Dr. Chris Welty is a Sr. Research Scientist at Google in New York, and an Endowed Professor of Cognitive Computing at the VU University, Amsterdam. His main area of interest is systems that combine structured, unstructured, and human data, such as using knowledge graphs to better understand natural language through dialog with people. His latest published work is on using crowdsourcing to form a new theory of truth based on diversity of perspectives, and he was part of the team that recently launched Explore in Docs.
Before Google, Dr. Welty was a member of the technical leadership team for IBM’s Watson – the question answering computer that destroyed the all-time best Jeopardy! champions in a widely televised contest. He appeared on the TV broadcast, discussing the technology behind Watson, as well as many articles in the popular and scientific press. His proudest moment was being interviewed for StarTrek.com about the project. He is a recipient of the AAAI Feigenbaum Prize for his work.
Welty was one of the first to call attention to the new paradigm of Cognitive Computing that has emerged in computation, and previously played a seminal role in the development of the Semantic Web and Ontologies, and co-developed OntoClean, the first formal methodology for evaluating ontologies. He is on the editorial board of AI Magazine, the Journal of Applied Ontology, the Journal of Web Semantics, and the Semantic Web Journal.
Dr. Welty holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he worked, taught, and helped to form NYSERNet, and then PSINet, the first commercial internet access provider. He has also worked at AT&T Bell Labs, Vassar College and the Italian Research Council (CNR).
Chris Welty . org 