Senior Director, Algorithms and Applications,
SynSense (formerly aiCTX AG)
Thurgauerstrasse 40,
CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Email: sadique dot sheik at synsense dot ai
Webpage: sheiksadique.github.io

Understanding the principles of nature has always been at the core for the evolution of physics and engineering. The human brain is perhaps the pinnacle of this endeavor. I strive to extend our understanding and employ it to design neuromorphic devices to perform robust, energy-efficient cognitive computation.

• Spiking Deep Neural Networks(SDNNs), and Spiking Convolutional Neural Networks (SCNNs)
• Recurrent networks, Learning and Classification of spatio-temporal patterns.
• Learning rules, pairwise/triplet/calcium based STDP.
• Multi-modal, sensory integration.

• Novel architecture design for ML applications on the edge
• Understanding cognitive computation from a machine learning perspective.
• Unsupervised learning, Generative models, Reinforcement Learning.

• Substrate driven computation.
• Computational models to exploit peculiarities in neuromorphic engineering (like mismatch).
• Architecture design for neuromorphic processors.
• Generic description of neuromorphic chips and standardization.
• Software interface to neuromorphic chips.

• PhD in Neuroinformatics and Neuromorphic engineering (2009-2013)
  Institute of Neuroinformatics,
  Department of Physics,
  ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• B.Sc.(Hons.)+M.Sc. in Physics (2002-2007)
  Department of Physics,
  Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur, India

Senior Director, Algorithms and Applications (2020 - curent)
Senior Research and Development Engineer (2018 - 2020)
At SynSense I am responsible for directing development of applicaiton driven neuromorphic design efforts for low-power real-time systems. My daily activities at SynSense involve:

• Analysis and development of state-of-the art event driven algorithms for deep learning inference
• Coordinate algorithms team and hardware design team efforts
• Development of efficient and compact hardware architectures for event-driven computation
• In-house research tool development
• Product design for software products
• Project management

PostDoc - Neuromorphic Engineer and Computational Neuroscientist
My research involves investigation of event based learning algorithms for spiking neural networks to perform cognitive tasks, and to do so in real-time with neuromorphic hardware, in a robust manner. Some fields of research I was involved in are:

• Sequence learning and classification
• Stochastic computation with spiking neurons
• Role of stochasticity in Learning
• Dynamical systems approach to Neural Networks
• Large scale neuromorphic systems
• Hardware-software drivers and UIs

PostDoc Research Scientist
I investigated several computational models of spiking neural networks and machine learning algorithms from an application standpoint and exploring optimal neural architectures for such models.

• Investigated energy efficienfy of Synaptic Sampling Machines.
• Developed a novel spike based learning algorithm optimal for neuromorphic implementation.
• Designed software moduels and API for interfacing with hardware

Associate System Engineer - SAP Basis Consultant
SAP Basis Consultancy deals with installation and maintenance of software that integrates all the jobs and data of an organization, in order to maximize organizational efficiency. It also deals with system security. My key contributions are listed below.

• Implementation of SAP R/3 4.7 Data Recovery Server.
• On-site SAP Basis support and maintenance for a major petro-chemical firm (HPL).

Frontiers in Neuroscience, Neuromorphic Engineering

• "Spike-based Temporal Processing and Learning for Neuromorphic Systems"; Muri workshop,San Diego, USA 2017
• "Neuromorphic Engineering for Machine Learning"; First International Symposium on Neuromorphic Engineering, Shanghai, China, April 29, 2016
• "Role of Transistor Mismatch in Neuromorphic Engineering"; Boise State University, USA, March 13, 2015

• Development of Directionality in Evolutionary Algorithms (M.Sc. Project with Prof. Arghya Taraphder, IIT Kharagpur).
• Microscopic Polarization Imaging: Imaging of Biological cells and Tissues (Semester project; Advanced Experiments in Physics with Prof. Partha Roy Chaudhuri, IIT Kharagpur)
• Nonlinear Dynamics and Boundary Conditions of Excited Double Pendulum (Summer project with Prof. Krishna Kumar, IIT Kharagpur)
• Design and Development of Web Based Text Editor (SRIC sponsored project at CET, IIT Kharagpur)