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Research Interests

I am a member of the Cognitive Science research group, leading the Naturally Inspired Computing stream. Specific research interests include: Artificial Intelligence, Computational Intelligence, Evolutionary Algorithms and Genetic Repair, Cognitive Modelling, Computational Models of Analogical Reasoning, Geometric Analogies, Qualitative Spatial Reasoning and Computational Creativity.

Evolutionary Algorithms with Non-Mendelian Genetic Repair

Recent discoveries in genetics suggest that some organisms (eg Arabidopsis thaliana and possibly some other plants) use a surprising and controversial mechanism to repair some genetic defects. They appear to use a limited form of non-Mendelian inheritance, whereby the corrective genetic information appears to originate in generations older than the parent. We are successfully applying this ancestral repair "algorithm" to solve evolutionary optimisation problems with two distinct objectives in mind. First, we wish to evaluate the usefulness of the proposed ancestral repair theory to evolutionary optimisation problems. Secondly, we are interested in the conditions under which the proposed genetic repair process might be an effective strategy in nautre. I am also interested in the deep analogy between natural and simulated evolution.

Previous Project - Analogical Inference within Topographic Map data.

We developed algorithms to process land-cover maps as though they are large collections of overlapping geometric analogies. A geometric analogy involves collections of geometric figures which undergo some transformation. See my analogy, and the like page or some other analogy reference pages.

Publications Some Recent Publications

Research Team I am a member of the Cognitive Science Research Group research group.

My current Postgraduate students: Amy Fitzgerald (PhD), Donagh Hatton (PhD), Paul Kavanagh (MSc).
Major Undergraduate Project: Students (2011-12) Mustapha Ahmed, Dave Kerr, Onisim Csadi.

Conferences 3^rd International Conference on Computational Creativity (ICCC) 2012, 1^st International Workshop on Similarity and Analogy-Based Method in AI (SAMAI) at ECAI 2012.

Competitions IEEExtreme 24 hour programming competition.

Background I am a lecturer in computer science and a member of: the Cognitive Science Research Group, ACM's SIGEVO, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and the Internet Society (ISOC). Here is some other personal stuff.

Teaching and Admin Duties

Undergraduate courses I teach or have taught :

CS101 Introduction to Programming, CS130 Databases, CS142 Introduction to Computer Science, CS404 Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing, CS401 - Machine Learning and Neural Networks, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, Expert Systems, End User computing, Introduction to Computer Systems, Digital Logic Design.

Variable manipulation game for inflexible learners. The follwoing educational game teaches the fundamentals of variable manipulation and is specifically aimed at inflexible learners. Order from Chaos is online (Java 6) or download the standalone version (Java 7) - updates coming shortly.

MSc in Computer Science (Software Engineering) - M. Sc. (Software Engineering) courses I teach :

CS607 Requirements Engineering and Systems Design with UML.

Course Director (2011-2012) for MGH62 - Higher Diploma in Software Engineering (Skillnet). I am also involved in the EU funded DESEM Erasmus Mundus Double Masters program, 4th Year Project co-ordinator for (most of 2011-12) etc.