Group of students holding up a piece of paper.
  • Gratituesday

Accessible and equitable AI education created for students, by students

QMIND – Queen’s AI Hub

Queen’s AI Hub – or QMIND – is offering students practical experience and education in artificial intelligence (AI).

Through hands-on team projects, regular speaker seminars, industry-level workshops and professional development support, Queen’s students are developing crucial skills and proficiencies in AI to create unique solutions to real-world problems. One of these solutions was creating an algorithm capable of predicting patient occupancy levels at Kingston General Hospital, which helped the hospital optimize its patient flow and avoid wasted resources. 

“When I first joined QMIND three years ago, I had no idea it would play such an important role in my Queen’s experience,” says QMIND’s Director of Finance and fourth-year Commerce student Peter Youngson. “The opportunities available with this organization are truly unrivalled and I encourage students of all programs to get involved.”

QMIND was founded in 2018 with the realization that Queen’s students were not getting practical experience in artificial intelligence through their coursework. Seeing the emerging technology landscape skyrocket, then Queen’s student Cooper Midroni, Sc’20, and his team embarked on a mission to level the playing field. They launched QMIND so students would have the opportunity to work on design projects and tackle real-world problems. QMIND started out with 30 members and has transformed into a full-fledged, 200-member organization with 30-plus design teams, a national conference with 400-plus delegates, and Canada’s first incubator program. 

QMIND’s mission is to increase accessibility to the AI and tech communities at Queen’s and beyond and provide hands-on, engaging experiences to its members. This is why, thanks to donor support and other fundraising activities, they created the QMIND Award, awarded each year to a student with demonstrated financial need who is interested in pursuing AI while continuing their undergraduate studies. 

“I’ve met some of my best friends through QMIND,” says fourth-year Applied Mathematics QMIND member Ariana Bakhtyari. “I’ve been given the opportunity to host events, create educational resources, and even start our very own high school outreach program.”

Breeding a culture of permanence and dedication, QMIND has pushed the boundaries of student-run organizations by continuously growing and expanding beyond its initial mission and will continue to flourish for years to come.