jlk@gatech.UUCP (Janet Kolodner) (01/28/85)
Faculty Positions at Georgia Tech
The School of Information and Computer Science (ICS) at
Georgia Institute of Technology has made a major commitment to
hiring in Artificial Intelligence and the Cognitive Sciences. We
are looking for outstanding applicants at all levels. Georgia
Tech offers a unique opportunity for researchers in all areas of
AI. Faculty in several of our engineering departments manage
large materials handling, robotics, and flexible manufacturing
centers with well-equipped labs, and have considerable expertise
in robotics and manufacturing that they are anxious to share with
AI researchers interested in working on AI problems in their
areas. The Center for Man-Machine Systems, based in our School
of Industrial and Systems Engineering, studies cognitive factors
in the design of man-machine systems and training simulators, and
wants to include an AI component in some of their projects. ICS
is a participant, with six other departments, in the Computer In-
tegrated Manufacturing Systems (CIMS) graduate program, which
provides additional collaborative opportunities and potential
support for students. Researchers in the Georgia Tech Research
Institute, a contracting arm of Georgia Tech, are doing research
in image analysis and meta-expert reasoning. Our administration
and psychology departments have recently made a commitment to
hiring first-rate faculty in psychology who have already shown an
interest in Cognitive Science. Co-operation throughout Georgia
Tech in making this happen supports the prediction that there
will be considerable opportunity for AI researchers to interact
with first-rate psychologists interested in similar problems.
Artificial Intelligence has been well-supported by the ad-
ministration in the past, and the current commitment to new
hiring in computer science and psychology is a recent example of
the support the administration means to give to AI on campus.
Though the current AI group in the School of Information and Com-
puter Science includes only one faculty member (and, of course,
more students than can be handled by one person), the administra-
tion has bought two Symbolics LISP machines for the group. We
expect to see additional substantial support from the administra-
tion in getting a larger AI group going here.
Our current faculty member in AI is Prof. Janet Kolodner.
Her research group is composed of approximately 10 students. The
theme of their work is the role of experience in expert and
common-sense reasoning. They are concentrating on two roles ex-
perience plays in reasoning -- it contributes to and drives lear-
ning processes, and it provides exemplars for use in reasoning
about later similar cases. An understanding of the roles of ex-
perience in reasoning will allow the development of reasoning
systems which can use the cases they have worked on to enhance,
refine, or adapt the knowledge they initially had to new and
novel situations. It will also allow better explanations of
novice/expert distinctions, will contribute towards the develop-
ment of intelligent instructional systems that can keep track of
the knowledge state of any student they are tutoring and tailor
exercises to individuals, and may contribute to the development
of better hands-on teaching strategies. Projects in several
different task domains address the problems involved in unders-
tanding and implementing the processes involved in using ex-
perience in reasoning. SHRINK, a psychiatric diagnostician, uses
previous cases to suggest diagnoses and symptoms to watch for in
novel cases of several different depressive disorders. The
MEDIATOR resolves everyday disputes and makes predictions about
the results of disputes read about in the newspaper by referring
to previous disputes it has encountered and dealt with. The PER-
SUADER uses precedent cases in labor mediation to suggest sol-
utions during collective bargaining, the help resolve impasses in
collective bargaining, and to attempt to persuade each side in
the argument of the utility of a suggestion when there is
disagreement.
The School of Information and Computer Science, as a whole,
is experiencing substantial growth which is well-supported by the
Institute. Faculty research interests include distributed sys-
tems, programming languages, data-base management, theory, human
factors, architecture, networking, and graphics. Currently there
are 26 faculty and over 200 Masters and Ph.D. students. The
School has well-equipped computing facilities which support comp-
uter science research and education. All major computers on
campus are interconnected by a high-speed local area network,
which provides access to CSNet and other national networks.
Georgia Tech is located in Atlanta, which experiences a mild
sunbelt climate. It is the center of commerce in the Southeast,
offering a diverse economy and good employment opportunities
in all professional areas. Atlanta offers good cultural and
recreational opportunities, extremely attractive residential
neighborhoods, and affordable housing.
For more information, please call Prof. Janet Kolodner at
404-894-3285 or leave a message at 404-894-3152, or write to
Prof. Janet Kolodner, School of Information and Computer
Science, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332.
Interested candidates should send complete resumes and names of
at least three references to Professor Richard J. LeBlanc;
Chairman, Faculty Search Committee; School of Information and
Computer Science; Georgia Institute of Technology; Atlanta,
Georgia 30332.
--
Janet Kolodner
School of Information & Computer Science, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: jlk @ GATech ARPA: jlk%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
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