Dr. John Yen has done a lot of research work in the AI area and he has published more than 100 papers. He is currently the Vice President of Publication for IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, the Chair of IEEE FIPA Working Group on Human Agent Communications, a Sponsoring co-Chair of AAMAS 2008, and a member of ACM Senior Member Committee.
Dr. John Yen got his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Honors National Taiwan University in 1980. Then he came to USA for his graduate study, he got his master's degree in Computer Science from University of Santa Clara in 1982. After that, he came to University of California, Berkely and got his doctor's degree in Computer Science in 1986. There, he met his advisor, Lofti Zadeh, who is the father of fuzzy logic.
After graduation, Dr. John Yen spent three years at USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI) and did research work on logic-based knowledge representation scheme with production rules. Then, he joined Texas A&M University and worked on fuzzy logic, robotics and intelligent systems. In 2001, he attended College of IST, Penn State University.
Dr. John Yen has broad research interests, which mainly focus on agents and network analysis. He is interested in research that transforms information into knowledge, decisions and actions, which can facilitate human teams. Also, he works on extracting knowledge from large-scale social networks and modeling the dynamic growth of them.
In the below are some journals and conferences that he often published and attended, most of which belong to Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
- Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) conference
- International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi Agent Systems (AAMAS)
- IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems
- IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering
- ACM Conference on Information and Knowledge Management
- IJCAI (International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence)
As for the courses that he taught in the last few years, I haven't had the information. But considering that he is so busy now, he doesn't teach any courses right now.
Qi,
It is interesting to see your adviser's academic pedigree - or who his adviser was. We also had a great opportunity to hear Professor Zadeh present at colloquium this week. What a wonderful opportunity it must have been for you to hear from your "academic grandfather" - and such a famous and important one, too!
I thought his discussion of fuzzy logic and especially of precisiation (or what was the term he used for translating natural language into something more precise) - was very enlightening.
I thought back fondly to my days when I took AI as an undergrad and enjoyed being able to "program" in natural language with tools like LISP and solve problems using algorithms that weren't strict, iterative, or recursive to a fault.
I guess that's why I ended up in IST - those kinds of problems - the ones with fuzzy inputs, fuzzy processes and fuzzy results seems more interesting than compiler optimization, algorithm efficiency and the other problems that I saw in Compsci at the time.
Hi, sorry for the late response, I just see your comment.
I was so expecting to hear Dr. Zadeh's talk, and hoped I can be inspired and know something deeply in this research direction. But it turns out that I don't know much about this area (right now I am working on social network analysis), and I don't have much experience like you that can cause my deep thought since I never use something related to fuzzy logic. I feel a little depressed because I feel I still have a long way to go in the AI area. But still, I am happy to see him, especially he is the founder of fuzzy logic and my "academic grandfather"!
As for the fuzzy logic thing you said, I think computer science also do some research on it, because fuzzy logic is a brance of AI, and I think computer science does research on AI.
Anyway, I am glad that you enjoy the talk and the study in IST here. I am still trying to figure out the meaning and speciality of IST. Since I also have background in Computer Science, I am still confused sometimes about why am I here and what should I do here in IST.
Qi,
I think that your first year (or two) in graduate school is a learning experience. You figure out who you are and what you are going to do in life.
IST has a lot to offer over traditional computer science. Whereas computer science is focused on the right solution to the problem, IST is focused on figuring out the right question to ask to solve the problem.
I think it is helpful to look at models like the ITP triangle and figure out where you fit. Computer Scientists are deeply ingrained in the "T" side of things - the technology. In IST, you might be heavily focused on the "T", but you might find that you have a strong interest in the Information or the People as well. I think that you can find yourself focused on one of the "sides" of the triangle, rather than just one of the vertexes. It's important to figure out where YOU fit. That might take some time, but you will!
Personally, I fit on the "T-P" side of things. However, I'm a "systems" guy rather than a software type. So, my focus on the Technology is a focus on the entire technological system - not just the software. Anyway, like I said, you'll find your place - wherever that might be. Don't stress about it!
Hey, thank you. Right now I am still trying to figure out my place. You're right, it's important, but it is also the most difficult thing. I am happy you have found your place, but I am still struggling to try. Wish you enjoy your academic life in IST.