Blog – AIS Home | Assured Information Security https://www.ainfosec.com Thu, 05 Dec 2024 20:06:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://www.ainfosec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/cropped-ais-icon-1-32x32.png Blog – AIS Home | Assured Information Security https://www.ainfosec.com 32 32 From Participant to Professional: How the CNY Hackathon Shaped My Cybersecurity Journey https://www.ainfosec.com/from-participant-to-professional-how-the-cny-hackathon-shaped-my-cybersecurity-journey?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=from-participant-to-professional-how-the-cny-hackathon-shaped-my-cybersecurity-journey Thu, 05 Dec 2024 19:32:31 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=20570 ...]]>
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By Joshua, Software Engineer I
Two-minute read

The CNY Hackathon is an annual, beginner-friendly event hosted at Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) for cybersecurity and computer science students.

This event introduces students to diverse challenges designed by industry professionals through Capture the Flag (CTF). Simultaneously, participants must patch and defend a network of services from the notoriously beginner-friendly adversarial red team.

Each college’s students are split into mixed teams, requiring them to collaborate with individuals they’ve never met before. This setup mirrors the real-world experiences of entry-level employees starting their first jobs: working with strangers, encountering new challenges, adapting quickly and meeting demanding deadlines.

That was me three years ago. I participated as a student representing SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Network and Computer Security (NCS) club. I knew little about configuring networks, defending them from adversaries or maintaining services for end-users (even simulated ones). What I did bring was patience—patience to work with a new and diverse group of individuals, patience to stay calm under the pressure of the competition’s countdown timer and patience to believe in my own potential.

My team placed fifth out of six. Yet, it didn’t feel like a loss. The competition has a unique way of ensuring even those who don’t “win” leave feeling accomplished. I walked away excited about what I had learned and determined to improve for the next time.

“My team placed fifth out of six. Yet, it didn’t feel like a loss.”

Each team also votes to recognize their “Most Improved” teammate—a prestigious award that takes precedence over “Most Valuable Teammate.” This acknowledgment recognizes that the desire for growth outweighs raw talent and encourages students to keep improving their skills. My team voted me their MVT, which was a significant honor at the time. That designation confirmed what I hoped to be true: that by giving my best, I was capable of a career in this field.

I can confidently say that this event propelled my career forward. The Hackathon taught me that any career goal is achievable with a relentless attitude toward learning and collaboration. Inspired by the experience, I devoted more time to my college’s NCS club, developed my skills and secured an internship with one of the event’s sponsors: Assured Information Security (AIS).

Over time, I had the chance to give back to the event that started it all. I’ve supported the CNY Hackathon as a member of the infrastructure “black team,” as a guest speaker and most recently, as a sponsorship representative of AIS.

This year’s Hackathon was particularly special. For the first time in recent history, the event featured a career lunch with its sponsors—a full-circle moment for me. Returning to the same event that launched my career, I was able to help students in the same way the Hackathon helped me.

The CNY Hackathon is a fully volunteer-operated event, relying on sponsorships from local companies to fund its infrastructure, shirts, food and badges. AIS, one of its long-time sponsors, helps ensure this impactful experience continues.

These sponsors also have the unique opportunity to scout local talent, while students showcase their skills in front of potential employers. Beyond technical growth, participants gain real-world experience and build connections that can enhance their résumés and open career doors.

If you’re seeking a chance to learn, demonstrate your skills and compete in an environment designed for beginners, this is it. Join the hundreds of students who have benefited from this incredible event!

Special thanks to AIS for its continued support of the CNY Hackathon. It had such a profound impact on the start of my career!

AIS is a proud sponsor of this event. Learn more about our community impact:

COMMUNITY SNAPSHOT
]]> 5 Seminal Papers to Kickstart Your Journey Into Large Language Models https://www.ainfosec.com/5-seminal-papers-to-kickstart-your-journey-into-large-language-models?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5-seminal-papers-to-kickstart-your-journey-into-large-language-models Tue, 22 Oct 2024 19:38:53 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=20449 ...]]>
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Author: Dylan, Research Scientist II
Five minute read

Large language models (LLMs) have introduced an exciting new paradigm to the machine learning world in the past few years.

Research groups like AIS’s Advanced Research Concepts (ARC) team have been quick in exploring the range of possibilities with this new technology. However, aspiring AI developers and scientists often have no idea where to start learning about the science of large language models. In this blog post, we’ll review five seminal papers from the field and provide a brief reading guide so that you know which details to look for when you read them yourself.

1

Attention Is All You Need

“Attention Is All You Need” (Vaswani et al., 2017) presented the transformer architecture for neural networks which underlies all modern LLM designs. Transformers differed from previous neural networks in their use of self-attention, a mechanism that computes the ways elements in the input sequence affect each other’s semantic value. While the architecture was initially presented for use in language translation, it was adapted and scaled up by OpenAI into their first GPT model as well as Google’s T5 and BERT.

What Will This Paper Teach You?

  • The self-attention mechanism.
  • How the transformer architecture is organized into layers that update a residual stream.
  • Autoregressive language generation and how it fits into the sequence-to-sequence paradigm.

2

BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding

Another paper to come out of the early transformer literature, “BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding” (Devlin et al., 2019), set the paradigm for transformer embedding models, which seek to embed sequences of text into vectors. The BERT model uses the encoder part of the transformer architecture and is trained on unsupervised masked language modeling on a large set of unstructured text data. AIS used MiniLM, a successor to BERT, as part of an explanatory reinforcement learning technique in our paper “CODEX: A Cluster-Based Method for Explainable Reinforcement Learning”.

What Will This Paper Teach You?

  • How the encoder part of the transformer architecture can be isolated for embedding models.
  • The paradigm of pre-training and fine-tuning with language models.

3

Language Models are Few-Shot Learners

While all of OpenAI’s GPT papers have been influential, the paper covering GPT-3, “Language Models are Few-Shot Learners” (Brown et al., 2020) marked the entry into the modern era of LLMs. The paper reviews the training process and architecture of GPT-3, but mostly focuses on the efficacy of few-shot learning, a technique where a pre-trained LLM is fed examples into its context window instead of being fine-tuned for a task.

What Will This Paper Teach You?

  • How the decoder part of the transformer architecture can be isolated for pure autoregressive generation.
  • The advantages of few-shot learning over fine-tuning.
  • The test sets used to evaluate capabilities of large language models, like HellaSwag, Winograd schemas and TriviaQA.

4

ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models

One area of focus within LLM research is using prompt scaffolding and reasoning schemes to elicit more powerful capabilities from LLMs. A core paper in this subfield is “ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models” (Yao et al., 2023), which builds on top of prior chain-of-thought prompting to get the model to think clearly and also use resources like a Wikipedia API to inform its actions. The ReAct framework is deployed in direct QA tasks as well as text-based adventure environments and shows improvements over base model performance in both.

What Will This Paper Teach You?

  • Prompt scaffolding frameworks and the degree to which they augment LLM abilities.
  • The evaluation environments for LLM agents like ALFWorld and WebShop.

5

The Llama 3 Herd of Models

To get a better idea of how modern LLMs are trained, we recommend “The Llama 3 Herd of Models” (Dubey et al., 2024). The Llama models are among the best open-source models today alongside the Qwen series and Mistral series, and the AIS team uses Llama models for several of our internal projects. This paper goes into depth on the more technical engineering details that went into the training process, especially post-training where they apply several techniques like SFT and DPO to coerce the base model into being more coherent and user-interactive.

What Will This Paper Teach You?

  • The post-training process for modern LLMs, including alignment, multilinguality and coding specialization.
  • How scaling laws are used during training to optimize energy expenditure (specifically, the data size/model size tradeoff in the compute budget).
  • The hardware and software used to support the platforms for training LLMs.
While these papers should provide a solid foundation to any novice LLM enthusiast, reading will only get you so far.

It’s important to engage with these papers and others in a more hands-on way: re-implementing architectures, reproducing results and performing experiments on top of the prior work are all great ways to learn more about LLMs, and in machine learning more generally. In particular, papers that use frontier model APIs like the ReAct paper above don’t require massive GPU servers and can run on a consumer-grade laptop. We hope that the resources we’ve provided will give a nice jumpstart!

]]> AIS at Naval Surface Technology and Innovation Consortium (NSTIC) https://www.ainfosec.com/ais-at-naval-surface-technology-and-innovation-consortium-nstic?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ais-at-naval-surface-technology-and-innovation-consortium-nstic Wed, 16 Oct 2024 19:58:16 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=20422 ...]]>
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Author: Travis Akers, Business Development Director
Two-minute read

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of representing Assured Information Security (AIS) at a three-day Naval Surface Technology and Innovation Consortium (NSTIC) collaboration event in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

All three days were packed with opportunities to engage with Naval Surface Warfare leaders, subject matter experts, program managers, technical directors and industry partners. The event included a full day tour of Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) with stops in the Human Systems Integration Lab, Hypersonic Integration and Test Facility, Vertical Launching System Lab and an LCS/Future Modular Capability demonstration. During the tours, we had the rare opportunity to speak directly with government researchers and engineers to better understand the challenges being faced within the Navy’s surface fleet and integrating rapidly evolving technologies and capabilities to maintain the competitive edge against adversaries in the maritime domain.

The highlight of the event was being one of 10 companies to present, allowing me to share the AIS story with more than 200 attendees, including an audience with senior Naval flag officers, large and small defense industry businesses and warfighters: the end users of our products and services contributing to the national security apparatus. Participants heard from numerous program managers who provided an overview of NSWCDD and the command’s technical approach. The published pre-event statement of needs provided industry partners an opportunity to explore new business with the U.S. Navy, where I was able to meet with government representatives and discuss the advanced research and development capabilities of AIS and how our teams of technical experts, engineers and scientists can meet the 21st century challenges facing the Navy. NSTIC 2024 contained a few light moments as well, with multiple networking events held throughout the three days and a social hour mixer with industry partners to establish new relationships and identify potential leads for new business opportunities in the coming months and years.

Attending the NSTIC collaboration event was a great experience and demonstration of how vital public-private partnerships are in national security. AIS continues moving forward in establishing a strong presence in the U.S. Navy and becoming the small business of choice for cyber operations, mission solutions and advanced research and development.

]]> A Recap of My DEF CON 2024 Presentation on FISSURE Updates https://www.ainfosec.com/a-recap-of-my-def-con-2024-presentation-on-fissure-updates?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-recap-of-my-def-con-2024-presentation-on-fissure-updates Thu, 15 Aug 2024 17:23:41 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=20249 ...]]>

By Chris Poore,
Senior Reverse Engineer
Two minute read

It was an honor to present the latest updates to FISSURE at the DEF CON Radio Frequency Village in Las Vegas this past Saturday, August 10.

FISSURE UPDATES

One of the key updates I showcased was the introduction of deployable remote sensor nodes. These nodes are run on general-purpose computers (single-board computers, mini-PCs, laptops, desktops, etc.) and control many types of radio peripherals. They can also receive input from just about any type of sensory device that can be controlled by a computer.

To seize the opportunity presented by this new deployment scheme, we added a variety of example triggers (acoustic, environmental, filesystem, networking, RF, time and visual) that can be used to kick off many types of electromagnetic effects/actions supported by FISSURE. Additionally, we added a new type of playlist that can run scripts simultaneously across multiple radio peripherals to increase productivity on a sensor node. This new playlist type can be controlled over a network through the FISSURE Dashboard GUI or operate independently upon startup of the sensor node to execute any number of automated tasks.

Another topic that was covered were changes to the Target Signal Identification tab – the beginning component of FISSURE that will detect, isolate and classify signals using machine learning. The new signal conditioner, feature extractor and signal classifier elements provide a testbed for maturing algorithms across a range of topics and comparing machine learning models for classifying RF protocols and emitters.

These updates to FISSURE significantly enhance its versatility and compatibility across various environments, empowering users to tackle a broader range of geospatial scenarios. The improvements not only provide access to additional platforms but also enable greater situational awareness by triggering responses based on environmental conditions. With the integration of remote access capabilities and room for increased automation, FISSURE becomes an even more powerful tool, allowing users to efficiently manage operations and respond to dynamic situations with agility and precision.

Download the Infosheet

We’ve also made it easier to conduct remote and cost-effective testing. Now, cybersecurity professionals can access specialized RF environments globally, whether they’re working from home or a remote location, without the need for physical presence at a specific site.

If you missed my presentation at DEF CON, don’t worry! A pre-recorded version will be available soon through the RF Village and linked to in the GitHub page.

Next up, I’ll be taking my blackjack winnings and attending the Binghamton University STEM Job and Internship Fair and then GRCon in mid-September. I’m looking forward to connecting with more of you there and discussing how FISSURE can continue to meet the evolving challenges in RF and reverse engineering. See you soon!

Be sure to star FISSURE on Github:
https://github.com/ainfosec/FISSURE

]]> Father’s Day Spotlights https://www.ainfosec.com/fathers-day-spotlights?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fathers-day-spotlights Fri, 14 Jun 2024 16:35:00 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=20086 ...]]>

In celebration of Father’s Day, we reached out to the amazing dads at AIS, inviting them to share their thoughts on balancing the complex demands of work and family life, how AIS supports them in this journey and the treasured moments of fatherhood they value most. Read their stories below!

Greg, IT Manager

One strategy that significantly helps me balance work and family life is having a schedule that aligns with my boys’ school hours. This allows me to assist my wife with dropping them off in the morning on my way to work and pick them up from school in the afternoon right after I finish work.

A flexible work schedule and an understanding manager at AIS are crucial in helping me manage my responsibilities as a father while effectively handling my workload. This flexibility ensures I can be present for my family when they need me most.

Being a father is a fantastic experience! Watching my two boys grow up has been incredibly rewarding. I cherish spending time with them, teaching them life lessons, helping them learn and grow and sharing my hobbies and interests. It’s truly an amazing journey.

GREG’S KIDS

Greg, Staff Attorney

One effective strategy my wife Heather and I use to manage our busy schedules is keeping a detailed calendar. With both of us working at AIS and our girls being active in school, sports and dance, it can be overwhelming to keep track of everything. So, we have a calendar in the kitchen where we mark down all appointments, practices, games, dance recitals—everything!

The hybrid work schedule and flex time at AIS have been invaluable in balancing my career and family responsibilities. The ability to work remotely and make up time as needed allows me to participate in school activities or care for a sick child while staying productive and meeting job demands. I honestly don’t know how we managed before!

One of my favorite things about fatherhood is watching my girls develop their own unique personalities and getting to re-experience things through their eyes. Things like learning to ride a bike, playing sports, the magic of holidays, the tooth fairy and a million other more mundane things that we take for granted but are amazing to them.

GREG’S FAMILY

Michael, Chief Engineer

One strategy that helps me balance work and life is leaving the office at the same time every day. This consistency lets everyone at home know when to expect me. It benefits my family in several ways: my wife knows which activities I can cover, my boys know when they can ask me to play kickball or watch to see how long they can juggle and my colleagues avoid any guesswork regarding my availability for meetings and check-ins.

When thinking about my gratitude to AIS, the health care support immediately comes to mind. Having great insurance means I don’t hesitate to seek timely and effective medical treatment or advice, keeping my family healthy and the tally of broken bones to a minimum. Another aspect I appreciate is the flexibility to work from home when needed. While I prefer coming to the office daily, being able to work from home when necessary helps me adapt to life’s curveballs and stay productive.

I love encouraging my boys to experiment in life and to relish the cycle of failing and then learning from the experience. Just yesterday, I let my middle son try to back the lawnmower out of our shed by himself, which requires using a few fold-out ramps and some nuanced maneuvering. I watched from inside and saw him learn, in real-time, how (to quote one of my favorite movies) “when you’re in reverse, things come from behind you”. Luckily the playset we have is pretty stout, it survived the hit.

MICHAEL’S FAMILY

Chris, Principal Engineer

A specific strategy that I’ve found to be effective in balancing work and life as a father of three daughters is copious amounts of coffee. Jokes aside, and as the kids are getting older, I find it much easier to maintain balance by having a shared calendar with my wife to track both things going on at home as well as any pertinent work commitments. This goes hand in hand with having family commitments in my work shared calendar and ensuring that my team is aware of anything that may impact my availability.

AIS’s flex time has always been the most helpful while raising all three of our kids. Between appointments, school activities, extracurricular activities and life, the flex time policy allows you to manage the demands of work while still allowing you to make family a priority.

The most rewarding aspect of being a father is guiding your kids through life while watching them grow into their own person with their own unique personalities. It’s funny to see how different all three of my daughters are, while also having certain traits of my wife and myself within each of them. At the end of the day, there is nothing like coming home and seeing how truly excited your kids are to see you.

CHRIS’ FAMILY
]]> AIS at SVIP Demo Week https://www.ainfosec.com/ais-at-svip-demo-week?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ais-at-svip-demo-week Thu, 13 Jun 2024 15:23:24 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=20059 ...]]>
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Author: Tiffany, Reverse Engineer III
Two-minute read

On May 21 and 22, I attended the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) Demo Week in Alexandria, VA.

I, along with my colleague Brandon, represented AIS at this annual showcase of nearly 40 SVIP-funded startup companies and their innovative technologies addressing DHS missions. AIS’s role is to support various SVIP portfolio companies in creating robust products and demonstrating the products’ efficacy in meeting DHS and/or broader customer needs.

Topics for which portfolio companies presented demos of their products included:

  • Sensor Technologies (deployable tracking buoys for USCG)
  • HealthTech
  • Computer Vision
  • Data Analytics
  • Language Translation
  • Cybersecurity Startups
  • Digital Credentials
  • Digital Wallets

The conference included more than 260 attendees from startups, large and small businesses, government agencies, VCs and academic institutions who were able to experience and participate in technology demonstrations and meet the founders in the Startup Tech Expo. Participants also heard from two special DHS keynote speakers, industry leaders, tech investors, DHS operational agencies and SVIP partners whose innovative solutions are supporting DHS missions.

Video recordings of the demos presented at the conference

WATCH HERE

Attending SVIP Demo Week was an incredible experience. It was inspiring to see cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions that are enhancing national security. The collaboration between the DHS and the tech community is a testament to the power of public-private partnerships in driving technological advancements. As an engineer, witnessing firsthand the practical applications of these innovations has been both motivating and enlightening, reaffirming my belief in the vital role that technology plays in safeguarding our future. Our team at AIS is proud to support these outstanding startups and their contributions to DHS missions.

Learn more about AIS capabilities:

https://www.ainfosec.com/capabilities/cyber-operations/

]]> Enhancing Air Mobility: AIS’s Role in the Creation of OptiX https://www.ainfosec.com/enhancing-air-mobility-ais-role-in-the-creation-of-optix?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=enhancing-air-mobility-aiss-role-in-the-creation-of-optix Tue, 14 May 2024 18:39:58 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=19856 ...]]>
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Author: Austin, Software Engineer III
Three minute read

AIS plays a key role in OptiX, a highly collaborative effort aimed at designing and building a groundbreaking digital infrastructure system for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). This system facilitates crewed and uncrewed flights in and around urban environments, paving the way for the services of tomorrow.

As an engineer involved in the development of OptiX, I’ve had the privilege of working closely with our partners at ResilienX, Sunhillo Corporation, OneSky, HF Designworks, Anzen Unmanned and TruWeather Solutions to create this next-generation technology supporting the safe and efficient use of airspace in our cities. OptiX itself serves as an operations hub for AAM, providing pilots and command center operators with vital information needed to oversee and coordinate large numbers of simultaneous flights. It’s a culmination of diverse talents and specialties coming together to address the pressing needs of the AAM sector.

Our key contribution to OptiX is with the development of a technology called Artemis. Artemis is built on AIS’s Incident Response Framework, Metasponse, a high-TRL (TRL-9) capability that provides agent-less interaction with remote endpoints using existing administrative interfaces. Artemis utilizes and extends Metasponse’s core functionality to provide automated cybersecurity posture monitoring and threat mitigation for AAM environments. AIS leveraged its extensive knowledge and experience in threat detection and malware hunting to develop a set of diverse data collection, analysis and reporting capabilities for Artemis that are designed specifically for emerging AAM ecosystems.

Metasponse
AIS’s Incident Response Framework

The team has already deployed Optix in the Syracuse BVLOS corridor and we are currently preparing for broader deployment in October 2024. I am confident Optix will meet the needs in this emerging sector.

The success of OptiX is a testament to the power of collaboration and the invaluable contributions of each partner involved. Together, we are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in air mobility, and I am excited to see the impact that OptiX will have on the industry in the years to come.

Learn more about AIS’s Products

]]> Mother’s Day 2024 https://www.ainfosec.com/mothers-day-2024?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mothers-day-2024 Thu, 09 May 2024 17:14:54 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=19795 ...]]>

In honor of Mother’s Day, we reached out to the incredible moms at AIS, inviting them to share their insights on balancing the intricate dance of work and life, how AIS lends its support and the cherished rewards of motherhood they hold dear. See their stories below and join us in celebrating these remarkable women.

Jackie, Subcontracts Manager

The most effective strategy I have found for balancing work and life is good communication and planning. My kids are 11 and 5, so if I have work during time when I’m normally available to my family, I let them know and plan ahead of time. Likewise, if I have a family commitment during working hours or a limitation on a certain day, I make sure it’s in my outlook calendar and I communicate with my team in advance. I try to be fully present wherever I am and to give the people I’m with my undivided attention. I make efforts to take care of myself (sleep, water/nutrition, exercise) so that I have energy and focus for days that have non-stop demands.

Flexible hours and remote working have been a game changer. I’m also blessed with both an amazing boss who understands the drill and an awesome team who backs me up. I make sure to provide support and understanding to others as well.

Motherhood is the craziest, most tiring and most expensive endeavor of my life, but I feel like my life truly began when my first child was born. Some mornings start with cleaning a teddy bear covered in vomit. Many evenings are spent playing hockey while giving friendship advice and laughing. The most rewarding aspect, by far, is giving and receiving unconditional love. My children are the legacy, hopefully of goodness, that I leave to the world.

JACKIE’S KIDS

Christiana, Program Manager

My strategy for balancing work and life is to keep fluid. As a mother of two birth children and one bonus son, “life be lifing”. I can have all the plans in the world, but I better have some flexibility and keep my mind open to the changes that may happen day-to-day. I have all boys who like to test the limits of life daily, so rolling with the punches has helped me deal with the pressures of it all. I schedule meetings after 9:30am to handle morning chaos, multitask during downtime and tackle work during their sleep.

I’m so thankful that I work for AIS because they value family and flexibility. AIS benefits and culture have made managing my responsibilities as a mother a bit easier. The 80% contributions to my HSA enabled me to easily pay for the thousands of dollars of uncovered costs of birthing my two children and being able to work remotely makes having a work/life balance possible for me.

The most rewarding aspects of being a mother are the kisses, cuddles, slobbers and words “I love you”. Better yet, is the way they love each other, since that love is an extension of the love they feel in the home. Mommy and daddy give them a comfortable and happy home to call their safe place.

CHRISTIANA’S KIDS

Maureen, Software Engineer II

Balancing work and life is no easy task, especially with so much going on all the time. I’m definitely a control freak, so I’ve had to learn to say no to things and prioritize work when I’m at work, and my home life when I’m home. My husband and I divide and concur the many, many sports events and I get to the housework when I can. I continually strive to be more present, and to do my best and forget the rest.

There’s no way I would have a functional life without AIS’s flex hours and the ability to work from home when I need to. My team is very supportive when I forget my kids only have a half day of school, or one of them gets sick and I need to stay home.

The most rewarding aspect of being a mom is the unconditional love and hugs. My kids are my whole world. I absolutely love watching them grow and learn and become their beautifully unique, funny and kind selves.

MAUREEN AND FAMILY

Lynette, HR Generalist

Balancing motherhood with work is all about having a support system and a solid routine. For me, it’s about building that village and finding time for self-care, because when mama’s happy, everyone’s happy!

At AIS, things like great health coverage, awesome managers and flexible work options make all the difference in managing work and family life.

As a mom, the most rewarding moments come when I see my kids embracing the values I’ve taught them. Now that I’m a ‘Gigi,’ I’m getting another chance to see those values in action and do even better this time around. And the love I have for my kids? That’s my superpower—it keeps me going through everything!

LYNETTE AND SON

Heidi, Senior Technical Writer

When my daughter came into the world, I found myself grappling with the uncertainty of returning to work post-leave. Opting out of traditional daycare added another layer of complexity, as I navigated the challenge of balancing a full-time job with being a hands-on mom. While we do have a nanny for most weekdays, there are still moments when I’m juggling it all. Fortunately, AIS has been incredibly supportive and understanding of my circumstances. Their flexibility has been a game-changer, allowing me to cherish the precious moments with my daughter, witnessing her growth and being there for every milestone. As I prepare to welcome another daughter into our family, I’m grateful for the work/life balance I’ve achieved and the opportunity to pursue my career with AIS.

HEIDI AND DAUGHTER

Heather, Program Analyst

My strategy for a work/life balance is planning. As a mother of three girls, we are constantly on the move between practices, games, dance classes, birthday parties, etc. We have a calendar where my husband and I add all our scheduled events which helps us to better manage our schedules and stay on track. This is truly a lifesaver for us! I love the fact that I am able to work from home and go into the office along with flexible hours. I also have a wonderful manager who is supportive and understanding when something comes up! Being a mother is the most amazing, chaotic experience all wrapped into one. I absolutely love being a mom and watching my girls grow into beautiful young women.

HEATHER AND FAMILY
]]> Artificial Intelligence vs Computational Intelligence https://www.ainfosec.com/artificial-intelligence-vs-computational-intelligence?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=artificial-intelligence-vs-computational-intelligence Mon, 15 Apr 2024 20:17:33 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=19556 ...]]>
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Author: Jeff, Senior Research Scientist
Five minute read

Suffice it to say, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is enjoying its moment in the sun. From science to games to art, AI has become present in nearly everything. But, what about AI’s oft-overlooked cousin, Computational Intelligence (CI)? The two terms are often used synonymously, which makes sense given that CI is considered a sub-field of AI. After all, the term CI was coined at the same time and same place as AI – the original Turing Test. However, AI and CI are quite different in form, function and application. This blog aims to shed some light on the AI vs. CI debate and how AIS is using CI to improve context-aware optimization.

AI

From a 50,000-foot view, AI is defined as a branch of computer science that aims to give a machine the ability to make decisions based on pre-trained knowledge. AI aims to give an algorithm a facsimile of human cognition. Meaning the ultimate goal of AI algorithms is to use prior information to make future decisions. Currently, the most notorious example of applied AI is generative large language models (LLM), like ChatGPT.

CI

While CI falls under the umbrella of AI, it is unique in one keyway – CI is used to make predictions using inherently uncertain and unstructured environments. AI algorithms are designed to deal with noise and randomness in their training data. However, they assume their target application environment is deterministic. For example, an LLM knows it is working with discrete units of text. Regardless of the input and output, an LLM knows it will be working with exact words. Put simply, “cat” goes in, “dog” comes out.

On the other hand, CI algorithms are built to work with imprecise data collected in an environment that is also itself imprecise. CI algorithms do not expect deterministic input nor provide deterministic outputs. That is, an LLM expects “cat” and does not understand “ecat” or “catd”. On the other hand, a CI algorithm can structure these almost-words back into “cat” by understanding the core concepts of text generation.

CI algorithms are built to work with imprecise data collected in an environment that is also itself imprecise.

For example, one common application of CI is in positioning and localization with limited GPS access. Onboard positioning sensors, like a wheel encoder or gyroscope, provide noisy and messy data. On the other hand, a GPS provides much more accurate data, but only when available. A traditional localization algorithm is only as certain as its most certain input, meaning that it will fail without near-constant GPS input. However, a CI solution that cleverly combines all data sources can maintain a highly accurate position during periods of GPS dropout. This ability to work with such uncertain information comes from CI’s ability to understand context.

Context-Aware CI

The main feature that distinguishes CI from other AI is its ability to use environmental context. CI algorithms keep track of not only their outputs but also the accuracy of their outputs over time. Put from the human cognition perspective, CI can use its “context clues” to help solve a problem. These context clues are the accuracy of CI outputs over time as a function of the accuracy of CI inputs over time.

As such, a CI algorithm can figure out that “ecat” and “catd” equal “cat”, so long as the word is contained in a known context, e.g., a sentence like “the catd ate its ecat food”. The more complicated example of positioning and navigation using context looks like:

  • The CI algorithm takes input from GPS and onboard sensors.
  • The CI algorithm determines the relative accuracy of each sensor using previous highly accurate measurements.
  • The CI algorithm learns about the uncertainty in the data and environment.
  • The CI algorithm re-optimizes in real-time to decide which data sources to use for positioning.

Developing CI at AIS

Team AIS is currently studying the intersection of CI and machine learning for complex sensor fusion applications akin to the GPS-denied localization problem. Solving for position using noisy data with CI is a well-known sensor fusion application. Building upon this foundational research, AIS is seeking to understand how CI can be carried over to developing, training and fielding advanced perception algorithms. AIS is leading research to find out if perception algorithms, e.g., target detection and tracking, can combine many visual sensors, i.e., cameras, IR sensors and LIDAR, to provide a more accurate solution than current single-sensor systems.

Our research in this area seeks to develop new perception algorithms based on context-aware CI and build new perception systems around these algorithms. To do this, we are leveraging sensor modeling and simulation (M&S) tools. By using M&S, we can not only create massive sets of sensor data but also have perfect knowledge of these data’s context. This allows us to both develop and train new sensor fusion techniques and create context-aware CI optimization techniques for deploying these techniques on advanced, multi-sensor perception systems.

Learn more about advanced research at AIS

]]> Reflecting on an Empowering Experience: 2024 Women & STEAM Symposium https://www.ainfosec.com/reflecting-on-an-empowering-experience-2024-women-steam-symposium?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reflecting-on-an-empowering-experience-2024-women-steam-symposium Fri, 08 Mar 2024 14:58:59 +0000 https://www.ainfosec.com/?p=19443 ...]]>
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By Maureen, Software Engineer II
Two-minute read

Yesterday I attended the Project Fibonacci Women & STEAM Symposium, and it was an incredible event filled with inspiration and empowerment.

The symposium coincided perfectly with International Women’s Day, embodying the spirit of the occasion by showcasing the remarkable achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). From the interactive panel featuring ten local, esteemed women discussing their experiences, to the networking sessions and career fair, the event served as a powerful platform for women’s empowerment in STEAM. Participants had the opportunity to not only celebrate the contributions of women in these fields, but also to engage in meaningful discussions and take actionable steps towards creating a more inclusive and equitable future for all.

It was also a day to inspire the next generation of trailblazers, with more than 125 female students in attendance. As a sponsor of the event, we were able to present a scholarship for a local student to be able to attend the 6th Annual STEAM Leadership Conference this August.

As I reflect on my experience at the symposium, I’m filled with gratitude for the opportunities that have come my way in my career. It was an honor to represent AIS and share my journey as a woman in STEAM with the attendees, encouraging them to pursue their passions fearlessly.

AIS is a proud sponsor of this event. Learn more about our community impact:

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