Computer scientist Yiling Chen named among "AI's 10 to Watch"

Yiling Chen, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has been named by IEEE Intelligent Systems as among "AI's 10 to Watch."

Published in the January/February 2011 issue, the honor acknowledges "10 accomplished AI researchers in their early careers ... who promise to be the leaders of the field."

The winners, nominated by senior researchers in academia and industry, are chosen every two years by a committee comprising members of the magazine's advisory and editorial boards.

"We at SEAS are thrilled to have Yiling Chen recognized by IEEE Intelligent Systems as one of AI's 10 to Watch," says Michael Mitzenmacher, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and Area Dean at SEAS. "Her work on prediction markets and other mechanisms for information aggregation brings computer science together with economics and social science in deep and fundamental ways. Yiling provides a shining example of how computer science research can connect to the broader Harvard universe, enriching both."

Chen's current research focuses on designing and analyzing social and organizational systems according to both economic and computational objectives.

Her specific interests include prediction markets and other information aggregation mechanisms, online advertising, auction theory and mechanisms design, algorithmic game theory, peer production, multi-agent systems, and web data mining.

Chen received a Ph.D. in Information Sciences and Technology from Pennsylvania State University,University Park; a Master of Economics from Tsinghua University,Beijing, China; and a Bachelor of Economics from Renmin University,Beijing, China.

Prior to Chen's appointment at Harvard, she was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Yahoo! Research, and served as a Teaching/Research Assistant at various institutions, including Pennsylvania State University, Iowa State University, and Tsinghua University.

Chen serves as the editor in chief of ACM SIGecom Exchanges, the newsletter of the ACM’s special interest group on e-commerce, and recently received the prestigious NSF CAREER Award.

In addition to Chen, the other honorees are: Vincent Conitzer, Duke University; Mathieu d’Aquin, The Open University; Kristen Grauman, University of Texas at Austin; Tom Heath, Talis; Jure Leskovec, Stanford University; Daniel B. Neill, Carnegie Mellon University; André Platzer, Carnegie Mellon University; Talal Rahwan, University of Southampton; and Liwei Wang, Peking University.

IEEE Intelligent Systems is published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community through IEEE's highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities.