A University of Alberta professor who literally wrote the book on reinforcement learning has been awarded the world's most prestigious prize in computing science.
Richard Sutton, a University of Alberta computing science professor and one of the founders of modern computational reinforcement learning, has been honoured as co-recipient of the 2024 Association for Computing Machinery A.M. Turing Award, often referred to as the "Nobel Prize in computing."
Sutton, who has been instrumental in transforming Alberta into a world-renowned artificial intelligence hub since arriving at the University of Alberta nearly 25 years ago, was honoured alongside longtime collaborator Andrew Barto. The award, named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, carries a US$1-million prize funded by Google.
