In this episode of the IEEE Signal Processing Society podcast, Felicia Lim, a staff software engineer at Google, where she works on audio signal processing and machine learning, interviews Dr. Ivan Tashev, Partner Software Architect at Microsoft Research (MSR) – Redmond USA, where he leads the Audio and Acoustics Research Group. Their conversation explores the rapid development of novel algorithms in AI and their impact on the audio processing domain.

Dr. Ivan Tashev

Dr. Ivan Tashev is a Partner Software Architect at MSR in Redmond, WA, USA, where he leads the Audio and Acoustics Research Group and also coordinates the Brain-Computer Interfaces project. He is an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, and an Honorary Professor at the Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria. He is also an IEEE Fellow and a member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and the Acoustical Society of America (ASA).

In this episode, Dr. Tashev discusses the unique challenges of audio signal processing as a specialized domain, examining why traditional statistical methods have limitations and how machine learning and AI approaches offer new solutions. He also talks about the future trajectory of machine learning and AI in transforming audio signal processing capabilities.

In this episode of the IEEE Signal Processing Society podcast, Dr. Lav Varshney, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign interviews Dr. Kush Varshney, an IBM Fellow and globally recognized expert in trustworthy machine learning. Their conversation explores the multifaceted landscape of trustworthy AI.

Kush Varshney

Kush R. Varshney is an IBM Fellow at IBM Research and a leading authority on trustworthy AI. His work focuses on making AI systems not only accurate but also fair, robust, explainable, transparent, inclusive, and beneficial. He is the author of a book entitled “Trustworthy Machine Learning” and creator of widely used toolkits like AI Fairness 360 and AI Explainability 360.

In this episode, Dr. Varshney outlines the core principles of trustworthy AI and distinguishes it from related concepts such as AI ethics, AI safety, and responsible AI. He shares how signal processing techniques—like Boolean compressed sensing and continued fraction representations, and short-time Fourier transforms—inform his approach. The conversation covers the societal impact of AI, the shift toward generative and agentic models, the importance of governance and policy, and new research directions aimed at building more empowering and accountable AI systems.

In this episode of the IEEE Signal Processing Society podcast, Nir Shlezinger from Ben-Gurion University and Yonina C. Eldar from the Weizmann Institute of Science discuss the design of machine learning systems that are inherently efficient.

Nir Shlezinger and Yonina C. Eldar

Nir Shlezinger is an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. His research spans signal processing, machine learning, and communications. He has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the IEEE Communications Society Fred W. Ellersick Prize and the 2024 Krill Award.

Yonina C. Eldar is a Professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where she heads the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Signal Processing. She is also a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and an IEEE Fellow.

In this episode, Dr. Shlezinger and Dr. Eldar engage in a rich discussion on model-based deep learning—an approach that combines classical signal processing principles with modern data-driven techniques. This framework promotes efficiency not only through computational improvements, but by designing learning algorithms that naturally align with physical models and mathematical structures. They explore the key principles behind this methodology, its practical advantages, and its growing impact across a range of signal processing applications.