Drawing influence from over 2,000 years ago, MIT Professor Justin Solomon is building upon the works of Greek mathematician Euclid – the father of geometry, using modern geometric techniques to tackle difficult problems, often not related to shapes. Solomon works in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science as part of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT. Explaining one problem he tackles, Solomon realizes that when data is arranged in high-dimensional space, datasets share geometric structures. Once understood, it gives insight into how a machine-learning model will react, using one set of data for training and the other for testing.
The language for data often mirrors geometry. There are similarities, distance, shape, and curvature. With an early interest in computer graphics, Solomon started crafting algorithms for 3D face recognition as an intern during high school. Eventually, he interned with Pixar during college, focusing on physical simulations of cloth and fluids to improve animations’ realism. This position piqued interest in computer science and mathematics, causing him to double-major at Stanford. In grad school, he focused on an issue called optimal transport – moving a distribution to another as efficiently as possible, primarily used in shipping.
Salomon claims the way the research evolved guided his group structure at MIT, purposefully kept ambiguous. Half of his team handles issues of processing two- and three-dimensional geometric data, such as managing 3D organ scans for medical imaging and teaching autonomous vehicles to identify pedestrians using LiDAR sensor data. The other half uses geometric tools to conduct high-dimensional statistical research, like creating better generative AI models.
Salomon is dedicated to making geometric research accessible to all and not a finite subset of scholars from particular environments. To facilitate this goal, he launched the Summer Geometry Initiative – a paid research program for undergraduates primarily from underrepresented backgrounds, providing an introduction to geometry research. Salomon has observed that this program has changed the composition of incoming PhD students at MIT and other institutions bettering diversity.
Apart from computer graphics, recording increasing problems in machine learning and statistics that geometric techniques can tackle necessitate increased diversity in research scholars. Solomon looks forward to improving unsupervised machine learning models using this geometric approach.
Apart from geometric research, Salomon is an avid musician, often found playing the piano or cello, currently a cello player with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in Newton, Massachusetts. He finds his interests in music and computer graphics mutually beneficial, both analytical and artistic in nature.
