Specializations
- Artificial Intelligence
- Machine Learning
- Information Science
Research Areas
Courses
Biography
Dr. Steven Gustafson is an experienced computer scientist specializing in applied artificial intelligence solutions. With a career dedicated to leveraging data and information systems for better decision-making, Steven has made significant contributions across diverse areas and organizations.
As an R&D scientist and leader for 10 years with General Electric in New York, Steven developed innovative solutions utilizing big data systems, social network analysis, natural language processing, and knowledge graphs. His work spanned multiple industries, including open source intelligence, finance, aviation, power generation, marketing, and business intelligence.
Steven’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to Seattle, where he has spent 8 years advising, leading and co-founding startups. As a Chief Scientist and Chief Technology Officer at 3 different startups, he developed AI services for a knowledge graph platform, an AI-driven thematic investing solution, and a research tool to connect information with evidence from trusted knowledge sources. Today, Steven continues to advise and consult on applying AI technology in both startups and industry.
Steven is passionate about education and mentoring. He has held positions as a guest faculty or advisor for computer and information science courses and capstone projects at several institutions, including the University of Washington, UC Berkeley, and Union College in Schenectady NY. Steven has also delivered several invited talks, including at the University of Newcastle, the Birmingham City University, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and at several corporations.
Steven holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from Kansas State University and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Nottingham. His PhD research earned him recognition as one of the “AI’s 10 to Watch” by IEEE Intelligence Systems in 2006, the first year the award was given. Steven has over 50 peer reviewed publications and 12 patents, and currently serves on several conference and journal editorial boards.
Education
- Ph D, Computer Science, University of Nottingham
- MS, Computer Science, Kansas State University
- BS, Computer Science, Kansas State University
Awards
- AI 10 to Watch - IEEE Intelligent Systems Magazine, 2006
- Best Paper - European Conference on Genetic Programming, 2006
- Best Paper - European Conference on Genetic Programming, 2005
- Best Poster - European Conference on Genetic Programming, 2002
Publications and Contributions
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Journal Article, Professional JournalArchitecting AI will improve AI Ethics (2022)Journal of AI, Robotics & Workplace Automation, 1(4)
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Conference PaperSDRL: Interpretable and Data-efficient Deep Reinforcement Learning Leveraging Symbolic Planning (2019)33rd AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
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Conference PaperA Practical Incremental Learning Framework For Sparse Entity Extraction (2018)COLING 2018
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Conference PaperPEORL: Integrating Symbolic Planning and Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning for Robust Decision-Making (2018)IJCAI
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Conference PaperProgram Search for Machine Learning Pipelines Leveraging Symbolic Planning and Reinforcement Learning (2018)Genetic Programming Theory and Practice XVI
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Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-NewProgram Search for Machine Learning Pipelines Leveraging Symbolic Planning and Reinforcement Learning (2018)Genetic Programming Theory and Practice XVI
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Conference PaperA machine learning approach to quantifying noise in medical images (2016)Proc. SPIE 9791, Medical Imaging 2016: Digital Pathology
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Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-NewAssisting Asset Model Development with Evolutionary Augmentation (2016)Genetic Programming Theory and Practice XIV
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Conference PaperFeedback-Driven Radiology Exam Report Retrieval with Semantics (2015)Proceedings of IEEE International Conference in Healthcare Informatics (ICHI)
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Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-NewGenetic Programming for Data Science: Lessons Learned (2015)Genetic Programming Theory and Practice
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Conference PaperSemantics for Big Data Access & Integration: Improving Industrial Equipment Design through Increased Data Usability (2015)Proceedings of IEEE Big Data Conference, Industry and Government Program
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Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-NewSemantics: Revolutionary Breakthrough or Just Another Way of Doing the Same Things? (2015)Semantic Web - Implications for Technologies and Business Practices
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Journal Article, Professional JournalWeb of Things (2014)Computing Now, Computing Now, 7(3)
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Conference PaperA Natural Language Processing and Semantic-Based System for Contract Analysis (2013)Proceedings of IEEE 25th International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence
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Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-NewExtracting and Measuring Relationship Strength in Social Networks (2012)Social Networking and Community Behavior Modeling: Qualitative and Quantitative Measures
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Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-NewEgo-centric Network Sampling in Viral Marketing Applications (2010)Mining and Analyzing Social Networks, Studies in Computational Intelligence, 288(Unknown Issue)
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Journal Article, Professional JournalGenetic Programming and Evolvable Machines: Ten Years of Reviews (2010)Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines, 11(3-4), pp. 321-338
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Journal Article, Professional JournalOpen issues in genetic programming (2010)Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines, 11(3-4), pp. 339-363
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Conference PaperWISDOM from Light-Weight Information Retrieval (2010)IEEE Second International Conference on Social Computing, pp. 347-354
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Journal Article, Academic JournalA Note on Creating Networks from Social Network Data (2009)CONNECTIONS, 29(2), pp. 77-84
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Conference PaperEgo-centric Network Sampling in Viral Marketing Applications (2009)Proceedings of International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering, pp. 777-782
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Book Editor, ScholarlyProceedings of the 12th European Conference on Genetic Programming (2009)Springer
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Conference PaperUsing Crossover Based Similarity Measure to Improve Genetic Programming Generalization Ability (2009)Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, pp. 1139-1146
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Journal Article, Professional JournalCrossover-based Tree Distance in Genetic Programming (2008)IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 12(4), pp. 506-524
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Book Editor, ScholarlyProceedings of the 11th European Conference on Genetic Programming (2008)Springer
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Book Editor, ScholarlySystems Self-Assembly: multidisciplinary snapshots (2008)Studies in Multidisciplinarity
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Journal Article, Professional JournalIssues in the scaling of multi-robot systems for general problem solving (2006)Autonomous Robots, 20(2), pp. 125-136
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Book Editor, ScholarlyProceedings of the 9th European Conference on Genetic Programming (2006)Springer
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Journal Article, Professional JournalThe Speciating Island Model: An Alternative Parallel Evolutionary Algorithm (2006)Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing
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Conference PaperUsing Subtree Crossover Distance to Investigate Genetic Programming Dynamics (2006)Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Genetic Programming
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Conference PaperA Family of Conceptual Problems in the Automated Design of Systems Self-Assembly (2005)Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Foundations of Nanoscience Conference
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Conference PaperA Niche for Parallel Islands Models: Outliers and Local Search (2005)Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Parallel BioInspired Algorithms
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Journal Article, Professional JournalGenetic Programming and Evolvable Machines: Five years of Reviews (2005)Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines, 6(2), pp. 221-228
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Conference PaperOn Improving Genetic Programming for Symbolic Regression (2005)Proceedings of the Congress on Evolutionary Computation
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Conference PaperOperator-Based Distance for Genetic Programming: Subtree Crossover Distance (2005)Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on Genetic Programming
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Conference PaperScaling issues with robot search and tagging (2005)Robosphere 2004: Self-Sustaining Robotic Systems, NASA Ames Research Center
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Conference PaperThe Tree-String Problem: An Artificial Domain for Structure and Content Search (2005)Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on Genetic Programming
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Conference PaperA Data Structure for Improved GP Analysis via Efficient Computation and Visualisation of Population Measures (2004)Proceedings of the European Conference on Genetic Programming
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Journal Article, Professional JournalA Study on the use of ``Self-Generation'' in Memetic Algorithms (2004)Journal of Natural Computing, 3(1), pp. 53-76
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Journal Article, Professional JournalDiversity in Genetic Programming: An Analysis of Measures and Correlation with Fitness (2004)IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation
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Journal Article, Professional JournalProblem Difficulty and Code Growth in Genetic Programming (2004)Journal of Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines
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Conference PaperSampling of Unique Structures and Behaviours in Genetic Programming (2004)
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Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-NewSelf-Assembling of Local Searchers in Memetic Algorithms (2004)Recent Advances in Memetic Algorithms and Related Search Technologies, Springer Series of Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, 166(Unknown Issue), pp. 229-257
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Conference PaperIs Increasing Diversity in Genetic Programming Beneficial? An Analysis of the Effects on Fitness (2003)Proceedings of the Congress on Evolutionary Computation
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Conference PaperRamped Half -n-Half Bias in GP (2003)Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference
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Conference PaperThe Local Searcher as a Supplier of Building Blocks in Self Generating Memetic Algorithms (2003)Proceedings of the Bird of a Feather Workshops, Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference
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Conference PaperA Puzzle to Challenge Genetic Programming (2002)Proceedings of the European Conference on Genetic Programming
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Conference PaperA Survey and Analysis of Diversity Measures in Genetic Programming (2002)Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference
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Conference PaperAdvanced Population Diversity Measures in Genetic Programming (2002)Proceedings of Parallel Problem Solving from Nature Conference
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Conference PaperGenetic Programming And Multi-agent Layered Learning By Reinforcements (2002)Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference
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Conference PaperIs Genetic Programming a Suitable Research Direction for Timetabling? (2002)Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling
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Conference PaperTowards Truly ``memetic'' Memetic Algorithms (2002)
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Conference PaperGenetic Programming for Layered Learning of Multi-agent Tasks (2001)Late-Breaking Papers of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference
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Conference PaperLayered learning in genetic programming for a co-operative robot soccer problem (2001)Proceedings of European Conference on Genetic Programming
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Conference PaperGenetic Algorithms for Reformulation of Large Scale KDD Problems with Many Irrelevant Attributes (2000)Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference
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Conference PaperGenetic programming for strategy learning in soccer playing agents: A KDD-based architecture (2000)GECCO Graduate Student Workshop
Presentations
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Innovative Applications of AI
(2024)
Analytics Vidhya‘s Data Science - Virtual
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Architecting for Success with AI
(2023)
RAISE, Birmingham City University - Birmingham, United Kingdom
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Architecting AI for Success in Industry
(2022)
School of Computer Science at Birmingham City University - Birmingham, United Kingdom
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Industrial Data Science
(2022)
iSchool, University of Washington - Seattle, WA
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New Data Science Skills
(2022)
Annual Recruiting Fair, at the University of North Carolina National Consortium Data Science - Chapel Hill, NC
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Connecting the Dots with Knowledge and Data to Enable Analogical Reasoning
(2021)
Knowledge Graph Conference, Columbia University - New York, NY
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Future of Data Science
(2021)
Annual NSF South Big Data Hub All-Hands Meeting - Virtual
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AutoML for Decision Optimization
(2019)
Global AI Conference - Seattle, WA
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Computational Knowledge Layer
(2019)
Knowledge Graph Conference, Columbia University - New York, NY
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Startup Data Science
(2019)
Insight Data Science Institute - Seattle, WA
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AI in the Real World: A Conversation with Steven Gustafson
(2016)
Data & Society Research Institute - New York, NY
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The Future of AI
(2016)
SPI's Global Annual Customer Advisory Meeting, World Trade Center - New York, New York
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Industrial Big Data
(2015)
NSF Northeast Big Data Region Innovation Hubs Workshop - Massachusetts
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Leveraging AI on Data to Get Smarter Faster
(2015)
Smart Data Conference - San Jose, CA
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Big Industrial Internet Data: Connecting and Optimizing at New Scales
(2014)
Strata Conference - Santa Clara, CA
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Federation of Earth Science Information Partners Workshop on Research Priorities for the Science Data Enterprise
(2014)
Washington, DC
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Industrial Knowledge Organization: Capturing and Leveraging Knowledge from Text
(2013)
Text Analytics World - San Francisco, CA
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Internet of Things
(2013)
IEEE/WIC/ACM International Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technologies Conference - Atlanta, GA