Christopher Thomas

File:Topher.jpg

Christopher Thomas

Researcher, Computer Science and Engineering
Kno.e.sis Center, Wright State University, Homepage

Ph.D, Computer Science, 2012

BS, ComputerVisualistik, 2001, Universität Koblenz

Bio

I recently finished my Ph.D. degree in the Kno.e.sis center at Wright State University in Dayton, OH. My Research encompasses different aspects of Semantics in Computer Science, from the formal, top-down approaches in ontology engineering to the bottom-up approaches of social knowledge accumulation that can be seen in Wikipedia and Tagging sites.

My undergraduate studies include a BS in Computer Science from the University of Koblenz and studies in Mathematics, Philosophy and German literature at the University of Cologne, both in Germany.

Throughout my studies the question of semantics played a major role. In literature it is about the meaning of the words and the interpretation of the whole text; in computer vision the meaning of signals for an algorithm and the meaning of components of the user interface for the user. In AI the question of semantics is central. How does it work that a symbol means something to me and how can I make a machine understand this meaning? In the Semantic Web this problem emerges at an even larger scale. The use of Ontologies in BioInformatics to give a meaningful description of not only everything between molecules and organisms, but also of processes and experiments is also very promising and might bring us new insights in the way molecules, cells, organisms, etc interact.

Work Experiences

• Faculty Research Assistant, UMIACS Center, University of Maryland College Park, Jan-Dec 2012
• Research Assistant, Kno.e.sis Center, Wright State University, Jan 2007 - Dec 2011
• Research Intern, Max Planck Institute Informatics, July - Sep 2009
• Research Intern, HP-Labs, Jun - Aug 2007
• Research Assistant, LSDIS Center, University of Georgia, 2003 - 2006
• Research Intern, Amazon.com, Seattle, WA, May - Aug 2005

Research Interests

• Knowledge Extraction from community-generated content
  • Automatic domain-model generation
  • Mining of factual information from community websites and the web in general
• BioInformatics for Glycan Expressions
• Semantic Web
  • TaxaMiner - Semi-automated Taxonomy Extraction
  • Formal representation of uncertain knowledge

Projects

• Activity detection on distributed Temporal Stochastic Automata
• Doozer
• Human Performance and Cognition Ontology
• Continuous_Semantics_to_Analyze_Real_Time_Data
• BioInformatics for Glycan Expressions

Publications

My Google Scholar Profile

Journal, Conference and Workshop Publications

• An Up-to-date Knowledge-Based Literature Search and Exploration Framework for Focused Bioscience Domains
• Knowledge Acquisition in a System, Ph.D. Thesis
• Web Wisdom: An Essay on How Web 2.0 and Semantic Web Can Foster a Global Knowledge Society
• Continuous Semantics to Analyze Real-Time Data
• Pattern-Based Synonym and Antonym Extraction
• What Goes Around Comes Around - Improving Linked Open Data through On-Demand Model Creation
• Inexact Matching of Ontology Graphs Using Expectation-Maximization, Journal of Web Semantics 2009
• Ontology Supported Knowledge Discovery in the Field of Human Performance and Cognition
• Growing Fields of Interest -Using an Expand and Reduce Strategy for Domain Model Extraction
• Semantic Convergence of Wikipedia Articles
• Inexact Matching of Ontology Graphs Using Expectation-Maximization, AAAI 2006
• Knowledge Modeling and Its Application in Life Sciences: A Tale of Two Ontologies
• Modular Ontology Design Using Canonical Building Blocks in the Biochemistry Domain
• On the Expressiveness of the Languages for the Semantic Web - Making a Case for 'A Little More'
• TaxaMiner: Improving Taxonomy Label Quality Using Latent Semantic Indexing
• GLYDE-an expressive XML standard for the representation of glycan structure
• METEOR-S Web Service Annotation Framework with Machine Learning Classification
• Semantics for The Semantic Web: the Implicit, the Formal and the Powerful
• TaxaMiner: An Experimental Framework for Automated Taxonomy Bootstrapping
• Semantic Integration of Glycomics Data and Information
• Semantic Web technology in support of Bioinformatics for Glycan Expression

Book Chapters

• Semantic Web Service Approaches to be published in USDL

Professional Activities

Program Committee Member

• EKAW 2012
• CIKM 2011
• International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC) 2010 \& 2011
• Extended Semantic Web Conference (ESWC) 2010 \& 2011
• WISM 2010
• EKAW 2010
• KREAM'2010 Knowledge Representation and Applied Decision Making
• Social Semantic Web 2009
• CORE 2008
• COMBEK 2008
• WISM 2008
• {External Reviewer}: AAAI 2010, WWW 2009, ISWC 2008, CIKM 2007

Selected Courses

Computer Science and AI

• CSCI 6370, Database Management

• CSCI 6490, Algorithms for Computational Biology, Course Page

• CSCI 6560, Evolutionary Computation

• CSCI 6610, Automata and Formal Languages

• CSCI/MATH 6690, Graph Theory

• CSCI 8140, Parallel Processing and Computational Science

• CSCI 8350, Enterprise Integration, Semantic Web, course page

• CSCI 8820, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

• CSCI 8940, Computational Intelligence

• CSCI 8950, Machine Learning

• CSCI/PHIL 4550/6550, Artificial Intelligence (taken as ARTI 8800)

• CSCI/PHIL 8650, Logic and Logic Programming (taken as ARTI 8800)

• PHIL/LING 6510, Deductive Systems

• CSCI/LING 8570, Natural Language Processing

• PHIL 8500, Seminar in Problems in Logic

Philosophy

• PHIL 8610, Seminar in Epistemology

• PHIL/LING 8300, Seminar in Philosophy of Language, course page

• PSYC 6100, Cognitive Psychology, course page

Contact Information

• Email: <topher> at knoesis dot org
• LinkedIn: Christopher Thomas