Dr. Xiao-Ping (Steven) Zhang helped bring the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing to Toronto to showcase the city as a centre for research and development in information technology, signal processing, big data and machine learning. Working with the Leaders Circle, he helped develop the conference proposal and promote Toronto to an international audience.
The Story
Dr. Xiao-Ping (Steven) Zhang saw bringing ICASSP 2021 to Toronto as an opportunity to promote the city’s research community on a global stage. He wanted the conference to highlight Toronto as a centre for research and development in information technology, signal processing, big data and machine learning, while giving greater visibility to local researchers, universities and students.
He also wanted international colleagues to experience Toronto beyond the conference, from its waterfront and skyline to downtown neighbourhoods, multicultural communities and food. Zhang credited the Leaders Circle with being helpful from the beginning, working with the team on the proposal and preparing materials to showcase Toronto. For him, bringing a leading international conference like ICASSP to the city was an important opportunity to promote both Toronto and the people contributing to its research community.
