David Roberts, North Carolina State University

Abstract

In this talk I'll share some anecdotes from my childhood, growing up as Fred's son and share how they've helped to shape my professional life decades on. From discussions of decision analysis, to randomized algorithms for airport security, and the one way street problem, my childhood in the Roberts family was always filled with real world applications of mathematics. It wasn't until graduate school when I realized those discussions had been formative for me, when one day I realized that my propensity to use math to win arguments with random people on the internet may actually reflect a deeper research agenda. I'll describe some of the formative arguments that helped me to "invent" Animal-Centered Computing (only to later realize others had explored the idea decades earlier). I'll conclude this brief talk with some results from a long-running collaborative project where we've deployed technology to help guide dog organizations gain efficiency and improve the lives of people with visual disabilities---contributions I maintain are due in large part to growing up a Roberts. 

Bio:

Dr. David L. Roberts is the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programs and an Associate Professor of Computer Science, North Carolina State University. He has a particular focus on computation as a tool to provide insight into human and nonhuman animal behavior in narrative, virtual world, and game environments. His laboratory regularly works with leading non-profit service animal and animal welfare organizations to bring the power of algorithms and analytics to bear on the challenging problems of understanding (human and non-human) animal behavior.  His research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning, social and behavioral psychology, and human–computer interaction. Roberts regularly works in collaboration with faculty and industry representatives from fields outside Computer Science, particularly in the veterinary and agricultural sciences.