William Spears

Current

• Owner at Swarmotics, LLC
• Adjunct Associate Professor of Computer Science at University of Wyoming

Past

• Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Wyoming
• Research Scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory
• Programmer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center

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Education

• George Mason University
• George Mason University
• The Johns Hopkins University

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Connections

57 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

• My Website
• My Company

William Spears’s Summary

Research scientist with over 20 years of experience in the field of Artificial Intelligence. I have worked in the areas of expert systems, machine learning, evolutionary algorithms, viral epidemiology, and operations research. I am currently developing new algorithms and technologies for use in swarm intelligence and swarm robotics, with my company Swarmotics.com LLC.

William Spears’s Specialties:

swarm robotics, swarm intelligence, complex systems, evolutionary algorithms, machine learning, operations research, optimization, viral epidemiology

William Spears’s Experience

• Owner

  Swarmotics, LLC

  (Computer Software industry)

  June 2008 — Present (1 year 6 months)

  Swarmotics LLC is based in Laramie, Wyoming. We are Wyoming's experts in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Distributed Intelligence, Optimization, and Swarm Robotics.

• Adjunct Associate Professor of Computer Science

  University of Wyoming

  (Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

  May 2008 — Present (1 year 7 months)

  Co-creator of the University of Wyoming Distributed Robotics Laboratory. I am now focusing my research efforts on swarm robotics, evolutionary algorithms, and distributed agents, with my company "Swarmotics, LLC".

• Associate Professor of Computer Science

  the University of Wyoming

  (Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

  August 2001 — May 2008 (6 years 10 months)

  Co-Director of the University of Wyoming Distributed Robotics Laboratory. I have invented a new technique for localization in swarms of robots and a new online real-time learning algorithm for swarms in dynamic environments. I have also extended my prior viral epidemiology model to predict the spread of the flu within the United States.

• Research Scientist

  the Naval Research Laboratory

  (Government Agency; 1001-5000 employees; Research industry)

  May 1985 — July 2001 (16 years 3 months)

  Invented "artificial physics" for swarm robotics; developed a mathematical model for viral epidemiology; theoretically analyzed the behavior of genetic algorithms; created new algorithms for speciation in genetic algorithms, compression of Markov chains, optimization algorithms for problems in operations research and concept learning; and helped build an expert system for fault diagnosis.

• Programmer

  the Naval Surface Warfare Center

  (Government Agency; 1001-5000 employees; Research industry)

  December 1983 — May 1985 (1 year 6 months)

  Helped start the AI group at NSWC.

William Spears’s Education

• George Mason University

  Ph.D. , Computer Science , 1992 — 1998

• George Mason University

  M.S. , Computer Science , 1986 — 1990

• The Johns Hopkins University

  B.A. , Mathematics , 1980 — 1984

Additional Information

William Spears’s Websites:

• My Website
• My Company

William Spears’s Groups:

Evolutionary Algorithm Community, Operations Research Community, Distributed Agents Community, Swarm Intelligence Community

•    George Mason University Alumni Association (Official)
•    Johns Hopkins University Alumni
•    Machine Learning Connection
•    Evolutionary algorithms
•    Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
•    Swarm Intelligence
•    Artificial Intelligence Researchers, Faculty + Professionals

William Spears’s Honors:

UW Graduate Student Symposium award by my Ph.D. student Derek Green, 2008.

UW Outstanding Master's Thesis award by my M.S. student Lucas Shaw, 2008.

UW Graduate Student Symposium award by my Ph.D. students Paul Maxim and Suranga Hettiarachchi, 2007.

IEEE SMCals Best Paper Award with Suranga Hettiarachchi, 2006.

Tau Beta Pi Outstanding Faculty Award, 2006.

NRL Awards: 1987 -- 1991, 1993 -- 1997, 1999, 2000.

NRL Notable Achievement Award: 1999 (for ``Using Artificial Physics to control agents'' paper).

NRL Alan Berman Research Publication Award: 1994 (for ``Using genetic algorithms for concept learning'' paper).

Best Student Paper Award: 1995 Evolutionary Programming Conference.

William Spears’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch