Acclaimed computer scientist Ling Haibin, known for developing the world's first mobile plant identification app, has left the US to join Westlake University in China. He cited greater freedom for innovative research as a key reason for the move.
AI scientist Ling Haibin, the creator of the world's first mobile plant identification app LeafSnap, has left his full-time position at Stony Brook University in New York to join Westlake University in Hangzhou, eastern China.
One of Ling's PhD research projects involved using computers to recognize leaves of different shapes, which led to the creation of the LeafSnap app. The app teaches users about plant diversity, how to care for houseplants, diagnose diseases, and track their own plant collections.
As a former Empire Innovation Professor at Stony Brook and an IEEE Fellow—the highest grade of membership in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers—Ling is widely recognized as a pioneer in computer vision and AI.
Westlake University announced on social media on December 29 that the 51-year-old Ling will serve as chair professor in its Department of Artificial Intelligence, leading the Intelligent Computing and Application Lab.
Ling said he made the career move because Westlake offered greater freedom for exploring novel research avenues. “Traditional AI fields have become highly mature, and genuine breakthroughs require fresh exploration,” Ling said, adding that he felt a greater sense of freedom and inclusivity at Westlake and that the university provided substantial support.
Ling's research centers on areas including computer vision, augmented reality (AR), medical image analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) for science.
