Election Results
Chair
Maria Gini gini@cs.umn.edu
Bio:
Maria Gini is a Professor in the CSE Department at the University
of Minnesota. Before joining Minnesota she was a Research Associate
at the Politecnico of Milan, Italy, and a Visiting Research Associate
in the AI Lab at Stanford University. Her research focuses on methods
to distribute intelligence among robots and software agents. Her
major contributions include algorithms for multi-robot systems,
robot navigation, planning with incomplete information, and negotiation
among agents. She is the chair of ACM SIGART, a member of the AAAI
Executive Council, and a member of the board of the Intelligent
Autonomous Systems society. She is on the editorial board of Autonomous
Robots, Electronic Commerce and Research Applications, Web Intelligence
and Agent Systems, and Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering.
Statement:
As current SIGART Chair, I am happy to see that SIGART is back to
having regular elections. After hard decisions and a lot of work
by dedicated volunteers, SIGART is back in a sound financial shape.
The solid financial situation has allowed SIGART to increase the
number of scholarships awarded to students to present their work
at SIGART sponsored activities. These scholarships and other outreach
activities in developing countries have increased the participation
of new researchers and broadened the SIGART community. We are witnessing
a renewed interest for AI across multiple communities, but the AI
community has not grown significantly. To the contrary, many subdisciplines
have emerged and pulled away from AI, forming their own communities.
My priority as chair of SIGART will be to ensure activities are
expanded further, by sponsoring conferences in new emerging areas,
by thinking about new ways to reach out and serve our international
community, and by engaging our members to volunteer and participate
in SIGART activities. I am confident that together we can provide
greater value to our members and make our community grow.
Vice Chair
Kiri Wagstaff kiri.wagstaff@jpl.nasa.gov
Bio:
Kiri L. Wagstaff is a senior researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, CA. She is a member of the Machine Learning and Instrument
Autonomy group, and her focus is on developing new machine learning
methods that can be used for data analysis onboard spacecraft. She
has applied these techniques to data being collected by the EO-1
Earth-orbiting spacecraft, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Pathfinder. She
has also worked on crop yield prediction from Earth orbital remote
sensing observations, the fault protection system for the MESSENGER
mission to Mercury, and automatic code generation for the Electra
radios used by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Science
Laboratory. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University
and is currently working on an M.S. in Geology from the University
of Southern California.
Statement:
I first joined SIGART in 2000, when I participated as a graduate
student in the annual Doctoral Consortium sponsored by SIGART and
AAAI. I have now served as the Vice-Chair of SIGART for the past
two years, during which time my main responsibility has been to
Chair the Doctoral Consortium. I consider the DC to be one of the
most significant events sponsored by SIGART, as it reaches 20-30
graduate students at a critical time in their doctoral progress.
We have received overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic responses
from the students and mentors involved in the DC. I welcome the
opportunity to continue supporting SIGART as a community that places
such a high priority on encouraging its youngest members. From personal
experience, and from many other success stories, I know that SIGART
continues to have a positive impact on many researchers' careers.
My goal is to keep that influence alive.
Secretary/Treasurer
Gautam Biswas gautam.biswas@vanderbilt.edu
Bio:
Gautam Biswas is a Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering,
and a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Software Integrated
Systems (ISIS) in the EECS Department at Vanderbilt University.
Prof. Biswas conducts research in Intelligent Systems with primary
interests in three areas: (i) hybrid modeling, simulation, and analysis
of complex embedded systems, and their applications to diagnosis
and fault-adaptive control, (ii) planning, scheduling, and resource
management for distributed, real-time multi-satellite and multi-robot
systems, and (iii) design and development of intelligent learning
environments that are based on innovative learning theories. Dr.
Biswas is an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Systems,
Man, and Cybernetics, the IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data
Engineering, and the Journal of Applied Intelligence. He has served
on the Program Committee of a number of conferences. He is a senior
member of the IEEE Computer Society, ACM, AAAI, Cognitive Science,
the Artificial Intelligence in Education society, and the Sigma
Xi Research Society.
Statement:
The time for the resurgence of AI is now, and the best way to achieve
this is to develop AI approaches and methodologies that integrate
seamlessly with the system at large and with compelling applications.
There are unlimited opportunities in the design of complex systems,
monitoring, diagnosis, and fault-adaptive control of embedded systems,
and planning, scheduling, and resource management in distributed,
real-time environments. These lead to important applications in
robotics, the automobile and aerospace industries, and multi-satellite
systems, and I would very much like to work with the SIGART organization
in highlighting such opportunities, encouraging researchers who
work on these problems to discuss the challenges they face and outline
their success stories, and help develop forums to enable graduate
students and young researchers to discuss on going projects that
they are involved in. In general, I would very much like to work
with the SIGART committee and the community at large in promoting
the importance and usefulness of AI methodologies though compelling
real-world applications.
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SIGART Election Policy
The following information on elections was extracted from SIGART
Bylaws
Officer positions are elected for two-year terms beginning July
1 of odd-numbered years and include:
- The Chair is the principal officer and is responsible for leading
the Group and managing its activities. The duties of the Chair are:
i. Calling and presiding at the Group's Executive Committee and
Business meetings;
ii. Conducting the Group's activities in accordance with the policies
of the ACM; and
iii. Making all appointments and filling vacancies as authorized
herein.
- The duties of the Vice-Chair are:
iv. Assisting the Chair in leading and managing the Group; and
v. Presiding at meetings when the Chair is absent.
- The duties of the Secretary-Treasurer are:
vi. Maintaining the records and correspondence of the Group
vii. Keeping and distributing the minutes of business and Executive
Committee meetings of the Group; and
viii. Managing the Group's finances according to the Financial Accountability
Policy of the ACM. This includes preparing the annual budget, monitoring
the Group's disbursements for adherence to the annual budget, and
preparing financial reports as required.
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