Pictures from the event are available here.
Dr. David E. Goldberg
"The Design of Innovation:
Lessons from and for Competent Genetic Algorithms"
Thursday, May 8, 2003
7:00 p.m.
Century Room, Millennium Student Center
sponsored by The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
This talk suggests that well designed genetic algorithms (GAs)--so called
competent GAs--are the computational embodiment of a number of the processes
of human innovation. It further examines five forces that are pushing the
use of genetic algorithms into everyday practice and asks whether these
forces are sustainable and where these forces will lead. The talk answers
that the forces are sustainable, and that we are now witnessing the
beginnings of a golden age of computational innovation. Just as steam
power gave humankind a kind of mechanical leverage that greatly amplified
the capability of an individual during the industrial revolution, so too
will genetic algorithms and other forms of computational innovation, provide
us with a kind of intellectual leverage during the golden age that will
vastly amplify our ability to solve difficult problems quickly, reliably,
accurately, and well.
The Presenter:
Dr. David E. Goldberg, is Professor of General Engineering at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and director of the
Illinois Genetic Algorithms
Laboratory (IlliGAL). Between 1976 to 1980 he held a
number of positions at Stoner Associates of Carlisle, PA, including
Project Engineer and Marketing Manager. Following his doctoral studies he
joined the Engineering Mechanics faculty at the University of Alabama
(Tuscaloosa) in 1984. In 1990, he moved to the University of Illinois.
Professor Goldberg was a 1985 recipient of a U.S. National Science
Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, and in 1995 he was
named an Associate of the Center for Advanced Study at UIUC. He is
founding chairman of the International
Society for Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, and his book Genetic
Algorithms in Search, Optimization and Machine Learning (Addison-Wesley, 1989)
is the fourth most widely cited reference in computer science according to
CiteSeer. His research focuses on
the design, analysis, and application of genetic algorithms-computer procedures
based on the mechanics of natural genetics and selection-and other innovating
machines. He has just completed a new monograph,
The Design of Innovation that
shows (1) how to design scalable genetic algorithms and (2) how such
algorithms are similar to certain processes of innovation in human beings.
Professor Goldberg is Consulting Editor for the Kluwer Series on Genetic
Algorithms and Evolutionary Computation.
A reception will follow the lecture
Admission is free, but reservations are requested.
Please call (314) 516-5789.
Parking is available in lot E.
Special thanks to Robert Spencer (B.A. Mathematics, '72)
whose gift has made this lecture series possible.