2003-2004 Academic Year

A Multidisciplinary Knowledge Acquisition System to Teach Quantum
Information Processing

Speaker: Dr. Esma Aimeur

ABSTRACT
   Our talk will focus on Intelligent Tutoring Systems by describing their
components and more specifically on the curriculum, which is a 
kuNIVnowledge
base dedicated to teaching.  We will present QUANTI, a multidisciplinary
knowledge base for Quantum Information Processing (QIP), which is a new 
and
burgeoning discipline at the crossroads of computer science, mathematics,
physics and chemistry. The multidisciplinary nature of this field makes it
all the more challenging and interesting for the development of a 
knowledge
base because it is crucial to be able to cater to users coming from all 
four
underlying disciplines.  In particular, we have developed a new knowledge
elicitation algorithm designed to help experts structure their ideas.
   The knowledge base can serve as a repository to store valuable 
expertise
in the domain and it can be at the core of an Intelligent Tutoring System.
The potential impact of this knowledge base goes far beyond teaching. It 
can
be used by experts in some disciplines to access the expertise of 
colleagues
from other or from their own discipline.  It could also play a role in
discovering new concepts and proving new theorems. 
  The knowledge base is organized in a hierarchical manner.  It consists 
of
several semantic networks of concepts. Each concept in turn is a graph 
whose
nodes are entries in the repertory.  We allow experts with diverse 
expertise
to cooperate on the creation of the knowledge base by use of a 
well-defined
protocol because problems like coherence, conflict management, synonyms, 
etc
may occur.
   Our approach is generic and aims to be used in any other
multidisciplinary setting.

BIO
Esma Aimeur is Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science 
and
Operations Research of the Université de Montréal.  She received her 
Masters
Degree in 1990 and her PhD degree in 1994 from the Université de Paris 6
(Pierre et Marie Curie) in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Her
research domains include artificial intelligence (machine learning,
knowledge acquisition, case-based reasoning, etc.), intelligent tutoring
systems (curriculum, pedagogical strategies, learner model, etc.) and
electronic commerce.  Her domains of application are: medicine, finance,
fashion, penal law, biology, genetics, aeronautics, physics, and quantum
computing.  She has about one hundred publications and she has been member
of the programme and organizational committees of many international
conferences.  She is currently co-chair of the Université de Montréal's
Masters programme on Electronic Commerce.

Contact Person: Gheorghe Tecuci (tecuci@gmu.edu)