Gustavo Lacerda

on vacation in Brooklyn, NY (June 2008)

See http://www.optimizelife.com

I'm a grad student at UBC, interested in machine learning and AI, and information theory. I like pretty math, especially when it helps us answer questions about the real world. I have a knack for spotting ambiguities and paradoxes, and sometimes need to resist the temptation of fixing them (a little handwaving/sweeping-under-the-rug is sometimes necessary for fast progress). My most developed nameable skill seems to be programming (this is distinct from "hacking", at which I'm merely ok). I can be a pedanticist about notation, and often wish that standard mathematical language were based on typed lambda calculus. I'm a former semantic web dreamer, but remain fond of argument diagramming.

My background is diverse. I have degrees in Mathematics (BS) and Logic (MSc). My most important publication so far was at UAI2008 (using ICA to infer the structure of causal networks). I'm a reviewer for CogSci, and I've recently had recommendations written by profs in Computer Science, Philosophy, Statistics, and Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Recently concluded projects include:

• search algorithms for Bayesian sparse linear regression
• stochastic gradient methods for training Restricted Boltzmann Machines
• time-series modeling of energy usage in office buildings

At SFI, I'm hoping to boost my research on complex networks.