Mahmoud Assran (Mido)
We're all here on this earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for, I have no idea.
I am currently a Research Scientist at Meta in Fundamental AI Research (FAIR). Previously, I obtained my PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from McGill University and Mila, the Quebec AI Institute, where I was primarliy advised by Michael Rabbat, and graciously supported through a Vanier Scholarship. My objective is to enable computers to develop common sense perceptual models of our world — to that end, my current research focuses on advancing self-supervised representation learning and low-shot prediction. In the past, I worked on parallelizing deep reinforcement learning, and on large-scale optimization.
Media Coverage. My research on self-supervised learning has been featured in several media outlets, including La Presse, Reuters, CNBC, and Fortune. I was also fortunate to have a featured profile piece in the ICCV daily magazine during my PhD.
Community Service. I served as a reviewer for numerous academic conferences and journals, including Science, TMLR, Automatica, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, AAAI, and several IEEE Transactions. I also served as an expert reviewer for ICML and NeurIPS, two of the premier conferences in the field of AI, and received Best Reviewer awards at NeurIPS'20, ICML'20, ICML'21, and AAAI'20 during my PhD.
Youth Education
I am also interested in educational learning theories and am the founder of YETE, a Canadian not-for-profit advancing youth education by fostering a self-guided constructivist approach to learning. We work with students and teachers, in-class, roughly once a week, for their entire semester, and have collaborated with the English Montreal School Board and the Kahnawà:ke Education Center. Visit our page to learn more.
Recent Talk
How is it possible to think new thoughts? What is creativity and can science explain it?
This page is currently out of date. For a full list of up-to-date publications visit google scholar.
MSN
Masked Siamese Networks for Label-Efficient Learning
PAWS
Semi-Supervised Learning of Visual Features by Non-Parametrically Predicting Views Assignments with Support Samples
Asynchronous Gradient Push
Asynchronous Gradient Push: Fast, Robust, and Scalable Multi-Agent Optimization
SuNCEt
Supervision Accelerates Pretraining in Contrastive Semi-Supervised Learning of Visual Representations
Nesterov Acceleration Theory
On the Convergence of Nesterov's Accelerated Gradient Method in Stochastic Settings
Asynchronous Optimization Review
Advances in Asynchronous Parallel and Distributed Optimization
GALA
Gossip-based Actor-Learner Architectures for Deep Reinforcement Learning
Stochastic Gradient Push
Stochastic Gradient Push for Distributed Deep Learning
Large-Scale Multi-Agent Optimization
An Empirical Comparison of Multi-Agent Optimization Algorithms
Reproducibility is a minimum necessary condition for a finding to be believable and informative.
Open-source code accompanying peer-reviewed research papers.
I have been salesman of the month for 13 of the last 12 months. You heard me right. I did so well last February that Corporate gave me two plaques in lieu of a pay raise.
Vanier Scholarship
NSERC — $150,000
The Vanier CGS plays an important role in fulfilling the Government of Canada’s Science and Technology strategy to promote the development and application of leading-edge knowledge and attract and retain the world’s top graduate students.
Alexander Graham Bell Scholarship
NSERC — $105,000
Awarded to the top-ranked doctoral students in Canada, to ensure a reliable supply of qualified personnel to meet the needs of Canada’s knowledge economy.
Les Vadasz Doctoral Fellowship
McGill University— $48,000
Established in 2006 by the Vadasz Family Foundation to recruit outstanding students intothe Faculty of Engineering’s doctoral degree program.
McGill Engineering Doctoral Award
McGill University— $72,000
This award aims to recruit the best and brightest new doctoral students from all over the world.
Graduate Mobility Award
McGill University
To support student engagement in international research experiences outside of McGill.
Undergraduate Student Masters Award
McGill University— $35,000
Competitive recruitment funding to assist in attracting and retaining high caliber undergraduate students with demonstrated academic excellence, as well as applied research experience, into the Faculty’s research Graduate Programs.
Graduate Excellence Fellowship
McGill University
Nomination for this award is at the discretion of the Department or School. Selection forthis award is based on the excellence of a student’s academic and research record.
Rhodes Scholar Finalist
University of Oxford
One of 12 finalists selected for three available Rhodes Scholarships, an international post-graduate scholarship to study at the University of Oxford.
Ian McLachlin Prize for Entrepreneurship in Engineering
McGill University
Established in 1998 by Ian McLachlin, B.Eng. 1960, to encourage Engineering students to undertake Entrepreneurial Studies. Awarded by the Faculty of Engineering.
Dean's Honour List
McGill University
The Dean’s Honour List for undergraduate students recognizes those who rank in the top 10% of the Faculty of Engineering.
Les Vadasz Award in Engineering
McGill University
Awarded annually, by the Faculty of Engineering, to a student based on high academic standing with a preference given to an interest in, and contribution towards, engineering sustainability and/or design.
Accenture Prize in Engineering and Science
McGill University
Awarded by the Faculty Scholarships Committees, upon recommendation of the respective departments, on the basis of academic excellence and demonstrated leadership qualities.
Faculty of Engineering Scholarship
McGill University
Awarded based on academic achievement to students in the top 5% of the Faculty. Granted by the Faculty of Engineering ScholarshipsCommittee based on good academic standing.
Undergraduate Student Research Award
NSERC
Undergraduate Student Research Award, granted by the university and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, based on the student’s academic record, research aptitude, and merit.
John Howard Ambrose Award
McGill University
Awarded by the Faculty of Engineering Scholarships Committee on the basis of merit to engineering students.
IEEE Signal Processing Society Winter School Scholarship
IEEE Signal Processing Society
Awarded by the IEEE Signal Processing Society on the basis of merit to engineering students.
John Green Memorial Award
McGill University
For the student with highest standing in the penultimate year of Honours Electrical Engineering. Awarded on the recommendation of the Department.
1st Place Waterloo Hardware Hackathon
Google, O'Reilly, PCH — $55,000
(Awarded $5000 cash scholarship and $50,000 in product services; e.g., manufacturing, incorporation fees, etc.). Developed a solution and a prototype to provide Internet access to developing communities by utilizing a distributed data mesh with an offline search engine.
Christie Steinmetz Award
McGill University
Awarded to a second year student in Electrical Engineering on the basis of academicperformance and demonstration of exceptional promise as an engineer. Awarded on therecommendation of the Department.
McCaig Family Scholarship in Engineering
McGill University
Awarded by the Faculty of Engineering to undergraduate students who have completed at least one year of the B.Eng. program on the basis of high academic standing.
A hobby is only fun if you don't have time to do it.
Soccer
I love to play soccer and had the honour of representing the province of Saskatchewan at the Canada Games and Western Canada Games, broadcast on TSN. I also played several preseasons with the McGill University Men’s Varsity Soccer Team.
Tennis
I also love to play tennis and competed at the Rogers Junior Nationals competition twice, on one occasion as the second seed from the province of Saskatchewan, and on the second occasion as the first seed. I am a certified Tennis Canada instructor now.
Food
I'm kind of a health nut. I love to eat, and explore different foods (especially anything green). Here's one of my favourite restaurants in Montreal.
Musique
When it comes to music I don't discriminate by genre... I listen to just about everything! I also play the guitar and bass clairinet (though not for a while). In my youth I had the honour competing at MusicFest Canada "The Nationals," on a couple of occasions.