Hello,

Our apologies if you receive this notice more than once.

The IEEE Queensland Computational Intelligence Chapter will be hosting Dr. Kelvin Ross giving a seminar "AI: The Future of Travel", Friday, 27/May/2016 at 2pm on the Griffith University Gold Coast Campus. The seminar will be held in Griffith Business School Bldg, Seminar Room, G42_2.11. Kelvin has made a distinguished contribution to ICT in Australia, particularly in the field of software testing. He is the a founder of K. J. Ross & Associates, currently employing over 100 specialist software testing consultants, and a NATA accredited testing laboratory. 

Title: AI: The Future of Travel

Abstract: 

Recently, Barry Diller, chairman and senior executive of Expedia, forecast that AI will be travel’s next big thing1. Technology disruption from data science and machine learning will likely have an impact on many different industries and roles.  As foretold by Diller, an area that is likely to change dramatically is the role of the travel agent.  As more and more consumers book their travel online, how may online travel agencies evolve to utilise data science and machine learning to provide greater support to the traveler? Dr Kelvin Ross is the founder of SkiDreamz.com, a tech startup that is investigating AI and machine learning to provide travel planning support normally provided by a travel agent. In this presentation, Kelvin will run through the activities of a traveler, and at what stages data can be used to optimise the experience.  He will discuss a number of considerations:

• Why would AI be a benefit to the traveler and the travel agent?

• How machine learning algorithms can be applied to these activities

• What access to data would further optimise the experience?

• What human interaction is involved in enhancing the customer experience

Bio:

Dr. Kelvin Ross has over 25 years of experience in software engineering and enterprise IT applications.  Kelvin started his IT career in safety critical software engineering in defence, working on FA-18 airborne radar systems.  After completing his Ph.D. in safety critical systems engineering and several years in consulting in defence and transportation systems, he moved over to the commercial sector and founded KJR, specializing in software testing and assurance, which now has over 80 staff in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Brisbane. During his career, Kelvin was recognized as an expert in testing and assurance of software applications across a broad range of industry domains, including e-health, public administration, finance, insurance, retail, and telecommunications.  Kelvin is now non-executive Chairman of KJR, and while occasionally undertaking strategic consulting in testing and assurance, he now engages in broader IT and advisory roles, including technology founder in web start-ups, where he loves to roll up his sleeves and cut some code and deploy changes on unsuspecting customers. More recently Kelvin has developed an active and hands-on interest in Machine Learning and Data Science, which he says as the dominant technology driver for the next several decades.