I am a
Professor in the Department of
Computer Science at the University
of Kentucky.
This fall, I am teaching
Discrete Math
and Bayesian Artificial Intelligence<1>.
My research interests include decision making under uncertainty;
automation of information elicitation; preference elicitation, representation,
and aggregation; computational learning theory, and
structural complexity.
I co-organized the UAI Workshop on Bayesian Applications in '07,
and the AAAI Workshop on Preference Handling in AI in '07.
I am currently working on (co-editing) a special issue of the International
Journal of Approximate Reasoning based on the
UAI workshop, and a special issue of AI Magazine on preferences.
Recently, I was on the program committees for
UAI '05, '06, '07; AAAI '05, '06;
the VLDB '07, AAAI '07, ECAI '06, and IJCAI '05 Workshops on Preferences,
plus various workshops and earlier conference PCs.
I am the PI on an ITR grant on
Decision
Making Under Uncertainty with Constraints. This is a
multi-disciplinary, multi-professor project that applies
decision-making analysis and software to academic advising
and Kentucky Welfare to Work.
I am involved with the new
Cognitive Science program here at UK. There is an undergraduate
minor and a graduate certificate available.
A calendar of
upcoming religious holidays.
I spent the academic year '06-'07 on sabbatical. I visited Bob
Sloan at the University of Illinois-Chicago,
Michael Littman and Eric Allender at Rutgers University,
and then the Cork Center for Constraint Computation, in
Ireland;
friends in England;
Joerg Rothe in Duesseldorf, Germany;
Linda van der Gaag in Utrecht, Netherlands;
Martin Mundhenk, Jena, Germany;
Patrice Perny, Paris, France.
I have posted
many pictures from my travels.
My paper, ``The Computational Complexity of Probabilistic Plan Existence
and Evaluation," M. Littman, J. Goldsmith, and M. Mundhenk,
The Journal of AI Research, volume 9, pages 1--36, 1998,
received honorable mention for the
The Annual IJCAI-JAIR Best Paper Prize
In February 1998, I was awarded the American Association
for the Advancement of Science (junior) mentoring award,
in recognition of the support I have given to people in categories
underrepresented in science: women, people of color, people with
learning disabilities and physical handicaps, and people choosing
alternative lifestyles. It was very nice to get official recognition
of my ongoing mentoring work.
I dance with
Squash
Beetle Morris,
I bicycle, and I
contra dance. I also call contra dances, which means
I teach the dances, and then prompt the dancers as they dance.
My next gig is Feb. 22nd, in Lexington.
The local dances in Lexington are at ArtsPlace
at N. Mill and Church Streets; beginners
should show up around 7:30 for the beginners' workshop.
No partner or experience needed. The music is always live.
Krol Kevin Mathias
Joshua Guerin
Nick Mattei
Tom Dodson
Derek Williams
Kiran Bhuma
Stephen Christensen
Erik Jessup
Shelia Sittinger,
Christopher Wells
Recent
Papers
Students
PhD students
Liangrong Yi MS students
Casey Lengacher Undergrad RAs
David KriegFormer Students and Postdocs
Peng DaiLinks
On plastic bags
WEB pages for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science
Citeseer, a great research tool.
Great Theory Database at Universitaet Dortmund
An amusing article about my late grandmother, may she rest in peace.
Accesses since the new century (or the last crash):
Citizens ruled by fear are citizens primed for manipulation. We cannot allow the very real threats to our safety to rule our lives. We must live and act based on our deepest convictions.
As the US war machine continues to grind, as people the world over continue killing each other in the name of peace or justice, it is difficult for tree huggers and peaceniks to maintain their equilibrium. The work of trying to change the world is difficult and tiring, but we must, must allow ourselves time to stop and breathe, time to play and dance, as well as to mourn. Or else, what are we working for?