SUNNYVALE, Calif.–Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced that Dr. Usama Fayyad has been chosen as a 2005 Fellow by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). Fayyad is Yahoo!’s chief data officer and senior vice president and also oversees the Yahoo! Research Labs organization.
Every year, AAAI recognizes a small number of members who have made significant, sustained contributions to the field of artificial intelligence, and who have attained unusual distinction in the profession. The AAAI honored Fayyad at the 2005 Fellows Recognition Dinner, as part of the Twentieth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
“The appointment of Dr. Usama Fayyad as a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence is a highly deserved recognition of his seminal contributions to both the theory and practice of artificial intelligence”
“The appointment of Dr. Usama Fayyad as a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence is a highly deserved recognition of his seminal contributions to both the theory and practice of artificial intelligence,” said prof. Tom Mitchell, chairman of the AAAI Awards Committee and past president of AAAI. “His research in this area has produced important machine learning and data mining algorithms that open up new opportunities for automated, intelligent analysis of very large data sets. Dr. Fayyad’s work both in developing the underlying technology of artificial intelligence and in using it to impact the commercial world will have great impact on the lives of individuals in new ways.”
As Chief Data Officer at Yahoo!, Fayyad is responsible for the company’s overall data strategy, creating Yahoo!’s data policies and systems, prioritizing data investments, and managing the company’s data processing infrastructure and analysis. The analysis and management of data within Fayyad’s group enables Yahoo! to help ensure customer satisfaction and develop innovative products and services that are essential to consumers’ lives. He also oversees Yahoo! Research Labs and its commitment to become the most significant scientific research center in the areas of Information Navigation, Social and Mobile Media, and other areas crucial to interactive media and the Internet.
In addition to Fayyad, this year’s AAAI newly elected fellows include Raymond J. Mooney, professor of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas, Austin; Andrew W. Moore, professor of Robotics and Computer Science at the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University; and David E. Smith, planning & scheduling group lead at the NASA Ames Research Center.
“It’s a tremendous technical challenge to understand and apply effectively the enormous amounts of data generated within Yahoo! every day in order to deliver the best user experience on the Internet and operate many AI technologies to power many crucial systems at Yahoo! including the search engines, advertising systems, and data analysis infrastructure,” said Fayyad.
“I have been a member of AAAI since I was a graduate student and published my first major publications in its conferences, and to be recognized by my peers as a 2005 AAAI Fellow for the work I have done at Yahoo! and elsewhere is indeed a great honor,” said Fayyad.
Fayyad joined Yahoo!’s executive team in 2004 and represents a growing bench of strong technical leadership in the company.
Prior to joining Yahoo!, Fayyad co-founded and led the DMX Group, one of the nation’s leading data mining and data strategy consulting companies. In early 2000, he co-founded and served as CEO of digiMine Inc. (now Revenue Science, Inc.), a data analysis and data mining company that built, operated and hosted data warehouses and analytics for some of the world’s largest enterprises in online publishing, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications and financial services. Fayyad’s professional experience also includes five years spent leading the data mining and exploration group at Microsoft Research and building the data mining products for Microsoft’s server division. From 1989 to 1996 Fayyad held a leadership role at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where his work in the analysis and exploration of scientific databases gathered from observatories, remote-sensing platforms and spacecraft garnered him the top research excellence award that Caltech awards to JPL scientists. Fayyad also earned several NASA awards, including a U.S. Government medal for developing data mining technologies that enabled new scientific discoveries.
Fayyad earned his Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Michigan (1991), and also holds BSE’s in both electrical and computer engineering (1984); an MSE in computer science and engineering (1986); and an M.Sc. in mathematics (1989). He has published over 100 technical articles on the field of data mining, edited two influential books on the subject and launched the primary scientific journal in the field while serving as editor-in-chief. Fayyad also launched and edited the primary newsletter in the technical community, and regularly delivers addresses and keynotes at government, industry and academic conferences around the world.
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destination worldwide. Yahoo! seeks to provide online products and services essential to consumers’ lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Yahoo! and the Yahoo! logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.
All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Source: Business Wire / PDF