I am an associate professor at the University of Alberta. My research focuses on machine learning, games, and robotics, and I'm particularly fascinated by the problem of how computers can learn to play games through experience. I am the leader of the Computer Poker Research Group, which has built some of the best poker playing programs on the planet. The programs have won international AI competitions as well as being the first to beat top professional players in a meaningful competition. I am also a principal investigator in the Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence (RLAI) group and the Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Machine Learning (AICML). I completed my Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University, where my dissertation was focused on multiagent learning and I was extensively involved in the RoboCup initiative. My research has been featured on the television programs Scientific American Frontiers, National Geographic Today, and Discovery Channel Canada, as well appearing in the New York Times, Wired, on CBC and BBC radio, and twice in exhibits at the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, DC.
topThe CMPUT250: Computers and Games teaching team was awarded the Alan Blizzard Honourable Mention Award, which is a national award for "exemplary collaboration in university teaching". It has been great to be a part of this course and team.
I'm on sabbatical at Yahoo! Research until the end of June. I'm looking at some cool real problems on learning about opponents... I mean users... and applications of game theory to control abuse.
Polaris recently defeated some of the world's top heads-up, limit Texas Hold'em poker players (see News item below). Wired decided this would make a nice story for an in-magazine comic book entitled Ante Up, Human: The Adventures of Polaris, the Poker-Playing Robot! Michael Johanson and myself have been immortalized in complete comic glory. The likeness is incredible and art liberties hysterical. Check it out in the December issue or the link above.
Polaris, the Computer Poker Research Group's latest poker-playing AI, defeated some of the world's elite heads-up, limit Texas Hold'em poker players in the Second Man-Machine Poker Championship held in Las Vegas in July. The final standings for Polaris was 3 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw. You can find out more about the event on our own pages or you can read or listen to some of the stories in the media. Later in July, the group also won 3 of the 4 events in the the third annual AAAI Computer Poker Competition.
top
Arash Afkanpour (PhD)
Nolan Bard (PhD; MSc, 2008)
James Neufeld (PhD; MSc, 2008)
Michael Johanson (PhD; MSc, 2007)
Chris Rayner (PhD)
Marc Lanctot (PhD)
Katherine Chen (PhD)
Martha White (PhD; MSc, 2009)
Marc Bellemare (PhD)
Neil Burch (PhD)
Michael Joya (MSc)
Parisa Mazrooei (MSc)
Mostafa Vafadoost (MSc)
Yavar Nadaf (MSc, 2010; Working at Assymetric Ventures)
Kevin Waugh (MSc, 2009; PhD student at CMU)
Dave Schnizlein (MSc, 2009; Working at Sandia National Labs)
Dana Wilkinson (PhD, 2007; Working at AiLive)
Tao Wang (PhD, 2007; PDF at Purdue University)
Armita Kaboli (MSc, 2007; PhD student at UMass-Amherst)
Alborz Geramifard (MSc, 2006; PhD student at MIT)
Peter McCracken (MSc, 2005; Working at IBM)
CMPUT 101: Introduction to Computing Science
CMPUT 658: Applied Game Theory
CMPUT 250: Computers and Games