recent grad from a Canadian university in a related subject area.

hopefully that answers that. Anything to add on that? No. Okay. Judy, should we start from, that was, I think, Nargis' question. Yeah, so the next one was, until February 16th, is it a rolling application process? So maybe there's steps within that I think Uche shared that will be shared with you in a rolling way, like the AI interview thing that you mentioned.

But we will try to look at as many applications up until that date. Yeah. We typically are able to honor up until the deadline. Yeah. Anything to add on that before we move on to the next question? Fine. Just to know that the process of the evaluation itself, it also...

prioritize people that are applied earlier. So if you can apply early, that's even better. It's not a huge wait over there, but it is a factor, a very light, small factor. Don't just, yeah, just like in general, don't wait until the last minute. I remember in a prior year, there was a web-related shutdown, like the day before the last day. So there was a lot of

worries over that. So, yeah. Okay. So, yes, there's a question about vector-recognized master's applicants. So, yes, master's in health informatics should be on the list. I'm not sure where that list is, but I would say a related topic is fine. Yeah. Just an additional context on that, Julie. If you are studying a

in any graduate program or graduate recently from master's or PhD that is related to computer science or AI or machine learning, that's one way. If you are working on a project, your main focus is on something about AI, even if it is a, let's say, master in physics, but you are working on AI and machine learning, that's also something that we consider eligible for the program.

So health informatics is very relevant, but generally for anyone whose program may be a little bit, not specifically about AI, but your project and your thesis or your research focus is mainly on AI in that specific field that you are getting master's or PhD program. You are still eligible. I see a question about if a project is ongoing but can't show it on a resume or GitHub, is that okay when applying?

Yeah, I mean, if you worked on it and you want to list it, that's fine. I don't see any issues with that. You could also, just to add to that, you could also add that to your cover letter. Just mention, talk about it, give some details about what you've worked on so far in regards to that project. Yeah. Graduated in December 2024. Can he still apply? I believe the answer is no, because the...

I think the latest accepted grad date, earliest accepted graduation date is May 2025. So because this cohort will begin in May 2026, so we accept them until one year before. This is a standard thing across all our programs and internships. Okay. I don't really know what... There was another question. Would you consider a current GPLM students of university?

I'm not sure what GPLM means, but if you have relevant machine learning experience and you think that you think it would be a good fit, you can definitely submit that. Maybe this is a question about the legal status that you have, but please ask your question and try to get more detail in the chat. We will provide that answer later once you end it. Yeah. Okay, so another related question. Master's of computer science, no specialization, but worked as a research assistant, published papers,

Yes, please apply. That works. Okay, next question. I'm in the AI postgraduate program at George Brown. Do I have any chance of applying? Postgraduate, does that mean a graduate program? Judy, for this one, George Brown does not offer a master's degree program, and this postgraduate is not eligible for college.

the Fastlane M&A program. Interesting. All right. Going into the next question in the chat. Graduate certificates, are they allowed? It's the same question like the one asked before. So similar to George Brown, if it is a graduate or postgraduate certificates, that's not eligible for the professor. There is an additional question, I think, on the same one.

Would I be eligible to apply for this program or is it strictly to my, okay, so that's strictly to master's and PhD, that's correct. Yeah, so the deck will be shared after the webinar, as well as the recording. Graduated from non-Canadian university, but but just applied to master's in Canada, can this person apply? My understanding is it would need to be from a either currently enrolled or from a recently graduated from a Canadian university.

Is that right, Safi? Yes, that is totally correct. And if you applied and you didn't get any admission yet, you are not part of the current cohort of that program, you will not be eligible. But the person asking this question, you can certainly look into the next cohort. There should be one starting in fall that maybe you'll be eligible for.

with this masters. All right. Um, so what's the ribbon AI interview about? So the ribbon, please, please, um, amend my description. If there's anything you want to add, ribbon AI interview is a 10 to 15 minute AI interview, um, that helps, um, better understand your experience holistically from your resume. So you will be talking to an AI agent and it will ask you, pull some stuff from your resume, ask you about it, just like in a regular interview.

Um, and yeah, that's about it. It's probably, it's our first layer of screening that. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Judy. And just for clarification, the questions that you, they will ask you is about the minimum requirement. So it's not going to ask you like, it's not a technical interview or, or something like that. It's basically about the minimum requirement and also the preferred qualification, just as Judy mentioned, just to.

Find out how fit you are for the program. Yeah. All right. Yeah, so there's more questions about in the process of enrolling. So when you apply, you're either an enrolled student or you're not. If you're not yet, but you are in the process, you may qualify for next cohort. Okay, so...

Some questions are repeat questions. Where is the application portal? So in the post-session email that you will receive, there is a link to an ADP application portal. So you can submit. Applications will only be accepted through that portal. And also, if you go on just Google Victor Institute careers page on the web, the first one you'll see at this time will be the machine learning associate. That's the same link you can go ahead and...

and go for that live version there. - Yeah. All right. Whether, wanted to ask whether participating companies include organizations from the energy sector. It's pretty diverse. We're in the process of trying to understand the participating companies now. So it depends on in that window, which companies are participating in the program, but that won't be confirmed until

probably in the mid to late spring. Yeah. All right. There are a lot of questions. I'm going to skip over the ones that I've kind of answered already. So if you feel like you have a relevant degree or relevant experience match with a degree, then you can apply. I think I'm going to skip over the next couple of questions related to this. Yes, Master's and PhD can apply.

Um, okay, I'm going to skip over the next couple of questions because they're all the same. Or in the same vein. Um, I believe it does have to be a recent Canadian school, though. Um, okay, so question about work format. Is this internship offered in person, remotely, or in a hybrid format? This really depends on the company you end up. matching to and selecting and pitching for.

If the company that ends up offering you a role is okay with remote, which we do see majority of the time, then it will be remote. However, we also see it's fully up to the company's choice in their typical employee workforce format. So we've seen five days in office, we've seen hybrid, and we've seen remote. So this is something that you can learn more about and discuss when you're at the pitch phase, the matchmaking pitch way phase that Uche is speaking to.

Okay, I don't think I see any other questions related to this. Yes, I know that there's other multiple internship roles OpenNet Vector. They all have different sort of job descriptions. So the machine learning associates is usually a bit more applied and a bit more technical. You can apply to more than one. All right, okay, going to the Q&A. Yeah, we have someone raising their hands. I think Sanat.

Okay, yes, let's go to the hand. Who is it? Okay, I'm going to allow this person to talk. Hello. Hi, can you hear me? Yep. Hi, it's Sana Sharif. I am doing my PhD in electrical and computer engineering, but doing my main specialization is in wireless communication, where I'm trying to find some optimization algorithms and applying, of course, the AI and ML algorithms for my research. I have applied for MLA for last cohort, and I have been longlisted. But after that, I didn't hear it back. So I was like, I should ask you guys that is there any way

to improve our application and Ribbhan AI is a new thing. I never heard of it, never participated in it. And I'm like, I received Ribbhan AI like a link for another position at Vector. So I'm just going to do the interview right after this session. But the thing is, I'm not clear how to do it. And it's written that it will not affect the selection process. But still, I want to be part because during end of COVID, I

took a program from Vector which was machine learning for caregivers. It was online but it was really helpful and after that I have been applying for different internships. It's not about that I have worked all the time like simulations and research but if we come to applied work then it gives a lot of exposure and lots of confidence in our research too. So I hope you got my question that I'm trying to be in Vector family so that we can have a better confidence. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks, Anna. So I guess you're familiar with our process. The process does change cohort to cohort, but it's great to hear that you were long-listed in the last cohort. Yes, we do a couple of rounds of long-listing and short-listing, some through initial screening, some through companies will review the applications and select the candidates they want to proceed with with subsequent interviews. So just due to volume, we are not able to notify everyone of the details at each stage. So that timeline that Uche shared earlier is a good reference for when you hear about information.

And if there is questions beyond that, then you can reach out to our summer MLA summer email and ask those questions. In terms of eligibility, so it will be a brand new application per cohort. If you meet the eligibility and your experience, which sounds pretty, pretty, like a good match, then you could try to apply again. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, were there any questions that were stand out in the Q&A that you feel like we should bring to the surface? Saathie? I think a new question. As a non-binary research in the field, I'm interested in the industry culture. How does the Webter Institute for this program support gender diverse students? Again, are there specific

initiatives to help navigate the tech industry. So Judy, maybe you can talk to the other general tech industry navigation if you want to. Specifically for this program, we are an equal opportunity employer program at Wetter Institute and we encourage applications from non-binary and other diverse gender diverse groups. There are no specific quota or no kind of

weight that we add to that application at this moment, and it's because we are working with a lot of different companies. We're actually hiring and seconding these emilies to the companies, which complicates the process if all those criteria are included. But generally speaking, we're encouraged to non-binary researchers and other diverse gender groups. Any suggestion from the team on generally navigating tech industry?

I think the question is specific initiatives to help navigate the tech industry at Vector. I think this is a question actually. I don't have the best line of sight in. So if you are interested, you can reach out to the internship roles posted. There should be a contact email for the internship coordinators. They might have because they deal with a lot more early careers, types of questions. They might be able to help navigate you. But.

Yes, I think that's all I have to say on that. All right. - There is another question from Naim. Can you repeat the MyTax eligibility point? Is it about scholarship or funding? Which way do you want to go back to the slide of MyTax? - It's probably the requirement that you might not have already

used the mytex budget for other things while we are exploring it as part of this program which means if you are currently receiving any mytex or item or other funding because some of the companies may receive funding as part of mytex funding for this program so if you're already receiving it you cannot get two mytex funding for example at the same time or two government to add to government funding and double government funding at the same time and and that's the requirement that you are already if it's not a strict requirement that we will disqualify you but it's a requirement that you need to disclose that so that we will take care of it if if possible if not

then that's an option that is inevitable. Yes. I think, thank you for putting up the page, Uche, on minimum criteria. I think these slides will be shared with you, so you might want to note this and note the timeline slide. But I don't, I think you've exhausted some of the questions. do have another hand so I will I will pass

Hi, can you hear me? Yep. Hi. So I wanted to ask a question about the program. I graduated from my master's degree in August, and I just finished an eight-month research internship here at Vector. So I was interested to know if you would still encourage somebody with that background to apply for the MLA internship program as opposed to...

this associate applied machine learning specialist position that I saw on the careers website. Yeah, I think both of those roles would be very of interest to you and make sense for you coming from that, coming from the, I think you were a research intern, you mentioned an eight-month research intern. Both of these roles are along a bit more of a technical nature. Um

The difference between the two of them, I think it's more up to your preferences. So the associate machine learning specialist, I'm not the most familiar with the needs of that role, but it would be supporting our AI engineering team as an intern. And so it's a more internal to vector role. The machine learning associates program is a you are seconded to a small and medium enterprise. So you could be seconded to a company working in on agentic systems on on.

on something applied in the manufacturing sector. And so you'll be working in a very structured way with technical leadership from that company to build out their proof of concept. And so there is a very clear project structure and overall scope in terms of building out AI proof of concept with the cohort topic and the MLA being integral to the full design, project creation, building, testing, and later on ownership over that piece.

And so that would be how I would raise the differences between those roles, but they are both among the more technical, open opportunities at Vector right now. So I understand that there's a difference between responsibilities for these two roles. I was just wondering, is there any, like, for the MLA program, there's this meeting how to answer questions. Are there any, like, other Zoom calls or meetings that we can know more about the associate program?

Yeah, I wish there was, Nadia. I don't think there are for Vectors internship programs in general. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. But in general, I think this program will be more, I mean, focused towards industry, while the other program, you'll have more technical guidance. So that's the difference because, I mean, once you're in the industry, and especially for the smaller companies, you may not have a lot of technical support, which will be given by Vector. But there, I mean, if you look at the Vector opportunity, it will be a lot more support on the technical side. So that will be the key difference. However, I mean, you'll get a better exposure with respect to an industry, actual real problem. We have technical leads from the AI engineering team in supporting each of the

machine learning associates as well in the companies. So I would say that's pretty on par. I think it's just scope wise, you have like, it's a standard scope across all MLA roles. So I think technical guidance is probably a little bit more similar, but again, I'm not the most familiar with the engineering team and how they do their internships. So you can reach out to the internship course coordinator's general line if you have questions.

Okay, thank you. All right, next question. Mary. Yes, question from Mary. Sorry, I think my question was answered. Thank you so much. All right, thank you. Okay, so I think we've exhausted the questions. I think with a couple minutes left, I can speak a little bit to what...

Being a machine learning associate will look like over the summer months. But you will start off in the first two or three weeks to identify, understand the use case, understand how it adds value to the company, where the opportunities are, and create a project plan, a 16-week project plan, because this is a four-month program. And so you will be fully in charge of breaking down your work into sprints on a weekly and bi-weekly basis.

You will have a technical contact, main point of contact technical lead from the company side, as well as a technical specialist from our AI engineering and our team side to try to support any guiding questions and help maintain the pace of that structure. And then you will also meet with your facilitators. We call them technical specialists on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and be able to access support from our technical specialist office hours.

And then the goal over the 16 weeks is very focused in working towards either a completed proof of concept or something in production. It really depends on the state and readiness, technical readiness of the company that you're matched to. But it's always really, really exciting to see all the different interesting use cases and a lot of them implemented in the companies that work with you. And as Uchi mentioned earlier,

The companies do, I think we see this usually in one in three or one in four companies, but it's not an updated stat. Companies do often look at the machine learning associates they work with over their four months and decide we may want to work with them further and onboard them for a similar or extended or different role beyond the program. So hopefully that gives you an idea of the structure and the focus of the program.

it's really with the intention of giving students some applied experience and then also helping SMEs with their envisioned project concepts. Okay, I will stop talking. I don't think there's any more new unique questions. We, this is, I think I've answered this a few times. This is going to be for students who are in Canada at the time, who graduated from a Canadian university. Um,

and have the appropriate permits to be able to work in that time frame. If anyone on my team wants to add to that, Oje, Safi, please do. Let me read this question from, again, Roshinda. For international students, is a separate co-op internship work permit required, or can a full-time internship be completed using only valid study permit during the summer term.

So the key here is, I don't, the legal requirement and the type of permits, like there are too many of them. I can't comment on this unless you provide the specific data, what they have. But generally speaking, if you are eligible to work for, let's say, 20 hours or 40 hours, you know that and it's written there on your license. If you are eligible to work,

that many hours that you're interested to be part of the program you're most likely to be eligible here as well and please note this is not strictly an internship or co-op it's like a temporary position for four months that you're working as a machine learning associate so it's not an intern it's not a it's not a co-op by its nature so just an implied kind of relation yeah i think on this piece regarding permits um

communication is going to be very key. So as you start entering the final stages, when we get into sort of the months of March, April, and you will know because you will be participating in those sessions that Uche talked about earlier. If you know that maybe you have a permit thing, work permit related thing or PGWP thing, related thing that will mean you have to delay a week start or two or three days start, then communication really early on at that point will be able to help us work with our HR team to accommodate for some of that. So that's going to be really, really important. So that's going to be really, really important.

One last final note is regarding the email. So the way this recruitment cycle is, things are going to be on turnaround, in pretty short turnaround. And so again, I would encourage you to look at the milestones and timeline that Uche shared earlier and have an idea of that. And because if these messages are coming to you on a Thursday or a Friday and they enter your spam box and you don't see that, and you miss a deadline for maybe like the Monday or Tuesday, that becomes really hard to accommodate later on. So please, please do have a look out for that.

But in general, it does sound like we have a lot of incredible, incredible people interested. And so I'm really excited for this applicant pool and really looking forward to seeing your applications. Yeah, so there's a question here. Are there resources where we can find out how to prepare for the Ribbon AI interview? And Ruchey sounds like he's answering that. Yeah. I just mentioned that it's going to be focused on the information that you have in your resume.

Yeah, I should also say, I may have heard this incorrectly, maybe you can correct me, Safi, but you can do multiple attempts on the Ribbon AI interview, I believe, and it should only take your latest attempt. Yeah, so you can do it multiple times. Alright, so we are just on time. We're going to wrap this up. Please look out for the post-session email, it will include this slide deck, and it will include the application link, so please review that thoroughly. We really look forward to your participation. The email line program, I think, is a really cool one in how it works with all of these different startups, and in a very, very structured way, both from a technical and project capacity from Vector, as well as the company. So yeah, best of luck. Thank you so much. Thank you.

I'm going to stop this recording.

did it see it stopped.