Some biographical info: I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and have lived up and down the east coast (Glen Burnie and Woodlawn, Maryland, from 1975-1981; Lakeland, Florida from 1981-1983; Somerville, New Jersey from 1983-1984; Plant City and Lakeland, Florida from 1984-1985; Severna Park, Maryland from 1985-1993). I moved to the midwest in 1993 when I started grad school in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (1993-1998), and have since lived there (1993-1999) and in Manhattan, Kansas (1999-present).
My educational history: In the summer of 1998, I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science (DCS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Before that, I was at The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore, MD, where I earned a dual B.S. degree in CS and Mathematical Sciences and a master's degree in CS, graduating in 1993. I am an alum of Severn School in Severna Park, MD (Class of 1989). Last but not least, I was in the CTY program at Hopkins back in 1986-1987. There are quite a few CTY veterans of newer vintage in
cty_therapy, ctyalumni, and ctycompile.My research: I work on problems in machine learning, probabilistic reasoning, time series analysis, information visualization, and data mining. My research interests include artificial neural networks (ANNs), genetic and evolutionary computation (GEC), and graphical models of probability such as Bayesian networks ("belief networks"), with applications to commercial decision support and bioinformatics. Our open-source software package Bayesian Networks in Java (BNJ) is used by people at over 50 research institutions. See my research lab page (http://www.kddresearch.org) for papers and resources.
Courses I teach: I teach the following courses at KSU:
- CIS 560, Database Systems (every spring and fall)
- CIS 690, Implementation of High-Performance Data Mining Systems (summer, given sufficient demand)
- CIS 730, Principles of Artifcial Intelligence (every other fall)
- CIS 732, Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition (every fall)
- CIS 736, Computer Graphics (every spring)
- CIS 830, Topics in Artificial Intelligence (every other spring)
Communities I created or moderate: I started and maintain the LiveJournal communities:
- bayesnets - Bayesian networks and other graphical models of probability
- grantwriting - Resources, advice columns, and discussions for grant funding seekers
- teunc - The Tolkien Eccentric Unusual Nut-Cases
- geckies - Genetic and Evoutionary Computation (co-founded with K-State grads, 2004)
- julianmayfans - Fans of the science fiction author Julian May
- compscibooks - Textbooks, monographs, and trade books in computer science
- massforge - Intelligent multi-character animation
- comptranslation - Machine translation
Fandoms and accounts on other blog and social network sites: I am also a J.R.R. Tolkien and Star Wars fan, and a Tolkien Eccentric Unusual Nut Case (TEUNC).
I have accounts on MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal (LJ), Friendster and Orkut, but I am most active on LJ. LJ is better!
I also have a GreatestJournal (GJ), but that is not the blog you're looking for. You don't need to see my GJ. Move along...
Edit, 16 Aug 2006 - I've just created a Vox account, a Blogger account, and a Xanga account.
I have participated in and successfully completed National Novel Writing Month twice, in November of 2004 and 2005. I am editing the draft version of my work. which you can view in the journal
tanelos by clicking on the icons below. (Please add the journal first to request access if you do not already have it, and comment here to let me know.)
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`Friending' policy: Feel free to add me to your friends list, but please post a comment in my journal or e-mail me to let me know, especially if you wish to be added to my list.
If you're one of those folks who frequently deletes their LiveJournal and then undeletes it because of some drama or inner turmoil, please know that I do not hold grudges, but I also don't keep struck-through accounts on my friends list for sentimental value. In fact, my LiveJournal friends list is one of the few web pages that I keep up-to-date (to within, say, two weeks, as opposed to my usual two years). Similarly if you are one of those types who frequently unfriends everyone and adds them back. Feel free to let me know when you've undeleted your LJ or add me back if and when you wish. It may take some time for me to add you back; this is generally proportional to how stable I think your LJ and friends list are.
Cheers,
Bill
P.S. : If you're wondering about the meaning of the name Banazîr, it is Westron (the Common Tongue of Men) for Samwise or "half-wise" in Tolkien's Middle-earth. This and other interesting etymologies for Tolkien conlangs can be found on Ardalambion.
Fourth Day of Christmas, following my personal LJ tradition (started in 2003):
"What A Friend Thou Art To Me"
Words: Fanny Crosby (1820-1915)
Music: Hubert P. Main (1839-1925)
--
Banazir
