Raja Sooriamurthi's Hyplan

[Raja's Picture]

Raja Sooriamurthi, PhD
Teaching Professor, Information Systems Program
Program Director, Decision Analytics and Systems (DAS) minor
Carnegie Mellon University

Mailing address:
Dr. Raja Sooriamurthi
Information Systems Program
Hamburg Hall 3017
Carnegie Mellon University
5000, Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890

raja /at/ cmu.edu
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~sraja
Phone: 412.268.9593

Dept. phone: 412.268.3259
Dept. fax: 412.268.9946

Teaching Interests

Decision Support: data science, database systems, analytics, big data
Puzzle-based Learning: critical thinking, problem solving
System Development: The full system development life cycle

Book

PBL Book cover

For the past several years I have periodically offered a seminar on Puzzles, Games, and Problem Solving. The theme of the seminar is Puzzle-based learning. Zbigniew Michalewicz, Nick Falkner, and Ed Meyer have been working in this area for several years. Our collective pedagogical experience has been shared in our recent book Guide to Teaching Puzzle-based Learning Springer, 2014

The pedagogical objectives of project-based learning include dealing with ambiguity and complexity, integration of a variety of approaches, user-testing of the value of proposed solutions, and working with a team of people with diverse backgrounds and skills. In problem-based learning we use domain specific knowledge (for, for example, electromagnetism, data-structures, circuit-theory, accounting etc.) to solve problems in the domain. In both problem and project-based learning the problem drives the learning: students need to assess what they already know, what they need to know to address the problem, and how to bridge the knowledge/skill gap. Puzzle-based learning focuses on domain independent transferable skills of critical thinking and abstract reasoning. In addition, puzzle-based learning aims to foster introspection and reflection on the personal problem solving process. What was I thinking? What is the solution? Why did I not see it?

Teaching Awards

Instructional Innovation Award, Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) November 2022.
Elliott Dunlap Smith Award for Distinguished Teaching and Educational Service, February 2020.
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University.
Martcia Wade Teaching Award, April 2018.
Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University.
Teaching Incentive Program Award, January 2000.
College of Science and Technology, University of West Florida.
Excellence in under-graduate teaching and advising award, February 1999.
College of Science and Technology, University of West Florida.
Lieber Memorial Teaching Associate Award, March 1995.
Indiana University.
Outstanding Associate Instructor Award, May 1995.
The alumni board of the College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University.
Outstanding Associate Instructor Award, April 1994.
Computer Science Department, Indiana University.

Other Awards / Honors

Most Enthusiastic Professor, May 2007, MSIS class of 2007, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.
CIS Club Students' Choice Award, April 2006, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.
New Faculty Fellow award, IEEE Frontiers in Education, October 2004.
Finalist, Trustees Teaching Award, 2006, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.
Nominated for Innovative Teaching Award, 2004, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.
Nominated for Student Choice Award, 2004, Student Alumni Association, Indiana University.
Nominated for the Gordon Faculty Award 2004, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Office, Indiana University.

Research Interests

Artificial intelligence and cognitive science with an emphasis on case-based reasoning, knowledge-management, distributed reasoning and machine learning.

My other interests include higher order programming languages, software development, computer science / information systems pedagogy.

Activities

Member of the program committee, FLAIRS-10
Member of the program committee, ICCBR-09
Member of the program committee, IICAI-2009
Member of the program committee, FLAIRS-09
Member of the program committee, ECCBR-08
Member of the program committee, CBR special track at FLAIRS-08
Member of the program committee, FLAIRS-08
Member of the program committee, ICCBR-07
Member of the program committee, IICAI-2007
Member of the program committee, CBR special track at FLAIRS-07
Member of the program committee, FLAIRS-07
Publicity / Web Chair, FLAIRS-06
Member of the program committee, ECCBR-06
Member of the program committee, CBR special track at FLAIRS-06
Member of the program committee, FLAIRS-06
Co-chair of the CBR special track at IICAI-2005
Co-chair of the CBR special track at FLAIRS-05
Member of the program committee, IICAI-2005
Member of the program committee, ICCBR-05
Member of the program committee, FLAIRS-05
Co-chair of the CBR special track at FLAIRS-04
Editor (Learning Lisp), 1997 -- 2002. Association of Lisp Users.

I am the pas President of the Alpha Iota Delta international honor society. I've also been active with Toastmasters (CL, ATM-B) having served as my club's President, Secretary, VP for Membership, and VP for PR.

Publications

Puzzle-Based Learning: An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Zbigniew Michalewicz, Nickolas Falkner, Raja Sooriamurthi
Proceedings of the 41st annual meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, San Diego, November 2010.
Republished in Decsion Line, Vol 42, No 5, October, 2011
2010 DSI Instructional Innovation Award Competition Finalist
Puzzle-Based Learning for Engineering and Computer Science
Nickolas Falkner, Raja Sooriamurthi, and Zbigniew Michalewicz
IEEE Computer, Vol 43, No 4, April 2010.
Puzzle-Based Learning: The first experiences
Nickolas Falkner, Raja Sooriamurthi, and Zbigniew Michalewicz
Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE) , Adelaide, Australia, December, 2009.
The Essence of Object Orientation for CS0: Concepts without Code
Raja Sooriamurthi
Proceedings of 25th Annual Eastern Conference of the Consortium of Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC-E), October, 2009., Villanova, Pennsylvania, October, 2009.
Bridging the Gap: Experience with the Qatar Summer College Preview Program
Gloria Hill and Raja Sooriamurthi
Proceedings of the Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), San Antonio, Texas, October, 2009.
Introducing Abstraction and Decomposition to Novice Programmers
Raja Sooriamurthi.
Proceedings of the 14th annual conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE), Paris, France July, 2009.
Introduction to Programming and Software Development: an Interactive, Incremental and Iterative Approach
Raja Sooriamurthi
Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI-2005), San Francisco, California, November 2005.
Case Dispatching versus Case-Base Merging: when MCBR matters
David Leake and Raja Sooriamurthi.
International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools: Architectures, Languages and Algorithms (IJAIT). Special issue on recent advances in techniques for intelligent systems. Vol 13, No 1, 2004, pp 237--254.
Experience in Developing a Mobile Course Portal
Meng Xu, Mark Fountain, Scott MacArthur, Matt Braunstein, Raja Sooriamurthi.
Proceedings of the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (eLearn-2004), Washington DC, November 2004.
Java Engagement for Teaching Training: An Experience Report
Raja Sooriamurthi, Arijit Sengupta, Suzanne Menzel, Katie Moor, Sid Stamm and Katy Börner
Proceedings of the Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Savannah, Georgia, October, 2004.
Dispatching Cases versus Merging Case-Bases: When MCBR Matters
David Leake & Raja Sooriamurthi.
Proceedings of the Sixteenth Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society (FLAIRS) Conference, St. Augustine, Florida, May, 2003.
Nominated for best paper award.
Automatically Selecting Strategies for Multi-Case-Base Reasoning
David Leake & Raja Sooriamurthi.
Proceedings of the Sixth European Conference on Case-Based (ECCBR) , Aberdeen, Scotland, September, 2002.
Nominated for best paper award.
Managing Multiple Case-Bases: Dimensions and Issues
David Leake & Raja Sooriamurthi.
Proceedings of the Fifteenth Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society (FLAIRS) Conference, Pensacola, Florida, May, 2002.
When Two Case Bases are Better Than One: Exploiting Multiple Case Bases
David Leake & Raja Sooriamurthi.
Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Case-Based Reasoning (ICCBR) , Vancouver, Canada, July, 2001.
Problems in Comprehending Recursion and Suggested Solutions
Raja Sooriamurthi.
Proceedings of the Sixth annual conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Canterbury, UK, June, 2001.
Prelude to the Java Event Model
Raja Sooriamurthi.
Proceedings of the Sixth annual conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Canterbury, UK, June, 2001. Code and Slides from the presentation.
Literate Engines in Lisp
Raja Sooriamurthi.
Proceedings of the Fifth International Lisp Users and Vendors Conference,Boston, MA, 1995.
An Architecture for Goal-Driven Explanation
Raja Sooriamurthi and David B. Leake.
Proceedings of the eighth Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Symposium, Melbourne Beach, FL, April 1995. pp 218-222.
Towards Situated Explanation
Raja Sooriamurthi and David Leake.
Proceedings of the twelfth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Seattle, WA, 1994, AAAI Press.

Sample Talks/Presentations

A GA to Solve the TSP
Nifty assignments special track, SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR.
Mind Reader: a program that predicts choices
Nifty assignments special track, SIGCSE 2007, Covington, KY.
The Essence of Object Orientation
Indiana Multi-Media Users Group (IU-MMUG), February 22, 2007.
Slides and the recording of the webcast are available.
Taming the Tiger: Taking the Terror out of a Talk.
Indiana University, Arts and Sciences Placement Office, March, 2005; April 2006; Dual Career Network, March 2006.
"That reminds me of ..." : The Case-Based Reasoning Problem Solving Paradigm.
Pensacola chapter of the IEEE society, May 22, 2000.
Dynamic Object Oriented Programming: Beyond C++ and Java.
Eglin Computer Technology Awareness Seminar, Eglin Airforce Base, March 29, 2000.
Why are computers so smart and yet so dumb?
Science Seminar for High School Students, University of West Florida, March 26, 1998

Where I've Been

Over the years I've had the good fortune to experience multiple cultures, both socially (India and US) as well as academically (engineering, science, and business). Below is a reverse chronology of the places I've been (I'm from Madurai but Chennai was the closest place I could get weather stats on).

Last modified: Sun Sep 16 20:26:22 EDT 2007