John Willes

John Willes is a Technical Team Lead at Vector Institute since March 2022, focusing on Research Engineering and Foundation Models. Previously, John held the position of Applied ML Specialist and Graduate Researcher at the University of Toronto from September 2019 to December 2021, specializing in Computer Vision, Few-Shot Learning, and Multi-Object Tracking within the Toronto Robotics & AI Lab. Prior experience includes co-founding Fetch Biosciences and serving as an Alumni of NEXT Canada’s NextAI 2019 Cohort. John also worked as a Web Services Tech Lead and Software Engineer at TimePlay Inc. from May 2017 to August 2019, and as a Research Assistant at McGill University in the Center for Intelligent Machines. Early career experiences include internships in mechanical engineering and project management at H. Rand GmbH and Bombardier Aerospace. John holds a Master of Applied Science from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering with Honours from McGill University.