CV

Education:

• January 1994 - June 1999
  Ph.D. (Computer Science), University of Victoria. Supervisor: Dr. Michael R. Fellows. Title: "Systematic Parameterized Complexity Analysis in Computational Phonology".
• September 1988 - May 1993
  M.Sc. (Computer Science), Memorial University of Newfoundland. Supervisor: Dr. William H.E. Day. Title: "On The Computational Complexity of Inferring Evolutionary Trees".
• September 1985 - October 1986
  B.A. (Major in Linguistics, Minor in Mathematics), Memorial University of Newfoundland.
• September 1980 - May 1985
  B.Sc. Honours (Computer Science), Memorial University of Newfoundland. Supervisor: Dr. William H.E. Day. Title: "An Efficient Algorithm for Computing M_l Consensus Trees".

Work Experience:

• September 2016 -
  Professor (tenured), Department of Computer Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
• September 2005 - August 2016
  Associate Professor (tenured), Department of Computer Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
• August 1999 - August 2005
  Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Department of Computer Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
• January 1998 - June 1999
  Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University (Supervisor: Dr. Tao Jiang)
  Worked as part of the McMaster University Computational Biology Group.
• January 1994 - December 1997
  Teaching Assistant (part-time), Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria (Supervisors: Various)
  Marked assignments and exams for various courses.
• September 1990 - December 1993
  Research Assistant (part-time), Department of Physics, Memorial University of Newfoundland (Supervisors: Drs. Richard J. Greatbatch and Brad de Young)
  Modified and maintained a set of C-language and FORTRAN 77 programs that model various aspects of North Atlantic and world ocean circulation and that compare the results produced by these models with collected data.
• May 1987 - August 1988
  Research Assistant (part-time), Department of Computer Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland (Supervisor: Dr. William H.E. Day)
  Wrote and maintained a set of C-language programs and UNIX shell scripts (AWK / SED) for storing and manipulating ribosomal RNA oligonucleotide data.

Courses Taught:

• AI 6001: Topics in Artificial Intelligence
  • Winter 2025 (co-taught with Xianta Jiang, Lizhi Liao, Vinicius Prado da Fonseca, and Karteek Popuri)
  • Winter 2024 (co-taught with Xianta Jiang, Lourdes Pena-Castillo, Vinicius Prado da Fonseca, and Andrew Vardy)
  • Winter 2023 (co-taught with Xianta Jiang, Lourdes Pena-Castillo, Vinicius Prado da Fonseca, and Andrew Vardy)
• CS 1000: Computer Science: An Introduction
  • Fall 2021, Winter 2020, Fall 2019, Winter 2019, Winter 2018
• CS 1400: Computing in the 20th Century and Beyond
  • Fall 2018, Winter 2017, Winter 2016, Winter 2015
• CS 1401: Computing At The Movies
  • Fall 2017
• CS 2000: Collaborative and Emergent Behavior
  • Winter 2012 (co-taught with Ed Brown and Antonina Kolokolova)
• CS 2500: Data Analysis with Scripting Languages
  • Fall 2011, Fall 2010, Fall 2009, Fall 2008, Winter 2008
• CS 2710: Problem Solving and Programming
  • Fall 2001, Fall 2000, Fall 1999 (course co-ordinator: Donna Batten)
• CS 2711: Introduction to Algorithms and Data Structures
  • Fall 2004
• CS 3200: Algorithmic Methods in Artificial Intelligence
  • Fall 2024,
• CS 3600: Algorithm Design and Analysis
  • Winter 2025, Winter 2024, Winter 2023
• CS 3710: Vocational Languages
  • Winter 2011 (co-taught with Siwei Lu)
  • Winter 2010
  • Winter 2001 (co-taught with Ed Brown)
  • Winter 2000 (co-taught with Michael Rayment)
• CS 3711: Algorithms and Complexity
  • Fall 2005, Winter 2005, Winter 2004, Winter 2003
  • Winter 2002, Winter 2001 (taught jointly as Engineering 5891)
• CS 3716: Software Methodology
  • Winter 2012, Fall 2011, Winter 2011, Fall 2010,
• CS 3718: Programming in the Small
  • Winter 2012, Fall 2009, Fall 2008, Fall 2007, Fall 2003, Fall 2002, Fall 2000
  • Fall 1999 (co-taught with Gary Piercey and Michael Rendell)
• CS 3719: Theory of Computation and Algorithms
  • Winter 2008 (co-taught with Cao An Wang)
• CS 4750: Introduction to Natural Language Processing
  • Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2018, Fall 2016, Fall 2014
• CS 4762: Introduction to Computational Biology
  • Winter 2005, Winter 2003, Winter 2002, Winter 2001
• CS 6754: Post-Genomic Computational Biology
  • Winter 2006, Winter 2004
• CS 6772: Directed Readings in Medical Informatics
  • Fall 2004 (co-taught with Ed Brown, Gerard Farrell, and Ted Hoekman)
• CS 6789: Parameterized Complexity Analysis: Foundations and Applications
  • Spring 2017, Winter 2014
• CS 690A/B: Research Methods in Computer Science
  • Fall 2023 (A) / Winter 2024 (B)
  • Fall 2022 (A) / Winter 2023 (B)
  • Fall 2017 (A) / Winter 2018 (B)
  • Fall 2016 (A) / Winter 2017 (B)
  • Fall 2015 (A) / Winter 2016 (B)
• ENGI 5891: Algorithms and Complexity
  • Winter 2002, Winter 2001 (taught jointly as CS 3711)
• LING 6800: Selected Topics in Morphology: Finite-State Natural Language Processing
  • Winter 2006
• SCIENCE 1000: Introduction to Science I
  • Fall 2016 (co-taught with Todd Boland, Rick Goulding, Bill Montevecchi, and Derek Wilton)
  • Fall 2015 (co-taught with Todd Boland, Rick Goulding, Bill Montevecchi, and Derek Wilton)
  • Winter 2015 (co-taught with Todd Boland, Rick Goulding, Bill Montevecchi, and Derek Wilton)
  • Winter 2014 (co-taught with Todd Boland, Chris Cordova, Rick Goulding, and Bill Montevecchi)
  • Winter 2012 (co-taught with Todd Boland, Rick Goulding, Bill Montevecchi, and Derek Wilton)

Guest Lectures:

• Biology 4900: Fundamentals of Genetic Biotechnology
  • Spring 2010, Fall 2009, Spring 2008, Spring 2007, Fall 2005, Fall 2004
• CS 6743: Complexity of Computational Problems
  • Winter 2010
• Linguistics 1100/2100: Introduction to Linguistics
  • Winter 2010
• Linguistics 4151: Advanced Topics in Language Acquisition
  • Fall 2013
• MKI40: Cognition & Complexity (Taught at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands)
  • Spring 2019, Spring 2018, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Spring 2012, Spring 2011, Spring 2010, Spring 2009
• MKI47: Trends in Artificial Intelligence (Taught at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands)
  • Fall 2015, Fall, 2013, Fall 2012

Courses Developed:

• University
  • CS 1400: Computing in the 20th Century and Beyond
  • CS 1401: Computing At The Movies
  • CS 2000: Collaborative and Emergent Behavior
    (developed with Ed Brown, Antonina Kolokolova, and Andrew Vardy (MUN CS))
  • CS 4750: Introduction to Natural Language Processing
  • CS 4762: Introduction to Computational Biology
    (developed with Patricia Evans (Faculty of Computer Science, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB))
  • CS 6754: Post-Genomic Computational Biology
  • CS 6772: Directed Readings in Medical Informatics
    (developed with Ed Brown (MUN CS) and Gerard Farrell and Ted Hoekman (MUN Faculty of Medicine))
  • CS 6789: Parameterized Complexity Analysis: Foundations and Applications
  • CS690A/B: Research Methods in Computer Science (developed with Minglun Gong (MUN CS))
  • Linguistics 6800: Selected Topics in Morphology: Finite-State Natural Language Processing
    
• Other
  • Enrichment Mini-Course (Junior High School): Inside Computer Programming (Algorithm Analysis and Design)

Awards:

• Best Professor Award (2017) (MUN Computer Science Graduate Society)
• Teaching Fellow, Department of Psychology and Artificial Intelligence, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands (2014 -- )
• F. A. Aldrich Alumni Graduate Scholarship (1989).
• Memorial University of Newfoundland Graduate Fellowship (1988 - 1990).
• Second prize (short fiction), Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Arts and Letters Competition (1980).

Workshop / Course Attendance:

• Workshop: What Makes a Good Theory? Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Co-organizer), Lorentz Center, Leiden, The Netherlands, June 20-24, 2022.
• Workshop: Memorial AI eSymposium, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, October 2, 2020.
• Workshop: Resource-bounded Problem Solving (Co-organizer), Leibniz-Zentrum fur Informatik, Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany, August 18-22, 2014.
• Workshop: Scaling Models of Cognition to the Real World (invited), J.F. Schouten Graduate School, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, October 24, 2013.
• Tutorial: Computational complexity analysis for cognitive scientists (Invited/Co-taught), 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Berlin, Germany, July 31, 2013.
• Course: Cognition and Complexity (Invited/Co-taught), Institute for Cognitive Science, University of Osnabruck, Germany, October 5-7, 2012.
• Workshop: Scaling Models of Cognition to the Real Word: Complexity-Theoretic Tools for Dealing with Intractability (Invited), 12th International Conference on Cognitive Modeling, Berlin, Germany April 12, 2012.
• Workshop: Computer Science & Problem Solving: New Foundations (Invited), Leibniz-Zentrum fur Informatik, Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany, August 28 -- September 2, 2011.
• Workshop: PhonBank -- Future Directions (Invited), Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, July 27-30, 2010.
• Workshop: New Perspectives on Human Problem Solving (Invited), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, November 8-9, 2008.
• Workshop: Structure Theory and FPT Algorithmics for Graphs, Digraphs, and Hypergraphs (Invited), IBFI Dagstuhl, Germany, July 8 -- July 13, 2007.
• Workshop: Fixed Parameter Algorithms (Invited), IBFI Dagstuhl, Germany, July 27 - August 1, 2003.
• First Barbados Workshop on Bioinformatics (Invited), Bellairs Research Institute (McGill University), St. James, Barbados, November 30 - December 7, 2001.
• Genome Canada / CIHR Bioinformatics Workshop (Invited), Ottawa, ON, September 19, 2001.
• Workshop: Parameterized Complexity (Invited), IBFI Dagstuhl, Germany, July 29 - August 3, 2001.
• Advanced Course on Petri Nets, IBFI Dagstuhl, Germany, October 7 - 18, 1996.
• First Summer School in Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, Graduate School BCN, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, July 1 - 12, 1996.
• IMA Summer Program in Molecular Biology, Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications, University of Minnesota, MN, July 5 - 29, 1994.
• Workshop on Molecular Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, August 2 - 14, 1992.

Activities:

• Conference committees:
  • Second International Conference on Unconventional Models of Computation (UMC'2K) (program committee)
  • Research Paper Track on Bioinformatics, 16th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC2001) (co-chair).
  • 2004 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2004) (program committee)
  • 2005 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2005) (program committee)
  • Eleventh International Computing and Combinatorics Conference (COCOON 2005) (program committee)
  • 21st IEEE International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA-07) (program committee)
  • 6th International Conference on Unconventional Computation (UC'07) (conference secretary)
  • 2nd Annual International Conference on Combinatorial Optimization and Applications (COCOA 2008) (program committee)
  • 3rd International Workshop on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IWPEC 2008) (program committee)
  • 7th International Conference on Unconventional Computation (UC'08) (program committee)
  • 33rd APICS Annual Computer Science Conference (APICS-CS-2009) (program committee)
  • 4th International Conference on Language and Automata Theory and Applications (LATA 2010) (program committee)
  • 6th International Conference on Language and Automata Theory and Applications (LATA 2012) (program committee)
  • 14th International Conference on Unconventional Computation & Natural Computation (UCNC 2015) (program committee)
  • Swarm Robotics track, 9th EAI International Conference on Bio-inspired Information and Communications Technologies (BICT 2015) (program committee)
  • 15th Annual Algorithms and Data structures Symposium (WADS 2017) (program committee)
  • 34th AAAI Conference on Artifical Intelligence (AAAI-20) (program committee)
  • 35th AAAI Conference on Artifical Intelligence (AAAI-21) (program committee)
  • 36th AAAI Conference on Artifical Intelligence (AAAI-22) (program committee)
• University committees:
  • Atlantic Canada Genomics Center Education Committee (2000/2001)
  • MUN Award Selection Committee, NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (2006, 2007 (chair))
  • MUN Biology / Computer Science Joint Faculty Search Committee (2007/2009 (chair))
  • MUN Computational Science Board of Study (2003/2005)
  • MUN Computer Science 25th Anniversary Programming Competition Subcommittee (2004)
  • MUN Computer Science Ad Hoc Committee on Curriculum Review (2002/2003)
  • MUN Computer Science Ad Hoc Committee on Honours Projects (CIIO) (2002)
  • MUN Computer Science Graduate Studies Committee (2000/2001 (co-chair), 2001/2004, 2015/2016 (chair), 2016)
  • MUN Computer Science Head Search Committee (2000/2001, 2021/2022 (chair))
  • MUN Computer Science Library Committee (1999/2000, 2005/2012, 2017/2024)
  • MUN Computer Science Programming Competition Committee (2003/2012 (co-chair), 2012/2013, 2013/2014 (co-chair), 2016 (co-chair). 2017/2018)
  • MUN Computer Science Promotion & Tenure Committee (2005/2006, 2007/2008, 2008/2010 (chair), 2010/2011, 2013/2015, 2016/2018 (chair), 2018/2019, 2019/2020 (chair), 2021/2025)
  • MUN Computer Science Search Committee (1999/2000, 2000/2001 (co-chair), 2002/2004, 2004 (chair), 2004/2005, 2005 (chair), 2007/2008, 2008/2009 (chair), 2009/2011, 2013/2015 (chair), 2017 (chair), 2018/2020, 2021/2022, 2022/2023 (chair), 2023/2024)
  • MUN Computer Science Seminar Committee (1999/2003, 2005/2006)
  • MUN Computer Science Social Committee (2005/2006)
  • MUN Computer Science Undergraduate Studies Committee (2000/2001)
  • MUN Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Representative (2017/2018)
  • MUN School of Graduate Studies Academic Council (2015-2016)
  • MUN Judging Committee for Pro-Vice Chancellor's Prize for Undergraduate Scholarship (2002/2012)
• Administrative responsibilities
  • Deputy Head (Computer Science), Graduate Studies (2015/2016)
• Community activities:
  • Developed and taught junior high school enrichment mini-course: Inside Computer Programming (Algorithm Analysis and Design) (2002/2004)
  • Mentor, Aventis Biotech Challenge (2002)
  • Judge, Eastern Newfoundland Regional Science Fair (2002/2003)
  • Judge, St. Paul's Junior High School Science Fair (2000)
• I have refereed proposals for the National Science and Engineering Research Council (Canada), National Science Foundation (USA), and the Marsden Fund (New Zealand) and papers for Algorithmica, Bioinformatics, Computational Brain and Behaviour, Cognitive Science, Data and Knowledge Engineering, Discrete Applied Mathematics, IEEE Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, Information Processing Letters, International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science, Journal of Algorithms, Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Journal of Computational Biology, Journal of Computer and System Sciences, Journal of Computer Science and Technology, Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability, Software Tools for Technology Transfer, Theoretical Computer Science, Theory of Computing Systems, AAAI Conference on Artifical Intelligence (AAAI), the EAI International Conference on Bio-inspired Information and Communication Technologies (BICT), Annual Algorithms and Data Structures Symposium (WADS), the Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, the International Conference on Combinatorial Optimization and Applications (COCOA), the International Computing and Combinatorics Conference (COCOON), the International Conference on Developments in Language Theory (DLT), the Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science Conference (DMTCS), the European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA), the Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FST&TCS), Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO), the International Conference on Application and Theory of Petri Nets (ICATPN), the International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC), the International Workshop on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IWPEC), the International Conference on Language and Automata Theory and Applications (LATA), Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS), the International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS), the Workshop on Modelling of Objects, Components, and Agents (MOCA), the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing (PSB), the Annual International Conference on Computational Molecular Biology (RECOMB), the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC), the World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics, and Informatics (ScI / ISAS), the Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA), the Symposium on the Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS), the International Conference on Unconventional Computation (UC), the International Conference on Unconventional Computation & Natural Computation (UCNC), the conference on Unconventional Models of Computation (UMC), the Workshop on the Practical Use of High-Level Petri Nets, and the Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
• I am a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT).