User:Matthew.cobb/Peter Nelson (researcher)

Peter C. Nelson, Ph.D. is an American Artificial Intelligence researcher and Computer Science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and as of 2008 he is the currently acting Dean of the College of Engineering. He received his B.A. in Computer Science and Mathematics from North Park University in 1984, and subsequently completed both his M.S. in Computer Science from in 1986 and his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1988 from Northwestern University.

His research primarily concerns the development and application of heuristic search algorithms, among other AI methods, capable of solving contemporary problems in domains such as manufacturing, transportation, bioinformatics, and high-availability computer clusters. Notably, between 1994-5 and along with the UIC AI Laboratory, he developed the first website to graphically display real-time travel conditions, the Gateway System, for the Illinois Department of Transportaion, which won the Federal Highway Administration's award for "Outstanding Traveler Information Web Sites" two consecutive years (2002-3). Additionally, he is one of two researchers credited with the development of the Perimeter Search algorithm, the details of which were published in the journal Artificial Intelligence. .

Selected Publications
J.F. Dillenburg and P. C. Nelson, "Perimeter Search," Artificial Intelligence Journal Vol. 65, (1994) pp. 165-178.

P. C. Nelson and C. Lain, "Heuristic Improvement through Triangulation," Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 7, No. 2, (1995) pp. 345-359.

A. Dikos, P.C. Nelson, T. Tirpak and W. Wang, “Optimization of PCCA in High-Mix Environments Using Genetic Algorithms,” Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 75, (1997) pp. 303-324.

W. Wang, P.C. Nelson and T. M. Tirpak, “Optimization of High-Speed Multi-Station SMT Placement Machines Using Evolutionary Algorithms,” IEEE Transactions on Electronics Packaging Manufacturing, Vol. 22, No. 2 (1999) pp. 137-146.

Chi Zhou, Weimin Xiao, Peter C. Nelson, and Thomas M. Tirpak, “Evolving Accurate and Compact Classification Rules with Gene Expression Programming,” IEEE Trans. of Evolutionary Computation, Vol. 7, No. 6, (December 2003), pages 519 – 531.