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Hello, My name is
Eyal Amir

I am co-founder and CEO of Ai Incube, a company providing an API for applications that want to use live cities’ information. I am also an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where I stepped down from my tenured professorship to run impactful companies and spend time with family. I am passionate about Artificial Intelligence and am working to advance the field. I won best-PhD award at Stanford University computer science and Top-10 Young AI award from IEEE.

I work with others in the AI world to make our world safe and better to live in. Stay tuned for more on this here.

Research Interests

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, with emphasis on systems that combine knowledge, reasoning, learning, and sensings. My technical work is divided between three areas: (a) machine learning and algorithms, (b) probabilistic and logical reasoning and knowledge representation, and (c) human-level AI theory and systems. Examples of my work include logical-particle filters, relational Kalman Filters, Bayesian inverse reinforcement learning, factored robotic-motion planning, lifted relational probability inference, and Human-Turing machines. Recent applications of my work include award-winning parking-availability prediction, diagnosing water systems, internet crawling decisions, intelligent game agents, natural-language processing, and robot motion planning.

Academic Employment and Education
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Adjunct Associate Professor in Computer Science (since 2013).
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Associate Professor in Computer Science (2009–2013).
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Beckman Institute Affiliate (2006–2013).
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Assistant Professor in Computer Science (2004–2009).
  • Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology, Visiting Scholar (2007).
  • University of California at Berkeley, Post-doctoral research in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department (2001–2003).
  • Stanford University, Ph.D. in Computer Science (1995–2001). Thesis title: Dividing and Conquering Logic. – Best Stanford CS thesis, 2001-2002 (see Awards).
  • Bar-Ilan University, M.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science (1990–1994).
  • Bar-Ilan University, B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science, cum laude (1987–1992).
Academic Service

Journals and Conferences Service

  • Chairmanship
    • shop Program co-Chair of in the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI’13), 2013
    • co-Chair of NSF Workshop on Research Challenges and Opportunities in Knowledge Representation, 2013
    • co-Chair of the 8th Symposium on Logical Formalizations of Commonsense Reasoning (Commonsense 2007)
  • Editorial Board
    • Member in the editorial board of Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR), 2006–2009
  • Program Committee Member for
    • International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: KR 2012, KR 2010, KR 2008, KR 2006
    • European Conference on Artificial Intelligence: ECAI 2012, ECAI 2010, ECAI 2006
    • International Conference on AI Planning and Scheduling: ICAPS 2012
    • International Symposium on AI and Math: ISAIM 2012
    • International Conference on AI Planning and Scheduling: ICAPS 2012
    • Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence Conference UAI 2012, UAI 2011, UAI 2008, UAI 2007)
    • National Conference on Artificial Intelligence: AAAI 2011 (tutorial forum PC), AAAI 2010, AAAI 2008, AAAI 2007, AAAI 2006, AAAI 2005, AAAI 2004
    • Intl. Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence IJCAI 2011 (Senior PC Member), IJCAI 2009, IJCAI 2005, IJCAI 2003, IJCAI 2001, IJCAI 1999
    • First International Workshop on Uncertainty in Description Logics (UniDL 2010)
    • Workshop on Nonmonotonic Reasoning at 30, 2010
    • Workshop on Nonmonotonic Reasoning about Actions (NRAC 2009)
    • Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2008)
    • Logic Programming and Automated Reasoning (LPAR 2007)
    • International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2006)
    • International Conference on Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management (KSEM 2006)
    • International Symposium on Practical Cognitive Agents and Robots, 2006.
    • European STarting AI Researcher Symposium (STAIRS 2006)
    • Workshop on Context Representation and Reasoning, 2005
    • Symposium on Logical Formalizations of Commonsense Reasoning: Commonsense 2009, Commonsense 2005, Commonsense 2003, Commonsense 2001
    • Doctoral Consortium in Conference on Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR 2004)
    • International Cognitive Robotics Workshop (CogRob 2002)
    • Intl. Workshop on Non-Monotonic Reasoning NMR 2002, NMR 2000.
  • Reviewer for
    • Artificial Intelligence Journal (AIJ),
    • Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR),
    • Journal of Machine Learning Research (JMLR),
    • Communications of the ACM,
    • Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence,
    • AI Communications,
    • Discrete Applied Mathematics,
    • Addison-Wesley,
    • Cambridge University Press,
    • Morgan Kauffman Publishers,
    • IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2010),
    • IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2010),
    • National Conference on Artificial Intelligence AAAI 2000.
  • Professional organizations:
    • Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).
    • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
    • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
  • Advisory Boards
    • Lifeboat Foundation
    • Project Elliot
  • Departmental and Campus Committee Memberships:
    • Graduate Student Admissions Committee (FAA).
    • Courses and Curricula Committee.
    • Student Awards Committee.
    • Quality of Doctoral Program, strategic committee.
    • Campus Research Board (reviewer)
  • Service for Government Agencies and Funding Sources:
    • Reviewer and panel member for National Science Foundation (NSF), 2006-2012
    • Reviewer for Israel Science Foundation (ISF), 2008-2012
    • Reviewer and panel member for Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), German Research Foundation, 2011-2012
    • Reviewer for German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), 2012.
Industrial Experience
  • Chief Executive Officer, AI Incube, Inc (Parknav, FasPark). (2009-Present)
    Machine Learning for street parking. Co-founded the company, managed its everyday activities, submitted 3 patents (pending with the USPTO), created and implemented the first 3 versions of the Faspark server, created and implemented machine-learning algorithms for the Faspark server, recruited employees, ran tests and QA on Faspark’s service, interview users and customers, led the sales efforts,
    and led the strategic direction of the company. Led the company to 6-figure revenue and over 20,000 users in two cities (Chicago, USA and Munich, Germany). Successfully raised money for the company from notable corporate investors. Successfully presented and gained customers with multiple fortune 500 automotive customers and city services customers.
  • Chief Data Scientist, 6Sense Insights (2014).
  • Consultant, Giza Venture Capital. (2000-2008)
    Technical evaluation of start-up companies that use artificial intelligence  techniques.
  • Software Engineer, Israel Defense Forces, Captain. (1990–1995)
    Programming game models and GUI in C++ in a Sun/Solaris environment.
  • Lab Manager, Bar-Ilan University. (1989–1990)
    Hardware and software maintenance for a PC lab.
Select Awards and Honors
  • Best Presentation, SXSW Interactive Smart-Data and Enterprise Track, 2016.
  • Best Paper Award, ECAI 9th Workshop on Spatio Temporal Dynamics (STeDy), 2012.
  • Junior Xerox Award for Faculty Research, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2009.
  • C. W. Gear Faculty Award, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2008.
  • Fellow, Arnold O. Beckman Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2007-2008.
  • Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2007-2008.
  • AI Ten to Watch Award, IEEE Intelligent Systems Magazine, 2006.
  • Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, National Science Foundation, 2006.
  • Arthur L. Samuel Award for best Ph.D. thesis, Computer Science Department at Stanford, 2002.
  • IBM Yosef Raviv Fellowship, 2001 (declined).
Teaching Experience
  • Research Advisor for Ph.D. students (10), Postdoctoral researcher (1), MS students (6), BS students (6). My graduated students have gone to Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, UC Berkeley, University of Washington, UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Korea), Google Research, Honda Research Institute, SRI International, University of Chicago, Google, Wolverine Trading, Palantir, and Amazon.
  • Collaborative Project, lead an Autonomous Car project, including 4 faculty and 50 students University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Computer Science Department, Fall 2006, Spring 2007.
  • Instructor, CS 440: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Computer Science Department, Fall 2006, Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2012.
  • Instructor, CS 498-EA: Reasoning and Knowledge Representation, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Computer Science Department, Fall 2004, Fall 2005, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2011.
  • Instructor, CS 598-EA: Decision-Making Under Uncertainty, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Computer Science Department, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007.
  • Instructor, CS 598-EA: Logic in Artificial Intelligence, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Computer Science Department, Spring 2009.
  • Instructor, CS 497-EA: Reasoning in Artificial Intelligence, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Computer Science Department, Spring 2004.
  • Seminar Organizer:
    • AI-Vision-Robotics Seminar, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2005–Present)
    • Seminar on Logical Methods, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2005–2006)
    • Seminar on Approximate Probabilistic Inference, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2005–2006)
    • Knowledge Representation and Reasoning Seminar, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2005)
    • AI-Vision-Robotics Seminar, University of California Berkeley. (2001–2003)
    • AI-Vision-Robotics Colloquium, Stanford University. (1998–1999)
  • Reading Group Organizer, Artificial Intelligence Agents, University of California Berkeley, Computer Science Division, Spring 2002, Autumn 2002.
  • Teaching Assistant, CS 121: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, Stanford University, Computer Science Department, taught by Nils J. Nilsson, Spring 1998.
  • Teaching Assistant, CS 323: Commonsense and Nonmonotonic Reasoning, Stanford University, Computer Science Department, taught by John McCarthy, Winter 1996, Winter 1997.
  • Teaching Assistant, Math 102, Math 103: Introduction to Set Theory and Analysis, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, taught by Yaacov Choueika, Autumn 1991, Spring 1992.
  • Instructor, Info 705: Computer Applications Bar-Ilan University, Information Science Department, Spring 1990.