Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Co-Director
Dr. Alán Aspuru-Guzik is a Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Computer Science at the University of Toronto, and the director of the Acceleration Consortium, a U of T-based strategic initiative that aims to gather researchers from industry, government, and academia around pre-competitive research topics related to the lab of the future. Professor Aspuru-Guzik is also the Canada 150 Research Chair in Theoretical and Quantum Chemistry and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute. He is a CIFAR Lebovic Fellow co-directing the Accelerated Decarbonization program. Alán also holds a Google Industrial Research Chair in Quantum Computing. He is a world-leading scientist and pioneer in the fields of clean energy materials, computational chemistry, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and autonomous experimentation. Professor Aspuru-Guzik is interested in energy-storage, light-harvesting and light-emission materials as some recent applications of the technology he develops with his research group. He has been a co-founder of Kyulux, now part of Calculario, Zapata Computing as well as Kebotix, which focuses on autonomous experimentation for materials discovery.
Lisa Strug, Co-Director
Dr. Strug is a Professor in the Departments of Statistical Sciences, Computer Science and cross-appointed in Biostatistics at the University of Toronto and is a Senior Scientist in the program in Genetics and Genome Biology at the Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Strug is the Academic Director of the Data Sciences Institute, a tri-campus, multi-divisional, multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary hub for data science activity at the University of Toronto and affiliated Research Institutes. The DSI’s goal is to accelerate the impact of data sciences across the disciplines to address pressing societal questions and drive positive social change. Dr. Strug holds several other leadership positions at the University of Toronto including the Director of the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute Ontario Region, and at the Hospital for Sick Children as Associate Director of the Centre for Applied Genomics. She is a statistical geneticist and her research focuses on the development of novel statistical approaches to analyze and integrate multi-omics data to identify genetic contributors to complex human disease. She has received several honours including the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Genome Data Science and Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s 2023 Senior Scientist Research Award.
Amanda Mohabeer, Program Manager
Dr. Amanda Mohabeer is the Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Program Manager. She completed her PhD at the University of Toronto in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, where she studied cardiovascular diseases. Her previous roles include working in research operations and awards administration. She also has a strong background in teaching and trainee development. Dr. Mohabeer was the recipient of the 2021 Avrum Gotlieb Award for Curriculum Development and Teaching Excellence in Training. She has completed three teaching and learning certificates, including the Adult Learning and Development Certificate by OISE. As Program Manager, Amanda is responsible for developing a diverse array of training and professional development opportunities for the Schmidt Fellows.