13th Women in Machine Learning Workshop (WiML 2018)
The 13th WiML Workshop is co-located with NeurIPS in Montreal, Quebec on Monday, December 3rd, 2018.
Machine learning is one of the fastest growing areas of computer science research. Search engines, text mining, social media analytics, face recognition, DNA sequence analysis, speech and handwriting recognition, healthcare analytics are just some of the applications in which machine learning is routinely used.
In spite of the wide reach of machine learning and the variety of theory and applications, it covers, the percentage of female researchers is lower than in many other areas of computer science. Most women working in machine learning rarely get the chance to interact with other female researchers, making it easy to feel isolated and hard to find role models.
The annual Women in Machine Learning Workshop is the flagship event of Women in Machine Learning. This technical workshop gives female faculty, research scientists, and graduate students in the machine learning community an opportunity to meet, network and exchange ideas, participate in career-focused panel discussions with senior women in industry and academia and learn from each other. Underrepresented minorities and undergraduates interested in machine learning research are encouraged to attend. We welcome all genders; however, any formal presentations, i.e. talks and posters, are given by women. We strive to create an atmosphere in which participants feel comfortable to engage in technical and career-related conversations.
Now in its 13th year, the 2018 workshop is co-located with NIPS in Montreal, Canada. A History of WiML poster was created to celebrate the 10th workshop, also held in 2015 in Montreal, Canada.
Besides this un-workshop and annual workshop which is co-located with NeurIPS, Women in Machine Learning also organizes events such as lunch at ICML and AAAI conferences, maintains a public directory of women active in ML, profiles the research of women in ML, and maintains a list of resources for women working in ML.
Invited Speakers
Location
This workshop takes place in Palais des Congrès in Montreal.
Convention Center Rooms
More details about the workshop and poster sessions will be provided shortly.
Sunday, December 2
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Registration desk open
6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
WiML Dinner (Optional) (Separate registration required)
Monday, December 3
All events are held in Rooms 517AB and 516C, except for the evening poster session, which takes place in Room 210.
8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Registration Open
8:00 am - 9:00 am
Breakfast
9:00 am – 9:10 am
Opening Remarks – (WiML Organizers)
9:10 am – 9:50 am
Invited talk 1 – Isabel Kloumann
9:50 am – 10:10 am
Contributed talk 1 – Lanlan Liu
10:10 am – 10:30 am
Contributed talk 2 – Megan Maher
10:30 am – 10:50 am
Coffee Break
10:50 am – 11:30 am
Invited talk 2 – Po-Ling Loh
11:30 am – 11:50 am
Contributed talk 3 – Amanda Rios
11:50 am – 1:00 pm
Mentorship Circles
11:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Lunch + Poster Session
2:30 pm – 3:10 pm
Invited talk 3 – Raquel Urtasun
3:10 pm – 3:30 pm
Contributed talk 4 – Jennifer Drexler
3:30 pm – 3:50 pm
Coffee Break
3:50 pm – 4:30 pm
Invited talk 4 – Emma Brunskill
4:30 pm – 4:40 pm
Closing remarks
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Poster Session 2 (co-located with NeurIPS reception)
NeurIPS Main Conference (NeurIPS registration required)
5:00 pm
NeurIPS Opening Remarks
Call for Participation
The 13th WiML Workshop is co-located with NIPS in Montreal, Quebec on Monday, December 3rd, 2018.
The workshop is a one-day event with invited speakers, oral presentations, and posters. The event brings together faculty, graduate students, and research scientists for an opportunity to connect and exchange ideas. There will be a panel discussion and a mentoring session to discuss current research trends and career choices in machine learning. Underrepresented minorities and undergraduates interested in pursuing machine learning research are encouraged to participate. While all presenters will identify primarily as female, all genders are invited to attend.
Important Dates
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September 7th, 2018 11:59pm PST – Abstract submission deadline
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October 15th, 2018 – Notification of abstract acceptance
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TBA – Travel grant application deadline
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TBA – Registration Deadline
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December 3rd, 2018 – Workshop Day
Submission Instructions
We strongly encourage students, post-docs and researchers who primarily identify as women or nonbinary in all areas of machine learning to submit an abstract describing new, previously, or concurrently published research. We welcome abstract submissions, in theory, methodology, as well as applications. Abstracts may describe completed research or work-in-progress. While the presenting author need not be the first author of the work, we encourage authors to highlight the contribution of women — particularly the presenting author — in the abstract.
Authors of accepted abstracts will be asked to present their work in a poster session. A few authors will be selected to give 15 minute oral presentations. Submissions will be peer-reviewed in a double-blind setting. Authors will be automatically added to the reviewer pool and asked to review. Student and post-doc authors who review for WiML will be eligible for travel awards.
Submission page: WiML 2018 CMT
Style guidelines:
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Abstracts must not include identifying information
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Abstracts must be no more than 1 page (including any references, tables, and figures) submitted as a PDF in NIPS format.
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Upload the PDF, do not paste in the abstract box.
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Do not include any supplementary files with your submission.
Content guidelines:
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Your abstract should stand alone, without linking to a longer paper or supplement.
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You should convey motivation and give some technical details of the approach used.
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While we appreciate that space is limited, some experimental results are likely to improve reviewers’ opinions of your paper.
Acceptance criteria:
All accepted papers must be presented by the submitting author, or another author who identifies primarily as a woman or nonbinary. Abstracts will be reviewed by at least two reviewers plus an area chair, who will use the following criteria:
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Is this paper appropriate for WiML? I.e. Does it describe original research in Machine Learning or related fields?
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Does the abstract describe work that is novel and/or an interesting application?
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Does the abstract adequately convey the material that will be presented?
Examples of accepted abstracts from previous years. Due to the volume of submissions anticipated, we are unable to review any submitted materials besides the requested abstract.
Travel Scholarships
Travel Awards are available for presenting authors only. To qualify, the author must be a student or postdoc, their abstract must be accepted, and they must volunteer to serve as a reviewer for WiML. The amount of the travel award varies by the author’s geographical location and the total amount of funding WiML receives from our sponsors. In the past awards ranging from $300-$900 have been granted. All travel grants are administered as refunds and no funding is allocated before the conference.
Area Chairs
If you are interested in being an area chair, please email wiml2018@wimlworkshop.org with subject line “Area Chair for WiML 2018”. The role of area chairs is to evaluate the reviews, write a final meta-review and suggest acceptance/reject decisions for each abstract. We expect each area chair to be responsible for 10 short abstracts with each abstract having a maximum word limit of 500 words.
Organizers
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Audrey Durand (McGill University)
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Aude Hofleitner (Facebook)
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Nyalleng Moorosi (CSIR)
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Sarah Poole (Stanford University)
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Amy Zhang (McGill University / Facebook AI Research)
PLATINUM SPONSORS
DIAMOND SPONSORS
GOLD SPONSORS
SILVER SPONSORS
BRONZE SPONSORS
SUPPORTERS
BRONZE SPONSORS
Committee
ORGANIZERS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Katherine M. Kinnaird (President) Smith College
Allison Chaney (Vice President) Princeton University
Jennifer Healey (Vice President) Intel Labs
Jessica Thompson (Secretary) Université de Montréal
Sarah Brown (Treasurer) Brown University
Tamara Broderick Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Raia Hadsell DeepMind
Abigail Jacobs University of California, Berkeley
Been Kim Google Brain
Katie Niehaus Freenome
Sarah Tan Cornell University / UCSF
SENIOR ADVISORY COUNCIL
Hanna Wallach (WiML Co-Founder) Microsoft Research / UMass Amherst
Jenn Wortman Vaughan (WiML Co-Founder) Microsoft Research
Emma Brunskill Stanford University
Finale Doshi-Velez Harvard University
Barbara Engelhardt Princeton University
Marzyeh Ghassemi University of Toronto / Vector Institute
Inmar Givoni Uber ATG
Katherine Heller Duke University
Pallika Kanani Oracle Labs
Claire Monteleoni University of Colorado Boulder
Sarah Osentoski Mayfield Robotics
Svitlana Volkova Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Sinead Williamson University of Texas at Austin
Alice Zheng Amazon
FAQs
Do you have a list of members? How can I join WiML?
WiML doesn’t have “members” per se, any women working in machine learning can be part of the WiML network. We have a mailing list for anyone to post announcements of interest to the WiML network and an opt-in, necessarily incomplete directory of women working in machine learning.
How can I join the WiML mailing list?
Join the mailing list directly here.
What kind of events do you organize?
Our flagship event is the annual WiML Workshop, typically co-located with NeurIPS, a machine learning conference. We also organize an “un-workshop” at ICML, as well as small events (e.g. lunches and receptions) at other machine learning conferences, such as CoRL, COLT, etc. Check out our events page for up-to-date listings of events.
Do you have local meetups?
No, but check out WiMLDS (website, Twitter), another organization that supports women in machine learning by organizing local meetups.
How do I reach the WiML network?
Use our mailing list.
How can I sponsor WiML?
Thank you for your interest in sponsoring WiML! See this page for more information.
I am looking for an invited speaker / panelist / area chair / program committee member etc. Can WiML help me?
Use our directory of women in machine learning or post this opportunity to our mailing list.
I want to circulate a job posting. Can WiML help me?
Post directly to our mailing list.
How can I support WiML?
You can:
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Post interesting opportunities and job postings to our mailing list.
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Use our directory of women in machine learning to find invited speakers, panelists, area chairs, program committee members, etc, or post these opportunities to our mailing list.
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Sponsor us. See this page for more information.
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Volunteer at one of our events. Check out our events page for up-to-date listings of events.
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Apply to be an area chair or reviewer at WiML Workshop (see this year’s workshop website for info).
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Take pictures at our events and share with us (tag @wimlworkshop on Twitter).
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If you see us mentioned in the media, send us a link at info@wimlworkshop.org.
And many others!
How did WiML start? What's the founding story?
Hanna Wallach, Jennifer Wortman Vaughan, Lisa Wainer, and Angela Yu shared a room at NIPS 2005. Late one night, they talked about how exciting it was that there were FOUR female students at NIPS that year. They tried to list all the women in machine learning they know of and got to 10, then started talking about creating a meeting or gathering for all these women and perhaps others that they didn’t know about. Jenn, Lisa, and Hanna put together a proposal for a session at the 2006 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing that would feature talks and posters by female researchers and students in machine learning. The 1st WiML workshop was co-located with the 2006 Grace Hopper Celeberation. In 2008, WiML Workshop moved to NIPS (renamed NeurIPS in 2018) and there has been a WiML Workshop at NeurIPS every year since. In 2020, WiML introduced an “un-workshop” at ICML based on the concept of an “un-conference”, a form of discussion on a pre-selected topic that is primarily driven by participants. Read more WiML history here!
I am a man. Can I attend WiML?
Yes. Allies are welcome to attend! Note, however, that all speakers and poster presenters will primarily identify as women, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming, as our goal is to promote them and their work within the machine learning community.
What are the mentorship roundtables?
Each table seats 8-10 people (including mentors), with two mentors leading the discussion on a particular topic at each table. WiML attendees rotate between tables every 15-20 minutes. This allows attendees to gain exposure to different topics, and mentors to meet a large number of WiML attendees.
Is WiML an archival venue?
No, WiML is a non-archival venue. This means that, if your contribution is accepted, we will not be asking you to submit a camera-ready version of it, nor will we publish it anywhere (neither online nor in proceedings of any sort). We will only make the title and authors’ names available in the program book.
I have a question that isn't answered here. How do I reach you?
We receive a lot of email. Help us help you by reaching out through the appropriate channels.
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Job posting, announcement, CFP, etc: Post directly to WiML mailing list.
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Have event pictures to share: post on Twitter and tag @wimlworkshop
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Workshop enquiries: workshop@wimlworkshop.org
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If you are a company interested in sponsoring WiML: sponsorship@wimlworkshop.org
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Any other enquiries: info@wimlworkshop.org
If you email us, don’t cc multiple email addresses — this saves us time routing your email to one mailbox, and reduces the chances of your email getting lost. Thank you in advance!