ADAPT Researcher is Youngest Ever IBM ‘Master Inventor’
Posted on: 30 November 2015
Haytham Assem, PhD researcher at the ADAPT Centre for Digital Content Technology, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre led out of Trinity College Dublin’s School of Computer Science and Statistics, has become the youngest person ever – at the age of 26 – to be given a ‘Master Inventor’ title by IBM.
Master Inventors are role models for the technical and scientific community, actively inventing with a significant number of filed patents, mentoring other new inventors, and using their expertise to elevate the profile of Intellectual Property and its value to IBM and individual inventors.
“We were delighted but not surprised to hear the news. Haytham well deserves the accolade and we are confident that through his PhD studies with ADAPT in Trinity that he will continue to make valuable impactful contributions to the field of digital technology,” said Professor in Computer Science, Declan O'Sullivan, who is ADAPT's Principle Investigator and head of discipline of Intelligent systems in Trinity College’s School of Computer Science and Statistics.
At IBM, Haytham Assem works as a Principle Investigator and Technical Lead for the Cognitive Computing Group within the Innovation Exchange Team at the Software Development Lab in Dublin.
He has a special interest in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Cognitive Computing.
“Getting patents is nice, but it’s really the process of inventing and brainstorming with my IBM colleagues and fellow ADAPT researchers that I find most exciting and rewarding,” he said.
“It’s great to create something new and novel that no one has ever thought of before, which will make a real impact on our future and tomorrow’s technology.”
Haytham’s MSc work at NUIM resulted in an industry solution leveraged by IBM, as well as five patents. He has also collaborated broadly with industry and academia, both nationally and internationally, which resulted in 25 successful USPTO patents in several fields including voice and video analytics, machine learning, predictive modelling, capacity management and several more. In addition, Haytham was a named inventor on three of IBM’s top patent awards, which were singled out from thousands of invention submissions worldwide.
Speaking about the achievement, Robert McCarthy, IBM Ireland’s Software Group Innovation and Operations Manager, said: “At IBM we are focused on inventing new ways to address challenges in the era of cognitive computing. Our inventors are consistently uncovering and patenting new approaches to computing that will deliver a competitive advantage to IBM and its clients. This award as the youngest Master Inventor is a deserving testament and recognition of Haytham’s dedication to innovation of our entire industry and beyond.”
Haytham has a first class honors BSc degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Egypt’s premier university, Ain Shams University in Cairo, and an MSc in Voice and Video Analytics from NUIM, funded by the Science Foundation Ireland’s FAME programme. He is currently working towards a doctoral degree from Trinity College Dublin where he is associated with the ADAPT Centre for digital content technologies.