First Visual AI students show the way from education to employment
The first cohort of students in Mid Sweden University’s Visual AI initiative has now completed their Master’s theses. Six of the eight students have already secured jobs, several of them at companies they collaborated with during their studies.
Visual AI is a rapidly developing field that combines technologies such as computer vision, image processing and artificial intelligence to enable computers to interpret and understand images and video. At Mid Sweden University, research and education in the field are carried out in close collaboration with industry.
- We teach the latest technologies that are in demand in industry, and we often hear from companies that our students are at the forefront of technological development when they carry out their Master’s theses. This is probably one important reason why many companies choose to hire our students after graduation, says Prof. Mårten Sjöström, who is responsible for the Visual AI specialisation at Mid Sweden University.
The first cohort consists of eight students, three from the Master of Science in Computer Engineering programme and five from the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Imaging.
AI that can detect damage to buses
One of the students is Carlos Daniel Silva Puente, who studied in the Erasmus Mundus programme and completed his Master’s thesis in collaboration with the company Observit in Sundsvall. His work focused on how AI can be used to automatically detect damage to buses using cameras.
Instead of sending image data to the cloud, Carlos investigated how AI models can be run directly on the camera. This can reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted, lowering costs and making the solution more efficient.
Carlos Daniel Silva Puente, student at the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Imaging.
- There are many limitations when performing this type of processing directly on the camera, but it was very interesting to work with, says Carlos Daniel Silva Puente.
After graduating, he will continue working with AI and camera-based solutions at Observit.
– I can continue working with what I did in my Master’s thesis and develop it further on a larger scale in the future, he says.
AI that helps find the right place in video material
For Taha Khudher, who is studying the Master of Science in Computer Engineering programme, the thesis focused on how AI can be used to search for specific events in large amounts of video material.
Using a visual AI model, long videos can be analysed to identify, for example, a specific person, activity or event. The technology could, among other things, be used in forensic investigations to more quickly locate relevant material in large volumes of video.
A screenshot from Tahas work using Visual AI to identify activities in videos.
Taha carried out his thesis with support from Knowit and has now started working for the company as an AI consultant.
- I have attended all the company fairs organized by Mid Sweden University. When you then apply for a job, the companies already know who you are. That was a major success factor, along with the education, he says.
Taha Khudher, student at the Master of Science in Computer Engineering programme.
A field where development is rapid
For Mårten Sjöström, the students’ successful transition into the labour market is also evidence that the education is closely aligned with technological development and the needs of industry.
- We have succeeded in creating an education with a focus on technologies that are genuinely in demand. We have expertise in computer vision and image processing, and in combining these techniques with machine learning and deep learning. It is a rapidly evolving field, which means that we as educators constantly need to stay up to date, says Mårten.
Collaboration with industry is an important part of this work, both to understand which skills are in demand and to create relevant Master’s thesis projects. Observit is one example of a company collaborating with Mid Sweden University in the field.
- We collaborate with companies to listen to industry needs and identify relevant thesis projects. At the same time, we are constantly developing our courses and keeping them up to date, says Mårten Sjöström.
Going forward, the ambition is to continue developing Visual AI and strengthen collaboration with both industry and international universities.
For the first cohort of students, the journey from education to working life has already begun.
Read more about Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Imaging
Read more about Master of Science in Computer Engineering programme