Bio

Research

My three main areas of interest are case-based reasoning (CBR), textual methods, and explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). CBR has been my main area of interest where I have continuously worked in research and applications since the mid-nineties (Note my paper from 1995 was published under Weber-Lee). I research CBR both as an AI technique and as an AI methodology where to apply other AI techniques from machine learning and natural language processing and understanding. In 2013, a textbook I co-authored with Michael Richter was published by Springer. Textual methods have been my focus since my dissertation work. My review of textual CBR from 2005 is the main reference in the area. Since 2017, I have been combining textual methods and CBR for XAI. My 2018 research paper using a CBR approach to learn explanations for a textual citation recommender won the best paper award at the international conference on CBR. Currently, I am exploring alternative uses of XAI beyond transparency.
Between 2013 and 2017, my research work was reduced to a few collabrations due to family issues.

Teaching

I have taught multiple AI topics, from machine learning to natural language. My preference is in teaching AI methods from an applications perspective. I like to help students comprehend the underlying intuition of AI methods so they learn beyond simply coding algorithms. I can teach AI for non-technical students and teach them to participate in making decisions about implementing and selecting AI methods. Given my background in Economics and Management, I have taught Software development project management multiple times, and have transferred my software and project experience to teach senior project. I have also taught courses in requirements analysis where software development requires a true comprehension of organizational contexts.

Education

My bachelor's degree was obtained in a school of Economics where I majored in Production Management, although my strongest interest and skill was in Finance, the field I worked on for some years. I wanted to learn how to model microeconomic and financial events, and sought a Master's in production Engineering for this. As I joined the Master's Program in Operations Research, I was introduced to using optimization algorithms in AI. This is when I started studying AI. I am sure I will be studying it as long as I am alive. My bachelor's was at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. My Master's was at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, both in Brazil. My doctoral degree started at the same program as the Master's, with a "sandwich" period at the University of South Florida at their department of Industrial Management and Systems.

Work

After a few years in consulting and working for a corporation in Finance, I started teaching as part of my research assistanship during my doctoral studies. After graduating, I worked in a couple of universities in Brazil until I got a postdoc position at the Navy Center for Applied Research in AI, Naval Research Lab. From NRL, I went to Drexel, where I am now.