Natural language research announcements

["Samdani, Rajhans" <rsamdan2 AT illinois.edu>]

Hi all.

This week we are hosting Prof. Brian Ziebart (http://www.cs.uic.edu/Ziebart). 
Following are the details of hist talk. 

*** Note that he'll be available to meet on Friday (15'th). Interested 
researchers please email me or 
bisk1 AT illinois.edu
 with a list of possible time slots.***

Talk details:
When: Friday, Feb 15, 2 pm.

Where: Siebel Center, 3405.

Title: Beyond Conditionals: Structured Prediction for Interacting Processes

Abstract: 
The principle of maximum entropy provides a powerful framework for estimating 
joint, conditional, and marginal probability distributions.  Markov random 
fields and conditional random fields can be viewed as the maximum entropy 
approach in action.  However, beyond joint and conditional distributions, 
there are many other important distributions with elements of interaction and 
feedback where its applicability has not been established. In this talk, I 
will present the principle of maximum causal entropy—an approach based on 
directed information theory for estimating an unknown process based on its 
interactions with a known process. 


Bio: Brian Ziebart is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer 
Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his PhD in 
Machine Learning from Carnegie Mellon University in 2010, where he was also a 
postdoctoral fellow.  He also holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering (highest 
honors) from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  His research 
interests include machine learning, decision theory, game theory, robotics, 
and assistive technologies.  

Best,
Rajhans