News Release: Hamilton, Bermuda – On Friday July 12, Premier David Burt presented a $2,500 cheque to 16-year-old student, Kairo Morton to attend an invitation only four week summer internship at Yale University with the ROSE group.

Kairo will be working on an Artificial Intelligence PhD project administered by Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Ruzica Piskac, which runs from July 22 July to August 16, 2019.

Kairo attended the Code 441 Bermuda Hackathon, where he impressed Yale computer science faculty, Mr Mark Santolucito, a PhD candidate. Shortly afterwards, Mr Morton was invited to collaborate with the ROSE group on their research on program synthesis for a live programming environment.

While making the donation, Premier David Burt stated: “I am extremely pleased to acknowledge the talent and hard work of Kairo Morton. His passion and skill in the areas of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence have been recognized by Yale, and the Bermuda Government is extremely proud of his accomplishments thus far.

“On behalf of the Government and people of Bermuda, I am pleased to present this cheque of $2,500. We will also assist the family by covering Kairo’s airfare under this Government’s new frequent flyer programme set up to enable students to attend opportunities such as this.”

The Morton family was joined at the presentation by CCS Limited representatives, Mr Lloyd Fray and Mr Azeem Khan, who matched the Government’s donation to assist Kairo during the internship. Mr Fray stated: “CCS believe in innovative and disruptive technologies with AI and coding on the forefront of the technology revolution, Kairo is leading the charge.”

In accepting the donations, Kairo expressed his thanks and great appreciation to his parents and family members for their support, wisdom and advice.

He added: “A sincere thank you to the financial sponsors who have made this upcoming endeavor possible, specifically the Premier and Government of Bermuda, CCS Group Ltd, Yale University, and Mr Patrick Tannock.

“Finally, I would like to thank Jahde Eve for hosting the Code 441 event at which I was able to meet Mark Santolucito from the PhD team at Yale.”

Kairo is too young to live on campus so a family member must accompany him during the internship with funds still being needed for expenses.

If you would like to assist with Kairo’s expenses, please contact his father, Scott Morton at srjkmorton@gmail.com for more information.

  • In 2017 the Progressive Labour Party Election Platform stated the Government requires all travel booked with public funds to be recorded under a business frequent flyer plan in the name of the Government of Bermuda. The benefits accumulated from this travel will be used to assist students who are recipients of training awards with the costs for their travel and to help other citizens in need
  • Feature Photos Courtesy of DC