Date: Wednesday, 15-Jan-97 01:23:59 GMT Server: NCSA/1.3 MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/html Last-modified: Thursday, 09-Jan-97 18:39:27 GMT Content-length: 15117 Naghi's Home Page (nagendra@cs.umass.edu)

Biodata

Maram Nagendra Prasad (Naghi)



PhD Student
Computer Science Department
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003
(413) 545-3444 (office)
(413) 545-1249 (fax)
(413) 549-8415 (residence)
nagendra@cs.umass.edu


Education

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts. September 1991 -- present.
Doctoral Candidate, Computer Science.
Thesis: Learning Situation-specific Control in Multi-agent Systems
Expected Completion Date: Feb. 1997.
Advisor: Dr. Victor R. Lesser
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, September 1990 -- August 1991.
Master of Science
Thesis: Automated Handwriting Recognition: Some isuues and Algorithms
Advisors: Dr. Amar Gupta and Dr. Duvvuru Sriram.
Indian Institute of Technology, July 1988 -- June 1991.
Master of Science (by research): Computer Science
Thesis: Fuzzy and Forgetful L-systems
Advisor: Dr. Kamala Krithivasan
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. 1984 - 88.
Bachelor of Technology: Electrical Engineering

Research Experience

Research Assistant , Cooperative Distributed Problem Solving Lab, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, September 1992 - Present. As a part of the effort, I was affiliated with the Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.

Consultant , Handwriting Recognition Group, Sloan School of Management, MIT, Cambridge, MA. 1991 - 1996.

Consultant for the sales data prediction project, PROFIT program, Sloan School of Management, MIT, Cambridge, MA. 1996.

Research Assistant , Center for the study of Neuronal Populations and Behavior, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, September 1991 - August 1992.

Project Leader , Handwriting Recognition Systems Project, Sloan School of Management, MIT, Cambridge, MA. September 1990 - August 1991.

Research Student , Theoretical Computer Science, IIT, Madras, August 1988 - August 1990.


Systems Building Experience

Multi-agent Systems Worked with a multi-agent design system called TEAM for creating steam condenser designs. Extended the TEAM system to enable learning organizational knowledge. Also worked with a simulator called TAEMS for modeling and studying coordination issues in multi-agent system. Extended this system to enable it to learn coordination. In addition, conceived, designed and built a system for distributed case-based reasoning. (COMMON LISP/CLOS).

Networked Information Gathering Worked on a team building an agent-based networked information gathering system. Was resposible for the planner component and the integration of all the system components. (COMMON LISP/C)

Machine Learning Systems Built a number of machine learning systems in both LISP and C. Programmed ID3, IBL, and CBR systems, wrote code for Genetic Algorithms and designed and built a flexible neural networks simulator in C. (LISP/ C).

Pattern Recognition Systems Project leader for a team that built a handwritten numerals recognition system for automated bank check processing. Was actively involved in building various components in addition to managing the team.

Information Retrieval Built a complete IR system as a part of Information Retrieval course. The system creates inverted indices, retrieves and ranks documents and displays them to the user. (C).

Expert Systems Built an expert system for Psychiatric Evaluation using the VP Expert shell (200 rules).

Information Extraction and Natural Language Processing Built a small IE system for the ``terrorist events'' domain using methods for statistical NLP for information extraction.

Compilers & OS Implemented a complete two-pass compiler for a considerable subset of MODULA to generate assembly code for MIPS R3000 architecture. This includes developing a scanner, parser, semantic processing and assembly language code generation. Also wrote code for device drivers and a shell.


Journal Articles and and Refereed Paper Collections

Tim Oates, M. V. Nagendra Prasad and Victor R. Lesser "Cooperative Information Gathering: A Distributed Problem Solving Approach", accepted for publication in the Journal of Software Engineering: Special Issue on Developing Agent Based Systems.

M. V. Nagendra Prasad, Victor R. Lesser and Susan Lander "Reasoning and Retrieval in Distributed Case Bases", in the Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation, Special Issue on Digital Libraries Vol 7(1), Academic Press, 1996. pp 74--87.

M V Nagendra Prasad, Victor R Lesser and Susan E Lander "Learning Organizational Roles for Negotiated Search in a Multi-agent System," to appear in Special issue on Evolution and Learning in Multiagent Systems in the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS) (1997).

M V Nagendra Prasad, A. Gupta, V. Feliberti, "Correction of Slant in Handwritten Numerals for Automated Document Processing", in Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence Vol 8(4), Pergamon Press, 1995, pp 469 - 472.

Nagendra Prasad, M. V., Wang, P.S.P., Gupta, A.(1993), "Algorithms for Thinning and Rethickening Binary Digital Patterns", in Digital Signal Processing, 3, pp 97-102.

Gupta, A., Nagendra Prasad M. V., Liu, A., P. S. P. Wang and S. Ayyadurai, (1993), "An Integrated Architecture for Recognition of Totally Unconstrained Handwritten Numerals", International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence, Vol 7 (4), pp 757 - 773.

M V Nagendra Prasad, Peter L. Sparks, and Amar Gupta, (1993) "A Heuristic Multi-stage Algorithm for Segmenting Simply Connected Handwritten Numerals", Heuristics: The Journal of Knowledge Engineering & Technology, Vol 6 No. 4, pp 16 - 26.

K. Krithivasan, Nagendra Prasad M. V., M. Mahajan (1992), "Forgetful L-Systems", in Lindenmayer Systems: Impacts on Theoretical Computer Science, Computer Graphics, and Developmental Biology, (Eds) G. Rozenberg, A. Salomaa, pp 419 - 436.

Wang, P.S.P., Nagendra Prasad M. V., Gupta, A.(1992), "A Neural-net based Hybrid approach to Handwritten Numeral Recognition", From Pixels to Features III: Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition, (Eds) S. Impedovo and J C Simon, Elsevier Science Publishers, pp 142 - 154.

Nagendra Prasad M. V., M. Mahajan, K. Krithivasan (1990), "Fuzzy L-Systems", in International Journal of Computer Mathematics vol. 36, pp 139-161.


Conferences and Workshops

M V Nagendra Prasad, and Victor R Lesser, "Off-line Learning of Coordination in Functionally Structured Agents for Distributed Data Processing", to be presented at the ICMAS96 Workshop on Learning, Interaction and Organizations in Multiagent Environments, Kyoto, Japan, 1996.

M V Nagendra Prasad and Enric Plaza, "Corporate Memories as Distributed Case Libraries", to be presented in the Corporate Memory and Enterprise Modeling Track at the Tenth Knowledge Acquisition Workshop -- KAW'96, Banff, Alberta, Canada. Also as Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval Technical Report IR--90, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1996.

M V Nagendra Prasad, Victor R Lesser and Susan E Lander "Learning Organizational Roles in a Heterogeneous Multi-agent System", to be presented at the Second International Conference on Multi-agent Systems, Kyoto, Japan, 1996.

M V Nagendra Prasad, Keith Decker, Alan Garvey, and Victor Lesser, "Exploring Organizational Designs with TAEMS: A Case Study of Distributed Data Processing", to be presented at the Second International Conference on Multi-agent Systems, Kyoto, Japan, 1996.

M V Nagendra Prasad , Susan Lander and Victor R. Lesser, "Cooperative Learning over Composite Search Spaces: Experiences with a Multi-agent Design System", presented at the Thirteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Portland, Oregon, 1996.

M V Nagendra Prasad, and Victor R Lesser "Learning Situation-specific Coordination in Generalized Partial Global Planning" presented at the 1996 AAAI Spring Symposium on Adaptation, Co-evolution and Learning in Multi-agent Systems, Stanford, CA.

M V Nagendra Prasad, Victor R Lesser and Susan Lander, "Learning Organizational Roles in a Heterogeneous Multi-agent System" presented at the 1996 AAAI Spring Symposium on Adaptation, Co-evolution and Learning in Multiagent Systems, Stanford, CA.

M V Nagendra Prasad, Victor R Lesser and Susan E Lander "Learning Experiments in a Heterogeneous Multi-agent System", presented at the IJCAI-95 Workshop on Adaptation and Learning in Multi-agent Systems, Montreal, Canada, August, 1995.

Tim Oates, M.V. Nagendra Prasad, Victor R. Lesser, and Keith Decker "A Distributed Problem Solving Approach to Cooperative Information Gathering" presented at the AAAI-95 Spring Symposium on Information Gathering from Heterogeneous, Distributed Environments, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, March, 1995.

M. V. Nagendra Prasad, Victor R. Lesser and Susan Lander "On Reasoning and Retrieval in Distributed Case Bases", in the Proceedings of the 1995 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Vancouver, Canada, Oct. 1995.

Keith Decker, Victor Lesser, M V Nagendra Prasad, and Thomas Wagner "MACRON: An Architecture for Multi-agent Cooperative Information Gathering" in the Proceedings of the CIKM Workshop on Intelligent Information Agents, Baltimore, Maryland, December, 1995

Susan E Lander, Victor R Lesser and M V Nagendra Prasad "Information Sharing among Heterogeneous Reusable Agents in Cooperative Distributed Search", 13th International Workshop on Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI-94), Seattle, WA, USA, July, 1994.

Tim Oates, M.V. Nagendra Prasad and Victor Lesser "Networked Information Retrieval as Distributed Problem Solving", CIKM Workshop on Intelligent Information Agents, NIST, Gaithersburg, Maryland, December, 1994.

Nagendra Prasad, M. V., Wang, P.S.P., Gupta, A.(1992), "An improved Algorithm for Thinning Binary Digital Patterns", in the Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Pattern Recognition, The Netherlands.

Nagendra Prasad M. V., Liu, A., Gupta, A., (1992), "A System for Automatic Recognition of Totally Unconstrained Handwritten Numerals", Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Automation, Robotics and Computer Vision, Singapore, September, 1992.

Sparks, P. L., Nagendra Prasad M. V., Gupta, A., (1992), "An Algorithm for Segmenting Handwritten Numerals", Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Automation, Robotics and Computer Vision, Singapore, September, 1992.

Richard Wang, Patrick Kennicut, M V Nagendra Prasad and G Sreenivas, (1991) "Towards data quality: An attributes approach", in the proceedings of the First Workshop on Information Processing, MIT, Cambridge, MA, October 1991.

Wang, P.S.P., Nagendra Prasad M. V., Gupta, A.(1991), "A Hybrid Approach to Handwritten Numeral Recognition", in the Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition, Paris.

Nagendra Prasad M. V., M. Mahajan, K. Krithivasan (1991), "Introducing Fuzziness into L-Systems", presented at the A K Choudhury Symposium on Circuits and Systems, Calcutta, India, February, 1991.

M V Nagendra Prasad and Suresh B.,(1990), "Fuzzy Reasoning", presented at the Workshop for Expert Systems for Engineers, IIT, Madras, June, 1990.


Others

M V Nagendra Prasad, Susan Lander, and Victor Lesser, "The Role of Learning in Systems of Reusable Heterogeneous Design Agents", extended abstract in Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, Special issue on Machine Learning in Design, A.H.B. Duffy, M.L.Maher & D.C. Brown (eds.), Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp 163 - 165.


Honors and Awards

Patent pending for an off-line Handwritten Numeral Recognition System.

Received the National Talent Search Scholarship awarded by Govt of India (1982 - 1990).

Received State and National merit scholarship for performance in High School (1982).

Honorable mention in the Andhra Pradesh State Mathematics Olympiad (1981).


Professional Services

Reviewer for Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications

Reviewer for AAAI Symp. on Adaptation, Co-evolution and Learning in Multiagent Systems

Reviewer for Tenth Knowledge Acquisition Workshop -- KAW'96

Maintainer of Learning in Multi-agent Systems Webliography (WWW-repository of learning related material for multi-agent systems).


Professional Affiliations

Member, American Association of Artificial Intelligence

Member, IEEE Society for Systems, Man, and Cybernetics

Member, IEEE Computer Society



                            References

Prof. Victor Lesser                      Dr. Susan Lander 
Department of Computer Science           Blackboard Technology Group
University of Massachusetts              401 Main Street  
Amherst, MA 01003                        Amherst, MA 01002 
Ph. No: (413)545-1322                    Ph. No: (413) 256-8990  
Fax: (413)545-1249                       Fax:  (413) 256-3179 
Email: lesser@cs.umass.edu               Email: lander@bbtech.com 


Prof. Sandip Sen                           
Department of Mathematical               Prof. Keith Decker
   & Computer Sciences                   Department of CIS
The University of Tulsa                  University of Delaware  
600 S. College                           103 Smith Hall 
Tulsa, OK 74104                          Newark, Delaware 19716 
Ph. No: (918)631-2985                    Ph. No: (302)831-1959  
Fax: (918)631-3077                       Fax: (302)831-8458 
Email: sandip@kolkata.mcs.utulsa.edu     Email: decker@cis.udel.edu


Prof. Shlomo Zilberstein                 Prof. Amar Gupta 
Department of Computer Science           Sloan School of Management
University of Massachusetts              Massachusetts Institute 
Amherst, MA 01003                                of Technology 
Ph. No: (413)545-4189                    50 Memorial Drive, 
Fax: (413)545-1249                       Cambridge, MA 02142  
Email: shlomo@cs.umass.edu               Ph. No:  (617)253-8906      
                                         Fax: (617)258-7579 
                                         Email: agupta@mit.edu