Bastiaan Quast is a Dutch

Machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...

researcher. He is the author and lead maintainer of the open-source

rnn RNN or rnn may refer to: * Random neural network, a mathematical representation of an interconnected network of neurons or cells which exchange spiking signals * Recurrent neural network, a class of artificial neural networks where connections betw ...

an
transformer
deep-learning frameworks in the

R programming language R is a programming language for statistical computing and graphics supported by the R Core Team and the R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Created by statisticians Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman, R is used among data miners, bioinform ...

, and the datasets.load GUI package, as well as R packages on

Global Value Chain A global value chain (GVC) refers to the full range of activities that economic actors engaged in to bring a product to market. The global value chain does not only involve production processes, but preproduction (such as design) and postproduction ...

decomposition & WIOD and on

Regression Discontinuity Design In statistics, econometrics, political science, epidemiology, and related disciplines, a regression discontinuity design (RDD) is a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design that aims to determine the causal effects of interventions by assigning a ...

. Quast is a great-great-grandson of the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

laureate

Tobias Asser Tobias Michael Carel Asser (; 28 April 1838 – 29 July 1913) was a Dutch lawyer and legal scholar. In 1911, he won the Nobel Peace Prize (together with Alfred Fried) for his work in the field of private international law, and in particular fo ...

Early life and education

Bastiaan Quast graduated from

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

with a bachelor's degree in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and bachelor's degree in

Theoretical philosophy The modern division of philosophy into theoretical philosophy and practical philosophyImmanuel Kant, ''Lectures on Ethics'', Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 41 ("On Universal Practical Philosophy"). Original text: Immanuel Kant, ''Kant’s Ges ...

. He holds a master's degree in

Econometrics Econometrics is the application of Statistics, statistical methods to economic data in order to give Empirical evidence, empirical content to economic relationships.M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," ''The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of ...

from the

University of St. Gallen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

He obtained his

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

from the

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, or the Geneva Graduate Institute (french: Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement), abbreviated IHEID, is a government-accredited postgraduate institution ...

with advisors Richard Baldwin and

Jean-Louis Arcand Jean-Louis Arcand (born 1964) is a Canadian economist. He is a professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, where he also head of the PhD Development Economics programme. Arca ...

, his work on local languages and internet usage was discussed at the 2017

G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, ...

meeting in Germany.

Career

Quast is an functionary of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

at the

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...

, as Secretary of the

ITU-WHO Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health The ITU-WHO Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health (AI for Health) is an inter-agency collaboration between the World Health Organization and the ITU, which created a benchmarking framework to assess the accuracy of AI in health. Thi ...

and

AI for Good AI for Good is a year-round digital platform of the United Nations, where AI innovators and problem owners learn, discuss and connect to identify practical AI solutions to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs. The impetus for organiz ...

. Bastiaan Quast created the popular

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...

framework

in R, which allows native implementations of recurrent neural network architectures, such as

LSTM Long short-term memory (LSTM) is an artificial neural network used in the fields of artificial intelligence and deep learning. Unlike standard feedforward neural networks, LSTM has feedback connections. Such a recurrent neural network (RNN) ca ...

and

GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

(>100,000 downloads). While working at

UNCTAD The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the ...

, Quast developed the popular package datasets.load, which is part of the top 10% of most downloaded R packages (>100,000). The R packages decompr and wiod have been downloaded >20,000 times.

Bibliography

Kummritz, Victor; Quast, Bastiaan (2017)
Global value chains in developing economies
London, United Kingdom:

VoxEU The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) is an independent, non‐partisan, pan‐European non‐profit organisation. Its mission is to enhance the quality of policy decisions through providing policy‐relevant research, based soundly in e ...

References

External links

Bastiaan Quast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quast, Bastiaan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Dutch computer scientists Data scientists Computer programmers Swiss computer scientists University of Groningen alumni University of St. Gallen alumni Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni Dutch expatriates in Switzerland R (programming language) people