Department Welcomes New Professor

September 01, 2011

Amy Sliva recently joined the Northeastern faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science with a joint appointment in the College of Computer and Information Science.  Amy received her Ph.D. in Computer Science and M.P.P. in International Security and Economics from the University of Maryland.

Her research interests are interdisciplinary, and lie in developing artificial intelligence frameworks to analyze complex international security and development situations. By modeling the behavioral dynamics of groups engaged in conflict, these AI tools can help identify possible mitigating policies and provide decision support in diverse situations, such as counterterrorism, drug trafficking, development logistics, and cyber security. One such decision support technology--the Stochastic Opponent Modeling Agents (SOMA) framework--that Amy co-developed at the University of Maryland was featured on the CBS crime drama "Numb3rs," where the FBI uses it to solve a kidnapping case!  To learn more about the SOMA framework, watch this clip.