G. Michael Youngblood

Michael Youngblood is an interactive systems researcher, designer, architect, and builder. He currently focuses on mobile computing platforms and interactive artificial intelligence systems to facilitate positive behavior change in individual and social contexts. His research work has also focused on learning and understanding spatiotemporal elements in real and virtual enviroments in order to guide decisions by AI assisting elements. This work has involved mobile robots, smart houses and buildings, interactive 3D gaming, and mobile computing. Before joining PARC, Michael led the Game Intelligence Group as an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science, College of Computing and Informatics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His well-funded research group conducted work in interactive artificial intelligence focusing on spatial reasoning representations, automated spatial decomposition techniques, dynamic behavior-based control, and tools to improve intelligent character creation. He founded and directed the Game Design & Development program at UNC Charlotte, which was the first dual graduate and undergraduate certificate program for games and interactive technologies in North Carolina. Before graduate school, Michael worked as a professional software engineer for Lockheed-Martin, Motorola, and American Airlines. Prior to college, he served three tours of duty in the US Navy fast-attack submarine fleet. Dr. Youngblood received his Ph.D.,  M.S., and Honors B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington. His dissertation work focused on automating intelligent environments to reduce user interaction through user modeling, activity recognition/prediction, and machine learning. He serves on numerous program committees for international conferences and is the former general and program chair for both FLAIRS and AIIDE. He has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of interactive artificial intelligence in games, automating intelligent environments, game education, and robotics. He received a best paper award at the Foundations of Digital Games in 2007. Michael is a member of AAAI, a Tau Beta Pi Fellow, and member of the DARPA Computer Sciences Study Group.