Thanh Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Sciences, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to address real-world societal problems. By drawing on subfields of AI such as multi-agent systems, game theory, machine learning, and optimization, as well as fields outside of AI such as cognitive modeling and conservation biology, Nguyen creates solutions to issues of public safety, cyber security, sustainability, and public health.
Nguyen contributed to building the real-world wildlife protection application PAWS (Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security). The core algorithm of PAWS integrates machine learning for predicting poaching behavior, game-theoretic reasoning and route planning. PAWS analyzes crime data to learn the behavior models of poachers, and combines that with basic information about a protected area to generate predictions of poaching locations. Based on those predictions, PAWS calculates a randomized patrolling strategy.