PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

James Clark

Also known as James J. Clark

James Clark is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at McGill University whose research spans computer vision, human visual attention and efficient machine learning. Born in Vancouver, he earned his BASc in 1980 and his PhD in 1985 at the University of British Columbia, then worked at Harvard's Division of Applied Science and at Nissan Cambridge Basic Research. He joined McGill in 1996, coauthored the 1999 Nature paper on change blindness caused by "mudsplashes", and directed the Centre for Intelligent Machines from 2013 to 2019. The Canadian Image Processing and Pattern Recognition Society gave him its Award for Research Excellence in 2014, and he was lead General Chair of ICCV in 2021. He is an associate academic member of Mila and works on efficient machine learning for edge devices and AI applications in retail.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 1980–1985

    Engineering degrees at UBC

    Born in Vancouver, he earns a BASc in 1980 and a PhD in 1985, both in electrical engineering at the University of British Columbia.

  2. 1985–1996

    Harvard faculty, then Nissan

    He is a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard's Division of Applied Science in 1985, then a Gordon McKay Assistant Professor from 1986 and Associate Professor from 1990, associated with the Harvard Robotics Lab. In 1994, he moves to Nissan Cambridge Basic Research as a visiting researcher and stays until 1996.

  3. 1996–2004

    Associate professor at McGill

    In 1996, he joins the Department of Electrical Engineering at McGill University in Montreal as an associate professor.

  4. 1999

    Change blindness and mudsplashes

    In 1999, he coauthors a Nature paper with J. Kevin O'Regan and Ronald A. Rensink. It shows that large changes in a scene go unnoticed when a few small high-contrast shapes, like mudsplashes on a windscreen, flash over the picture.

  5. 2004–2019

    Associate dean and CIM director

    He becomes a full professor in McGill's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2004 and serves as Associate Dean (Academic) of the Faculty of Engineering from 2005 to 2011. From 2013 to 2019, he directs McGill's Centre for Intelligent Machines.

  6. 2014

    A research excellence award

    He receives the Canadian Image Processing and Pattern Recognition Society (CIPPRS/ACTIRF) Award for Research Excellence in 2014.

  7. 2021

    General Chair of ICCV 2021

    In 2021, he is lead General Chair of the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), together with Tamara Berg, Yasuyuki Matsushita and Camillo Taylor. In March 2021, the four chairs announce that the conference will be a virtual event.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at McGill and Mila

    He is a professor in McGill's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and an associate academic member of Mila. He co-directs the McGill Retail Innovation Lab, a post he has held since 2019, and his current research covers efficient machine learning methods for edge devices and applications of AI to retail business.

Career

  1. Since 1996McGill UniversityAssociate Professor, Full Professor
  2. NowMilaAssociate academic member
  3. 1994–1996NissanVisiting researcher
  4. 1985–1994Harvard UniversityPostdoctoral Fellow, Gordon McKay Assistant Professor

Education

  1. 1985University of British ColumbiaPhD
  2. 1980University of British ColumbiaBASc

From the biography.

  1. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes McGill University. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.
  2. Universities (31%) and startups and other companies (25%) employ the largest shares of 2020–2026 entrantsIncludes Mila. Among 819 people whose first recorded role started in 2020–2026 and who have a known current organization, 60% work in commercial sectors (25% at startups and other companies, 23% at frontier labs and 13% at big tech, with 9 in two), and 31% work at universities, compared with 66% for earlier entrants.
  3. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes McGill University. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  4. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes Mila. Our estimates of the organizations where 550 people worked directly before joining 9 frontier AI labs across 620 career transitions, comparing the main feeder organizations per lab.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of James Clark yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Bio of Dr. James J. Clark cim.mcgill.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Curriculum Vitae - Professor James J. Clark cim.mcgill.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Change-blindness as a result of 'mudsplashes' | Nature nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. James Clark | Mila mila.quebec. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Home | ICCV 2021 iccv2021.thecvf.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. James J Clark | Electrical and Computer Engineering - McGill University mcgill.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.