Transforming Health Care through Artificial Intelligence Revolutions

Dr. Ram D. Sriram

Chief, Software and Systems Division/ITL
National Institute of Standards and Technology
April 10, 2022

Abstract:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is concerned with the development of computer programs that emulate the intelligence of humans, i.e., AI is deeply concerned with the understanding of human problem-solving strategies and incorporating (or simulating) these strategies into computer programs. Since the 1950s, when the term AI was coined, there has been considerable progress in this area. The 1980s was dominated with the rise of knowledge-based systems, which is also called “the first wave.” Advancements in computer hardware facilitated multilayered neural networks, which led to significant improvements in machine learning for certain classes of problems in 2000s. This was the “second wave.” Now, we are witnessing the “third wave,” which will include a combination of neural networks and knowledge structures. In the talk, I will provide a brief overview of AI methods and discuss how these methods can be used to address problems in health care. AI Topics will include: the derivation-formation spectrum of problem solving, knowledge-based expert systems, neural networks and other machine learning techniques. I will also discuss several current projects at NIST, and will address some challenges for the future.

Bio:
Ram D. Sriram is currently the chief of the Software and Systems Division, Information Technology Laboratory, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He also serves as the manager of the NIST’s Health IT Program. Before joining the Software and Systems Division, Sriram was the leader of the Design and Process group in the Manufacturing Systems Integration Division, Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, where he conducted research on standards for interoperability of computer-aided design systems. Prior to joining NIST, he was on the engineering faculty (1986-1994) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was instrumental in setting up the Intelligent Engineering Systems Laboratory. Sriram has co-authored or authored nearly 275 publications, including several books and videos. Sriram was a founding co-editor of the International Journal for AI in Engineering. Sriram received several awards including: an NSF’s Presidential Young Investigator Award (1989); ASME Design Automation Award (2011); ASME CIE Distinguished Service Award (2014); the Washington Academy of Sciences’ Distinguished Career in Engineering Sciences Award (2015); ASME CIE division’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2016); CMU CEE’s Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible Distinguished Public Service Award (2018). Sriram is a Fellow of ASME, AAAS, IEEE and Washington Academy of Sciences, a Distinguished Member (life) of ACM, a Senior Member (life) of AAAI, and a member of INCOSE. Sriram has a B.Tech. from IIT, Madras, India, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University.

First presented: Data Citizens Conference, April 10, 2022

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