Kama Svoboda Receives Prestigious UA Grad Fellowship
The University Fellow is contributing to more energy-efficient neural networking for AI.
While Kama Svoboda’s work in brain-inspired computing to advance AI is impressive in its own right, her objectives stretch well beyond the lab.
“As a research scientist, my goal is to be a positive role model and mentor, especially for other women in STEM,” said the 2023-2024 University of Arizona Fellow.
Svoboda, an ECE doctoral student who also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering at the UA, specializes in Spiking Neural Networks, or SNNs, an artificial intelligence that mimics the human brain.
“My research is focused on creating and optimizing biologically inspired neural networks in hardware,” she said. “This makes them more efficient and capable of handling information in a way that is similar to how our brains process sensory data like sights and sounds.”
SNNs also use less power than traditional artificial neural networks, or ANNs, and they can perform on-device learning as opposed to cloud computing. SNNs, Svoboda said, have the potential to improve efficiency and data security for technologies ranging from medical devices to satellites and autonomous vehicles.
University Fellows are among the highest-ranking incoming graduate students. The fellowships, which in 2023-2024 numbered fewer than 20 campuswide, provide not only multiple-year financial support but also professional development and opportunities to collaborate with PhD students across disciplines.
“The recipients of our graduate fellowships are some of the most outstanding applicants to our graduate programs,” said Kelly Simmons Potter, the college’s associate dean for academic affairs. “The ability to provide research fellowships to these students can be a critical factor that enables them to pursue their graduate educational and research goals, to the benefit of both their careers and the broader fields of engineering.”
Svoboda plans to continue specializing in SNNs as she looks toward a job in industry and helping diversify the voices at the table to accomplish the best engineering solutions.