Computers doing things that are characteristically human is a lifelong fascination and something of a career ambition for QUT Professor Peter Bartlett.
Professor Bartlett from QUT's Science and Engineering Faculty has been named a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and joins the ranks of the nation's most distinguished scientists.
The appointment is in recognition for his pioneering work on statistical machine learning, and the science behind algorithms that learn from data.
"I've always been fascinated by the idea of artificial intelligence, of computers being able to do things that are characteristically human," he said.
Professor Bartlett said his research was inspired by a curiosity to understand concepts nobody understood before and their relevance to real problems.
"I like doing things that are mathematically elegant, but at the same time, things that matter, that affect our lives," he said.
He said the use of computers to solve complex problems and to make effective decisions described statistical learning theory.
"For instance, using data to build systems that can recognise objects in images, distinguish different diseases from genetic fingerprints of cells, or understand what we mean when we ask our mobile phone a question," he said.
"If I said I was doing artificial intelligence, people used to think I was building robots."
"I'd explain it involved statistics and people found that confusing but as we've seen google get smarter, and particularly now that everyone's talking about big data, it's become easier to explain what I do."
Professor Bartlett has flown back to Australia from the United States for the formal announcement in Canberra.
He is also a professor of computer science and statistics at the University of California at Berkeley.
Each year 20 fellows are elected to the Australian Academy of Science for their achievements and eminence in natural science.
He will be among eight other Queensland scientists to be elected for their significant contributions to science.
"Each of these research scientists has changed the way we think and made a significant and lasting contribution to his or her field," said Academy Professor Andrew Holmes.
Professor Bartlett will make a presentation of his work at 'Science at the Shine Dome' on Tuesday 25 May.
"It's a huge honour and it's a fantastic acknowledgement of the work many collaborators, including students and post doctorates," he said.
Professor Bartlett said computer and information sciences were under represented in Australia.
He said understanding how to make effective decisions from complex data streams was a central scientific and technological challenge of our time.
"It's becoming more important for industry, for science, for government," he said.
In August 2011 Professor Bartlett was awarded an Australian Laureate Fellowship by the Australian Research Council.
He is also a Chief Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical & Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS).
Media contact: Debra Nowland, QUT media officer, 07 3138 1150 (Mon, Wed & Thurs) or media@qut.edu.au (Mon-Fri)
