Contributors

• Dr. Gary Parker, Overall coordinator of content and module development. Helped develop the entire Machine Learning and Data Mining course, as well as the AI module.
  Contact: parker at conncoll.edu. Gary Parker home page.

• Dr. Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro, Designed and developed all Machine Learning and Data Mining course modules as well as the additional data mining modules for Intro to CS, Algorithms, and AI.
  Contact: gregory at kdnuggets.com. Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro home page.

• Dr. Bridget Baird, Helped develop the Algorithms module.
  Contact: bbbai at conncoll.edu.

• Dr. Ozgur Izmirli, Helped develop the Introduction to Computer Science module.
  Contact: oizm at conncoll.edu. Ozgur Izmirli home page.

• Dr. Marc Zimmer, Director of the Emerging Technologies grant.
  Contact: mzim at conncoll.edu.

• Janet Hayes, Instructional designer/developer, interactive designer.
  Contact: jvhay at connoll.edu.

Biography

Gary Parker teaches computer science at Connecticut College with an emphasis on artificial intelligence and robotics. His research focuses on evolutionary methodologies for learning in autonomous robots. He developed the Cyclic Genetic Algorithm (a variant of the standard GA) to provide a means for learning single loop programs to control cycles of behavior. CGAs have been tested on three different levels of control complexity (individual leg cycles, gaits, and search cycles). In current research, he is using a variation of the CGA to evolve multi-loop programs for robot control. Gary also developed Punctuated Anytime Learning (PAL), a means of integrating the actual robot with its simulation during evolutionary computation, which allows the system to make adjustments to the on board controller while learning is carried out off line, giving the robot the capability to adapt to changes in real time. In recent research, the concept of PAL has been expanded to the co-evolution of cooperative teams of robots. He also does research in colony robotics, emergent systems, and neural networks.

Gary believes in involving students in research, with over half of the 25 technical papers that he has had published in the last 5 years being co-authored by students. He also believes in incorporating research into the classroom. Students in robotics courses get hands-on experience in the development of robots and the programming of their controllers. These courses allow students to observe the results of their labors in real world robotics instead of just in simulation.

Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro
President of KDnuggets, which provides research and consulting services in the areas of data mining, knowledge discovery, bioinformatics, and business analytics.
Editor and Publisher of KDnuggets News, the leading newsletter for the data mining and knowledge discovery community, and the associated www.KDnuggets.com website, a top-ranked portal for data mining and knowledge discovery.

Gregory is the founder of Knowledge Discovery in Database (KDD) conference series. He organized and chaired the first three Knowledge Discovery in Databases workshops in 1989, 1991, and 1993, and later, helped convert them into leading international conferences on data mining. He served as General Chair of the KDD-98 conference. Gregory was elected in June 2005 as the chair of ACM SIGKDD, the leading professional organization for Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining.

Gregory has over 60 publications, including 2 best-selling books and several edited collections on topics related to data mining and knowledge discovery.

Bridget Baird
Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
Judith Ammerman '60 Director, Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology

Bridget Baird teaches computer science and mathematics at Connecticut College and directs the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology. In computer science, her teaching interests include introductory courses, algorithms, virtual reality and graphics. In recent years her research focus has been directed at the intersection of arts and technology, particularly in the area of virtual reality, music, and haptics (touch). She has directed extensive student research and collaborated with colleagues in computer science, music, art and dance. Some of her projects include the creation of virtual, multimodal galleries; using haptics and sound to create multimodal interfaces; conducting music using trackers; computer accompaniment of music; and visualization of sound. Baird is the recipient of several awards, including several from NSF, a Full bright scholarship to teach virtual reality in Mexico, AT&T, and the State of Connecticut. Baird is also interested in advancing the role of women and minorities in both computer science and mathematics as well as extending the reach of arts and technology into K-12 education.

Ozgur Izmirli
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Associate Director for Technology at the Center for Arts and Technology

Professor Izmirli teaches Computer Science and his research interests are concentrated in digital signal processing related to audio signals, musical signal analysis and representation, musical information retrieval, music perception and cognition modeling, score following, tonality tracking, and multimodal computer-user interfaces. Professor Izmirli is associate director for technology at the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology and he is involved in ongoing activities at the Center. He has a firsthand appreciation of the values of student and faculty collaboration and exploration.