Research Activities

My research is broadly in artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications; I am enticed by problems that require a blend of techniques to develop systems and algorithms that support decision making for autonomous agents and/or humans. My research vision is to use both theory and experiment to create novel algorithms, mechanisms, and systems that enable and support individual and group decision making. My research projects have touched on many different areas within artificial intelligence and computer science more broadly including: algorithms and complexity; game theory and computational social choice; data analytics, data mining, and machine learning; decision theoretic planning and decision making under uncertainty; preference handling and preference reasoning; and constraint programming and optimization.

Please see my Research Statement,  Publications, or my CV for more details.

Awards

  • Selected as a junior researcher participant to the 5th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (2017).
  • 2015 NASA Ames Research Center Patent Application Award for Low Burden Star Tracker.
  • Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) 2015 Conference Outstanding Program Committee Member Award.
  • Most Social Researcher, NICTA/Data61 Optimization Research Group, 2014.
  • American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) 2014 Zone 1 Conference Finalist for Best Paper Award for Lessons Learned from Development of a Software Tool to Support Academic Advising.
  • Australasian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AUAI) 2013 Finalist for Best Paper Award for Updates and Uncertainty in CP-Nets.
  • International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) 2013 Video Competition Most Educational Video Award for ADT@NICTA.
  • Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society (FLAIRS) 2012 Conference Best Student Paper Award for On the Complexity of Bribery and Manipulation in Tournaments with Uncertain Information.
  • 2012 University of Kentucky Myrle E. and Verle D. Nietzel Visiting Distinguished Faculty Program Award which includes funding to include Prof. Francesca Rossi on my dissertation committee (2 awards university wide, $1,500).
  • Selected to attend the 2011 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) Doctoral Consortium which included funding from the NSF for an extended research visit with Dr. Francesca Rossi in Padova, Italy, Summer 2011, $7,000.
  • 2011 University of Kentucky Provost’s Award for Outstanding Teaching, Finalist (4 awards university wide).
  • 2010 NASA Ames Honor Award for Outstanding Team (Nano-Satellite Team).
  • 2010 University of Kentucky Department of Computer Science ACM/UPE Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, Honorable Mention.
  • 2008 University of Kentucky Department of Computer Science ACM/UPE Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.
  • 2001 Kentucky Governors’ Scholar.

Grants

  • Co-Author with Prof. Judy Goldsmith (Principle Investigator) NSF-EAGER Grant: Teaching Computer Ethics through Literature, $151,802 (08/2016).
  • Co-Author with Prof. Judy Goldsmith (Principle Investigator) NSF-CCF Grant: Doctoral Consortium for Algorithmic Decision Theory and Logic Programming and Non-monotonic Reasoning, $15,000 (09/2015).
  • Co-Author with Prof. Judy Goldsmith (Principle Investigator) and Prof. Michel Regenwetter (Principle Investigator) on NSF-ICES Grant: Robust Preference Aggregation, $125,000 (09/2012 — 08/2014).
  • Co-Author with Prof. Judy Goldsmith (Principle Investigator) on NSF-EAGER Grant: Changing Minds, Changing Probabilities, $168,300 (09/2010 — 08/2013).
  • Full Academic Scholarship to the University of Kentucky (2002–2006) and College of Engineering Academic Scholarship (2002–2006).

Professional Service and Activities

  • Senior Program Committees
    • International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2016).
    • International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2018, 2017).
  • Program Committees
    • ACM/AAAI Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES 2018).
    • AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013).
    • AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence Doctoral Consortium (AAAI:DC 2018).
    • European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI 2016).
    • Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013).
    • International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2018, 2017, 2015, 2013).
    • International Conference on Algorithmic Decision Theory (ADT 2017).
    • International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2016, 2015).
    • International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2016).
    • Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence Doctoral Consortium (IA*AI 2014).
    • Workshop on Computational Social Choice (COMSOC 2018, 2016).
  • Grants and Funding Reviewing
    • Ad-hoc reviewer for the National Science Foundation (NSF) – Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS).
    • Panel reviewer for the National Science Foundation (NSF) – Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF).
  • Journal Reviewing
    • Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (JAAMAS).
    • ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation (TEAC).
    • Artificial Intelligence (AIJ).
    • Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (AMAI).
    • Ethics and Information Technology
    • IEEE Intelligent Systems.
    • International Journal of Approximate Reasoning (IJAR).
    • Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR).
    • Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR).
    • Journal of Heuristics.
    • Management Science.
    • Mathematical Social Sciences (MSS).
  • Other Conference Reviewing
    • Conference on Web and Internet Economics (WINE 2016).
    • IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI 2015).
    • Conference on Theoretical Aspects of Rationality and Knowledge (TARK 2015).
    • ACM Conference on Economics and Computation (EC 2015).
    • Workshop on Computational Social Choice (COMSOC 2014).
    • European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI 2014, 2012).
    • Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2014).
    • International Conference on Algorithmic Decision Theory (ADT 2013).
    • International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2013).
    • AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2011, 2010).
    • Midwest / Modern AI and Cognitive Science Conference (MAICS 2008).
  • Other Service Activities
    • At IBM I am an organizer for the New Hire Network and the Culture Club.
    • At Data61/NICTA I have been involved with various education, outreach, and diversity projects including the establishment of the Data61/NICTA Young Researcher Internship for Undergraduate Women with Andrea Rendel as well as the redesign and redeployment of the Optimization Research Group website with Victor Pillac.
    • Volunteer organizer and assistant for the 2010 NSF Broader Impacts in Computer Science summit held in Washington D.C., 2010.
    • Member of AAAI, ACM, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society, Upsilon Pi Epsilon Computer Science Honors Society, and former President of the University of Kentucky student ACM.