Tolgahan Cakaloglu

Distinguished Scientist and Director of Artificial Intelligence Walmart

Tolgahan Cakaloglu is a distinguished scientist and director of artificial intelligence (AI) at Walmart with a remarkable track record in pioneering AI research and its practical applications most specifically GenAI/LLM and Knowledge Graphs. With a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Arkansas, where he specialized in deep learning, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, Tolgahan has consistently demonstrated his expertise and commitment to the field. With an extensive academic background, including a Ph.D. dissertation on "Multi-Resolution Models for Learning Multilevel Abstract Representation with Application to Information Retrieval," advised by Dr. Christian Szegedy and Dr. Xiaowei Xu, he has also contributed significantly to the academic community with numerous papers and patents in the realm of AI. Tolgahan's professional journey spans across top-tier organizations, including Walmart, Google, University of Arkansas, and Turkish Airlines where he played pivotal roles in advancing AI solutions and technology. His career has been distinguished by substantial contributions to the commercial-grade data science products, driving business growth, customer-centric portfolio management, and AI-powered recommender systems. His esteemed academic and professional trajectory is highlighted by his active participation in leading AI conferences, serving as a member of the review committees for NeurIPS (Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems), ICML (International Conference on Machine Learning), and ICLR (International Conference on Learning Representations). This involvement, combined with his contributions to editorial boards and a myriad of activities, exemplifies his leadership and captures the essence of his innovative spirit in the field of artificial intelligence. With numerous publications and publications, including the recent work on "MRNN: A Multi-Resolution Neural Network with Duplex Attention for Document Retrieval," he continues to shape the landscape of AI. Additionally, Tolgahan has a strong patent portfolio, with numerous patents filed in the realm of AI. These patents underscore his innovative approach and practical impact on the field. Notably, Tolgahan's leadership extends to his founding of the "Artificial Intelligence in Arkansas" group, aimed at fostering knowledge sharing and propelling the significance of AI and deep learning within the region. Tolgahan Cakaloglu remains at the forefront of AI research and development, driving innovation and transformative change in the field.