Amadou Ba

o Principal investigator and research lead, for IBM, of 2 multi-million-euro, multi-year, European Union funded consortia (1) for the development of explainable AI dedicated to improving hybrid cloud capabilities, specifically within the framework of cloud-edge continuum, (2) for the development of native AI automation architecture and generative AI approaches to self-optimize and self-configure cloud and 6G network resources. o Leading the development of AI approaches for life cycle and resource management in order to ensure scalability, agility, dynamicity, and effectiveness in the delivery of services in the context of cloud-edge continuum. o Project, people management.

o Set the strategic direction, and led the work that consisted of developing and deploying cloud native, AI solutions encompassing the tandem deep learning/knowledge graph for the monitoring and explainable diagnosis of anomalous behaviors of robots in manufacturing settings, and HVACs, AHUs in buildings. o Led the development and deployment of occupancy and energy solutions for buildings using AI capabilities, which culminated in a general availability release termed Building Insights - as part of pretrained Watson AI tools. The product is now part of Watson IoT SaaS offerings. o Principal investigator of a multi-million project dedicated to developing AI solutions deployable in an open and cloud-based platform in order to reduce the discrepancy between the predicted and the actual energy usage in buildings. o Built consortia involving industries, academia, and SMEs, and led the writing of research proposals in the area of Industry 4.0 to seek fundings from governments and/or the European Commission – the topics addressed are, but not limited to, analytics on the edge, the fog, and the cloud.

o Built and led teams to nurture and mature ideas pertaining to trajectories of new technologies, and capable of being disruptive and/or harbinger of changes for IBM. o Contributed to the formation of umbrellas encompassing topic pillars that were presented to and validated by IBM senior executives.

o Supported the newly created Watson IoT by streamlining existing IBM Research solutions to the requirements of Watson IoT, and identifying, pitching research solutions emanating from IBM Research worldwide, and capable of bringing added value. o Participated in key strategic meetings with Watson IoT executives to set the strategic direction of the business unit in congruence with market needs. o Coordinated the worldwide activities of IBM Research in Cognitive IoT solutions, and organized regular meetings to monitor progresses with respect to the schedules and the ongoing pertinence of the solutions to Watson IoT business unit, all the while identifying backlogs and risks.

o Assisted the director in the day-to-day management, operation of IBM Research Ireland by relaying the director’s directives to the senior managers/managers and ensuring that they are meticulously understood and diligently implemented, before reverting back to the director. o Coordinated the worldwide activities of IBM Research in Smarter Cities, the areas covered are, but not limited to, Smart Buildings, Smart Grid, Smart Health, Smart Transportation, Smart Water and Environment. o Entrusted with occasional delegation of IBM Research Ireland duties, and represented the director to executive meetings across various geographies.

o Established and led IBM Research Ireland ThinkLab, a tripartite research/business model involving clients, IBM business development teams, and IBM scientists in order to quickly foster innovation and accelerate the go-to-market of the resulting products. o Built, trained, and led teams on the ThinkLab technologies and research/business models, while working on prime topics of strategic interest to IBM Research Ireland, such as Smart Buildings, Smart Grid, Smart Health, Smart Transportation, and Smart Water and Environment.

o Led the development of machine learning solutions and incorporation of the solutions into IBM InfoSphere Streams platform, an application example includes real-time forecasting of electrical load for a large Energy and Utility company within the framework of their digital transformation. o Led the development of approaches to water distribution networks monitoring and leakage/contaminants detection, along with AI solutions for water demand forecasting at nationwide and integration of the solutions into IBM Intelligent Operations for Water platform.

o Led the development of AI and analytics approaches, and integration of the solutions into the operating system of an oil and gas drilling system (PowerDrive Archer). This took place for on-line and intelligent control of PowerDrive Archer trajectories by exploiting sensor measurements providing, for example, the Dog Leg Severity (DLS) and the Well Tool Face (WTF). o Developed non-linear and stochastic algorithms to allow for automatic calibration of drilling data by using measurements while drilling (MWD) and logging while drilling (LWD). This allows to assist drilling operators in real-time.

o Led the development of modelling and monitoring approaches for innovative wireline drilling robots, particularly for their hydraulic systems, using semantic-like reasoning (Bond Graph) in conjunction with system identification methods to prevent unplanned downtime. And, embedded the solutions into the operating system of those drilling robots. o Exploited bit/rock interaction models in tandem with control theory, machine learning algorithms that employ adaptive hyper-parameters, and sequential Monte Carlo approaches, to elaborate monitoring capabilities that provide real-time insights into the status of drill-bits, and recommend predictive maintenance policies. o Led the development of reconfiguration approaches that operate in parallel with monitoring solutions for drilling robots and perform automatic recalibration of drilling robots’ parameters in case of anticipated anomalies in order to preserve their highest performance.

o Developed and implemented control theory algorithms based on parity space in conjunction with statistical tests for the monitoring of aircraft engines and detection of faulty sensors.

o Designed and developed from scratch a modernized electronic card of an Atomic Force Microscopy that used a state-of-the-art microprocessor and control techniques to ensure a nano-metric precision of a cantilever displacement and improvement of high quality image rendering.

o Developed and implemented grafcets algorithms to optimize the manufacturing process of automotive breaking systems.

Thesis: Online monitoring and control of oilfield drilling processes with system identification methods. In collaboration with Schlumberger. Supervisors: Prof. M. Verge, Prof. N. Mechbal

Business Organization and Strategy - Operations and Quality Management - Project, Technology and Change Management - R&D - Marketing of Innovation - Negotiation - Entrepreneurship - Financial Economics

Thesis: Online monitoring of aircraft engines and diagnosis of failed sensors with parity space approaches. In collaboration with Safran Engineering Services. Supervisor: Prof. M. Verge