Dr. Tonya Custis has over 15 years of experience performing applied Artificial Intelligence research and leading AI research teams & projects at Autodesk, Thomson Reuters, eBay, and Honeywell. Tonya earned a Ph.D. in Linguistics, an M.S. in Computer Science, and an M.A. in Linguistics, all from the University of Minnesota. She also has a B.A. in Music from the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include Natural Language Processing & Understanding, Information Retrieval, Machine Learning, Geometric Deep Learning, Geometry Understanding, and Generative AI. In her current position as the Director of AI Research at Autodesk, she leads a team of research scientists carrying out foundational and applied algorithmic research in Artificial Intelligence in the context of the Manufacturing, AEC, and Media & Entertainment industries.