We are delighted to confirm two significant news items for our Tutorial Fellow in Engineering, Professor Noa Zilberman: the receipt of an MPLS Teaching Award for Outstanding Research Supervision and appointment as Fellow to the Alan Turing Institute.
Fellowship of the Alan Turing Institute
The Alan Turing Institute is the national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, whose purpose is to further data science and artificial intelligence research to tackle societal challenges. Fellowships in the Alan Turing Institute are awarded to academics working at the forefront of data science and artificial intelligence. On Friday 1st March, a cohort of 51 Fellows from universities and research institutes across the UK became the 2024 newest Fellows of the Alan Turing Institute, including Professor Zilberman.
Noa Zilberman is an Associate Professor of Engineering Science, where she leads the Computing Infrastructure Group, aiming to build sustainable, scalable and resilient computing infrastructure. Her research explores both Systems for AI and AI for systems. Her research of AI is coupled with her research of ICT sustainability, considering micro-architectures’ effect on large-scale systems’ carbon and energy efficiency. She says, “I am honoured to be elected a Turing Fellow. This is a great opportunity to engage with like-minded experts and stake holders on aspects of AI and Sustainability. I hope it would enable a step change towards Net-Zero Computing”.
“This is a great opportunity to engage with like-minded experts on aspects of AI and Sustainability”
Professor Mark Girolami, Chief Scientist at The Alan Turing Institute said: “I’m delighted to welcome a new cohort of Turing Fellows, brought to us from across our University Network in recognition of their status as the next generation of world leading researchers in the data sciences, AI and related fields.”
We would also like to take this opportunity to congratulation Professor Xiaowen Dong, a former Fulford Junior Research Fellow at Somerville, on also being named an Alan Turing Fellow.
MPLS Award for Noa Zilberman
In February 2024, Professor Zilberman was also confirmed as having won an Award for Oustanding Research Supervision 2023/24 from the Maths, Physics and Life Sciences Division. Instituted in 2022/23m, these awards celebrate research staff and academics who excel in their everyday supervision of research colleagues and their professional commitment to people development.
Professor Noa Zilberman (far-left) with Somerville Engineer Sawsan El Zahr and Uniq+ student Ozlem Kesgin (third from left)
Noa was nominated in the context of her role as leader of the Computing Infrastructure Group. There, colleagues testify, she has created a diverse international team which feels like “a home away from home”. She always provides treats on birthdays and holidays, bringing a sense of warmth and belonging to the group. She supports social events on a termly basis and encourages her researchers to take breaks and enjoy the events that are on in and around Oxford.
In addition to weekly team meetings where people can share ideas and discuss issues, Noa is responsive to the needs of her researchers even outside of working hours and at weekends. She gives detailed meticulous feedback on work “in no time” and helps her group members with their problems, as well as facilitating collaborations with industry partners and supporting funding applications.
One nominator stated that they “look forward to welcoming more friends from around the world to join our group in future.”
Professor Zilberman is doctoral supervisor to our student Sawsan El-Zahr, whose research on carbon-aware networking won the STEM for Britain’s Dyson Sustainability Award.