DANNY KOPEC 34 East Webster St. MERRICK New York 11566
Telephone : (516) - 867 - 2628
Email:
PROFILEEnthusiastic educator with well-rounded experience, the versatility and persistence to develop innovative curriculum, and the ability to teach a broad spectrum of courses. Address the challenges, methods and underlying complexities of problem solving.
SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS
Areas ofSpecialization
Artificial IntelligenceCognitive Science Knowledge Representation
Problem Solving MethodsInteractive Teaching and Learning Systems
Educational PsychologyComputer Science Education
Instruction Cultivate environment conducive to learning, understanding, motivation, and results.
Commitment to effective computer science curriculum contents, design and future.
Excellent rapport with all student levels from undergraduates to doctoral candidates.
Fundamental teaching paradigms and classical approaches to computer science as an
experimental research science.
Research Lead diverse interdisciplinary, collaborative research projects.
Initiate, conduct and conclude scholarly research leading to publication.
PublicLectures
Artificial IntelligenceIntelligent Tutoring SystemEducation on the Internet
Technological MishapsComputer ChessChess
Languages Speak, converse and read five natural languages and numerous computer languages.
EDUCATION
University of EdinburghEdinburgh, Scotland
Ph.D. in Machine Intelligence1983
Thesis: Human and Machine Representations of Knowledge Supervisor: Donald Michie
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Dartmouth CollegeHanover, New Hampshire
B.A. Psychology and Mathematics1975
OUTLINE OF EXPERIENCE
BROOKLYNCOLLEGE, Graduate Deputy Chair Brooklyn, NewYork Associate Professor - Department of Computer and Information Science 1999 -
RICHMOND, THE AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY London, England, UK Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor (2 year Contract) 1997- 1999
United StatesCoastGuardAcademyNew London, Connecticut
Associate Professor - Department of Computer Science1993 - 1996
CarletonUniversityOttawa, Ontario, Canada
Visiting Associate Professor - School of Computer Science1992 - 1993
University of MaineOrono, Maine
Assistant Professor - Department of Computer Science1986 - 1992
San DiegoStateUniversitySan Diego, California
Visiting Assistant Professor - Department of Mathematics1984 - 1986
McGillUniversity Montreal, Ca
Visiting Assistant Professor - School of Computer Science 1983 - 1984
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
[* indicates new course development]
BROOKLYNCOLLEGEBrooklyn, New York
Associate Professor1999 -
Introduction to Artificial IntelligenceAdvanced Expert Systems (Grad.)
Software Methodology* (Grad.) Advanced Programming in C E-Commerce*
RICHMOND, THE AMERICANINTERNATIONALUNIVERSITY IN LONDONLondon, England
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor)1997 - 1999
Introduction to Business and Systems *Algorithms
Fundamentals of Program Design I and II (C++)Case Studies in Management
Systems Engineering ProjectsSpecial Topic: Intelligent Systems
United StatesCoastGuardAcademyNew London, Connecticut
Associate Professor - Department of Computer Science1993 - 1996
Foundations of Computer ScienceProgramming Languages*
Algorithms and ComputabilitySoftware Engineering*
Artificial Intelligence
ConnecticutCollege - Directed Studies Courses:1995
Human and Machine Problem Solving*Artificial Intelligence
CarletonUniversityOttawa, Ontario, Canada
Visiting Associate Professor - School of Computer Science1992 - 1993
Introduction to Programming (Pascal)Applied Artificial Intelligence
Introduction to Computers for Social SciencesIntelligent Tutoring Systems*
University of MaineOrono, Maine
Assistant Professor - Department of Computer Science1986 - 1992
Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Artificial Intelligence*
Data Structures and Algorithms*Intelligent Tutoring Systems*
Introduction to ProgrammingIntroduction to PC's
Introduction to Personal Computers Using the Macintosh*
Computers and Society
San DiegoStateUniversitySan Diego, California
Visiting Assistant Professor - Department of Mathematics1984 - 1986
Artificial Intelligence and Data StructuresPascal (Cyber and apple)
McGillUniversityMontreal, Canada
Visiting Assistant Professor - School of Computer Science1983 - 1984
Fortran (WATFIV)
Administrative Experience
As Brooklyn College, Department of Computer and Graduate Deputy Chair since September, 2000 I have gained significant administrative experience in counseling over 400 graduate students in our Computer Science MA and Information Systems MS degree programs. I counsel both prospective and current students who are from many countries.
Academic Director of 1998 Richmond International Summer School organized by the American International Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) Greenwich, Connecticut in 1998 and 1999. Total of over 400 American college students taking academic courses for credit in four 3-week sessions May through August.
Promoted to Chair of Department of Computing, Math and Science with Continuing Contract at Richmond, The AmericanInternationalUniversity in London. (April, 1999). Served as Chair in June, 1999.
Founder, Director, and Organizer of Kopec’s Chess Camp (1994-2002) averaging 50-70 adult and children attendees per summer. Motto: “First Rate Instruction in a First Rate Setting”.
Danny Kopec
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS)
Specification and Development of six SmartBookstm utilized:1987 - Present
Hypercard towards an ITS for Sexually Transmitted Diseases using:
cognitive mapping hypermedia knowledge representation techniques.
Expert module in MacSmarts Macintosh shell.
Student modeler using: concept map tester and graduated multiple choice test.
Tutoring module using meta-knowledge.
Interdisciplinary effort.
"Rules of the Road SmartBook"1994 - 1995
AIDS SmartBooks marketed by Jones and Barlett Health Science Publishers.1994
New SmartBooks as a generic methodology;
Machine Learning - Coast Guard Reserve Assignment ProblemSummer 1994
Investigated application of structured induction method.
Technological Mishaps
"Mismatch between Machine Representations and Human Concepts:
Dangers and Remedies" Four Case Studies:
I.Three Mile Island III.Air Traffic Control
II.NORAD Military Computer IV.Royal Dutch Steel:
the Hoogovens automation failure
Technological Mishaps/Systems FAilures 1981 - Present
Computer accidents, computer chaos, etc.
Medical Information Systems 2000 - Present
Cognitive Science and Computer Chess
KRB vs. KR Ending1994 - Present
Database study, test positions expert systems intelligent program. 1987 - 1990
Building A taxonomy of chess positions - New Test Sets1990- Present
Testing Compiler Performance for Compaq Computer 2001 -
Consultant for Fidelity International1986 - 1987
Endgame heuristics; opening development; pawn structure bitmaps.
The Role of Connectivity in Chess1985 - 1990
Studies with large data sets across classes.
Experiments in Chess Cognition1983 - 1984
including: pairs experiments, time sequence, parallel programs. etc.
The Harris KPK program toward a 100% correction representation.1976 - 1982
Chess Cognition Experiment:
Work on the Advice Language facility for the KPKN endgame.
Comparison of machine-oriented methods of knowledge representation for the KPK. chess endgame as learning tools.
Teaching Summary and Philosophy
I try to make computer science an enjoyable subject, while addressing the challenges, methods, and underlying complexities of problem solving. I prefer to emphasize the major "nuts and bolts" issues and methods which pervade a subject. I like to present and deal with the big picture, realizing that sometimes details must be addressed, but am determined not to get bogged down by them unless they are necessary for understanding.
In general, I would divide the world of educators, scholars, and researchers into perfectionists and “productionists”. I am concerned with educating so that students can learn, understand, solve problems, be motivated and get things done. I know and respect the work that goes into producing perfection. I also know many perfectionists who never finish what they set out to do. Given the choice, I would prefer to be more productive even knowing that my work is not perfect.
My teaching philosophy has been developed from a perspective which was impressed upon me early on by my late father: " There are no poor students, only poor teachers". Although, I can safely say that my experience has not confirmed this point of view, it has served as a starting point and stimulus towards always striving for real excellence.
The young mind of the typical college student is a fragile entity with potential that you can turn on or off. I view my job as the instructor for a computer science course as the primary perpetrator of interest and thinking at the appropriate level for the subject matter and beyond.
For example, at the introductory level, teaching large classes, on the use of applications and elementary programming on a personal computer, I feel that a "promotional" attitude is essential. That is, I promote the main features of a programming language or application; addressing the questions: "What is the language/application intended for and what can students satisfactorily get done for their needs?" Essential, specific, syntactic, developmental, and conceptual issues are also discussed. For introductory programming courses the issues of structured programming and problem solving, combined with those in the previous sentence are considered of critical importance.
During the past few years I have made the adjustment to a breadth-first approach to teaching the introductory computer science course which combines topics like hardware, software, programming languages, and algorithms.
For intermediate level courses such as data structures and algorithms more complex programming methodologies, problems, and issues are the focus with consideration for time-space efficiency tradeoffs. By this point students are expected to be more experimental and research-oriented in their thinking. In advanced courses like artificial intelligence (AI) the breadth and diversity of the discipline is stressed; the problems which distinguish AI from other disciplines and other approaches in computer science are considered; the methodologies, tools, and languages employed in AI research are also presented. Finally, but not at all in the least, at this point students are encouraged to pursue term projects which involve programming and research on a topic area of their choice, culminating in a substantial paper and class presentation.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research interests are focused in three areas: intelligent tutoring systems, experimental cognitive science/computer chess, and technological mishaps. These domains involve more specific problems in a number of areas including problem solving, knowledge-based systems, human-computer interaction, expert systems, natural language processing and the management of interdisciplinary teams. Recently I have recognized that a pervading theme which ties all my research interests together is testing of performance, evaluation of existing, missing and essential knowledge for competence, and suggested remedies. In other words, how to prevent ERROR(s) --- their origins and sources.
Intelligent tutoring systems is a broad domain with the general goal of improving education. As such it touches upon a number of different disciplines including computer science, education, psychology, and beyond. For the past three years I have been the project coordinator for a research team trying to develop an intelligent tutoring system for AIDS. Our approach is based on an educational technique called concept mapping. Thus far we have developed our knowledge base for AIDS as well five other STDs. These are in the form that we call a "SmartBook" developed in hypercard. Our AIDS SmartBook© was directly linked to an expert module which consisted of an expert system developed in the expert systems shell MacSmarts. The expert system was able to interrogate the learner and refer him/her directly back to the SmartBook for further information. Other research work in this area exploits a number of different AI aspects of our system involving various ways of interrogating the knowledge base via the expert module, the student modeller and tutoring module.
A "Rules of the Road" SmartBook for navigation of the seas has been developed with cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. A number of cadets used this SmartBook in preparation for exams in their navigation course. The concept of SmartBooks is being developed as a generic methodology "SmartTutor" where we are adding tutoring support for CIS 1.5, the introductory course.
I have also worked in a number of different research areas in experimental cognitive science using computer chess as an application domain, both as an academic researcher and as a consultant. My interest has always been focused on the knowledge-based approach and its necessity for successful problem solving in chess as opposed to brute force methods. This was demonstrated in the Bratko-Kopec Test, a set of 24 positions which has been used by computer chess researchers around the world to evaluate the strength of their programs. As the time when computer chess programs will supersede even the best human players draws near, my publication Test, Evaluate and Improve Your Chess: a knowledge-based approach (with Hal Terrie) is based on a taxonomy of 157 test positions (in six tests) intended to demonstrate that there is still a knowledge-based problem space in chess which will remain beyond the realm of the best computer programs for many years.
Computers are pervading nearly every aspect of human life. Their use in complex systems and the real possibility of disastrous accidents (especially where human error may be involved) must be addressed. In 1982, I co-authored a report with Professor Donald Michie, (former Chief Scientist and founder of the Turing Institute in Glasgow, Scotland) for the Commission of the European Communities entitled: Mismatch Between Machine Representations and Human Concepts: dangers and remedies. (1982). The various forms of computer malfunction and accidents involving computers and complex systems are considered in two papers: (1)Technology Transfer Crises in the 1980s: mishaps at the human interface; (2) Societal and Technological Problems of Computers (with Q. Jiang). Presently this is my area of primary area of research interest with spe-cific investigation of medical information systems.
Most Recent Publications
1. * (with Qi Jiang) "The Societal and Technological Problems of Computers". Computers and Artificial Intelligence , Slovak Technical Institute, Bratislava, CFSR Vol. 11, No.4, pp.409-418, 1992.
2. * (with M. Newborn and M. Valvo) "The 22nd Annual ACM International Computer Chess Championship" Albuquerque, New Mexico, Nov. 17-20, 1991 Communications of the ACM, Vol. 35, No. 11, 1992.
3. * "Man-Machine Chess: Past, Present, and Future", in The Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology, (eds. A. Kent J.G. Williams), Marcel Dekker Publications, New York, N.Y., Vol. 26, pp. 233-69, 1992.
4. (with M. Brody, C. Shi, and C. Wood) "Towards an Intelligent Tutoring System with Application to Sexually Transmitted Diseases" in Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Knowledge-based systems for learning and teaching, Ellis Horwood Publishers, Chichester, England, May,1992, pp. 129-51.
5.* (with Shawn Benn) "The Bratko-Kopec Test Recalibrated" ICCA Journal, Vol. No. 3, pp.144-46, September,1993.
6. * (with Chris Chabris) "The 4th Harvard Cup: human versus computer chess challenge". ICCA Journal, Vol.16, No.4, pp. 232-41, December, 1993.
7. (with Carol Wood) Introduction to SmartBooks. Booklet to accompany interactive educational software AIDS SmartBook, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston, MA (1994). * Also published as United States Coast Guard Academy, Center for Advanced Studies Report No. 23-93, December, 1993.
8. (with GM Ron Henley) SmartChess User's Handbook, R&D Publishing, Manasquan, N.J., 1994.
9. Structured Induction and Its Feasibility as a Technique for Assignment of Coast Guard Reserves.
(Internal Report to the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center, October, 1994).
10. * The Fifth Harvard Cup Human Versus Computer Intel Chess Challenge (with Chris Chabris)
ICCA Journal, December, 1995.
11.* (with T. A. Marsland) SEARCH (methods in Artificial Intelligence) (in the Computer Science and Engineering Handbook, ed. A. Tucker), CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL., pp. 676 - 696, December, 1996.
12. * (with R. Close and V. Proulx) Good Web, Bad Web (Panel Discussion) in Proceedings of The Journal of Computing in Small Colleges (ed. John J. Meinke), Volume 12, No 5, Northeastern University, pp. 228-31, April, 1997.
13. * Panel Presentation: "How Should Data Structures and Algorithms Be Taught?"
With Professor Dick Close (United States Coast Guard Academy) in Proceedings of The Fourth Annual Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges Conference: Northeastern Conference; Providence, RI, April 23-24, 1999.
- * Panel Presentation: "How Should The Second Computer Science Course (CS2) Be Taught?"
With Professor Dick Close (United States Coast Guard Academy) in Proceedings of The Fourth Annual Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges: Northeastern Conference; Providence, RI, April 23-24, 1999.
- * Panel Presentation: "How Should Data Structures and Algorithms Be Taught?"
With Professor Dick Close (United States Coast Guard Academy) and Dr. Jim Aman (Dir. Academic Computing, Columbus School for Girls), in Proceedings of the Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, ITiCSE'99, June 27 - July 1, 1999, Cracow, Poland.
16. * (with Dick Close and Jim Aman): " CS1: Perspectives on Programming Languages and the Breadth-First Approach". Journal of the Consortium for Computing Northeast, (CCSCNE-2000), April 28-29, 2000, Ramapo College, NJ.
17. * (with Dick Close and Jim Aman) "Teaching The Second Computer Science Course:
Lessons Learned at Three Institutions and Directions For the New Millenium".
In Proceedings of the Western Consortium of Colleges for Computing, Kamloops,
British Columbia, May 4-5, 2000.
18. * “SmartBooks: A generic methodology to facilitate delivery of post-secondary education.” inProceedings AMCIS 2001 (Association for Information Systems) 7th Americas Conference on Information Systems. Boston, August 2-5, 2001, Curriculum and Learning Track; (CDROM).
- * (with Dick Close and Jim Aman) “Teaching in Shifting Sands: Changes in CS2”, The Journal of Computing in Small Colleges, Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Eastern Small College Computing Conference, Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, October 26 & 27, Vol. 17, 3, Feb. 2002, pp.171-175.
- * Panel (with Richard Close, and Catherine Ricardo) Outcomes and Assessment of the Introductory Sequence of Computer Science Courses, Proceedings of the CCSC Central Plains Conference, Kansas City Community College, April 5-6, 2002, pp. 55-57.
21.* Panel (with Richard Close, and Catherine Ricardo) Outcomes and Assessment of the Introductory Sequence of Computer Science Courses, Proceedings of the CCSC: Northeastern Conference, Worcester, MA, April 19-20, 2002, pp. 72-74.
- * with Paula Whitlock and Myra Kogen) SmartTutor: Combining SmartBooksTM and Peer Tutors for Multi-Media Online Instruction. Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Education, University of Manchester, Manchester, England , (UMIST), CDROM, August 18-21, 2002.
- *Accepted Oct. 7, 2002 (with M. Kabir, D. Reinharth, O. Rothschild, J.C. Castiglione). "Human Errors in Medical Practice: systematic classification and reduction with automated information systems". (REVISED) Journal of Medical Systems (Florida), Plenum Publishers.
In Review
- Submitted Sept, 2002, (In Review), (with Paula Whitlock and Myra Kogen). "Enhancing The First Computer Science Course With Peer Tutors, SmartBooksTM and SmartTutors. For Book: "International Network for Engineering Education and Research - 2002": A Chronicle of Worldwide Innovations".
- Submitted April, 2002 (with M. Kabir, D. Reinharth, O. Rothschild, J.C. Castiglione).
Human Errors in Medical Practice: systematic classification and reduction with automated