Faculty Profiles

Shenoy, Prakash P.

Ronald G. Harper Distinguished Professor of Artificial Intelligence


313-B Summerfield Hall
University of Kansas, School of Business
1300 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66045-7585

P: (785) 864-7551
View Website
pshenoy@ku.edu

Education PhD Cornell University, 1977 Masters Cornell University, 1975 Bachelors Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, 1973 Joined the University of Kansas in 1978
Academic Areas Decision Sciences
Interests Uncertain reasoning, expert systems Bayes nets, influence diagrams, valuation networks Data mining and knowledge discovery in databases
Current Activities Dr. Shenoy is the inventor of Valuation-Based Systems (VBS), a mathematical architecture for knowledge representation and inference that includes many uncertainty calculi such as Bayesian probability, Dempster-Shafer belief functions, Spohn's epistemic beliefs, and Zadeh's possibility theory. It also includes various domains such as Bayesian decision analysis, solving systems of equations, Kalman's filter, database retrieval, propositional logic, optimization using dynamic programming, etc. His VBS architecture is currently being used for multi-sensor fusion in the ballistic missile defense program of the USA.
Selected Publications "Decision Making with Hybrid Influence Diagrams Using Mixtures of Truncated Exponentials," European Journal of Operational Research, in press, with B. R. Cobb. DOWNLOAD (216KB). "Using Bayesian Networks for Bankruptcy Prediction: Some Methodological Issues," European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 180, No. 2, 2007, pp. 738--753, with L. Sun. DOWNLOAD (371K). "Inference in Hybrid Bayesian Networks Using Mixtures of Gaussians," in R. Dechter and T. Richardson (eds.), Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 22, 2006, pp. 428--436, AUAI Press, Corvallis, OR. DOWNLOAD (2.4MB). "Knowledge Representation and Integration for Portfolio Evaluation Using Linear Belief Functions," IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2006, pp. 774--785, with L. Liu and C. Shenoy. DOWNLOAD (5.2MB). "Approximating Probability Density Functions in Hybrid Bayesian Networks with Mixtures of Truncated Exponentials," Statistics and Computing, Vol. 16, No. 3, 2006, pp. 293--308, with B. R. Cobb and R. Rumi. DOWNLOAD (441KB). "Sequential Influence Diagrams: A Unified Asymmetry Framework," International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, Vol 42, Nos. 1-2, 2006, pp. 101--118, with F. V. Jensen and T. D. Nielsen. DOWNLOAD (306K). "Operations for Inference in Continuous Bayesian Networks with Linear Deterministic Variables," International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, Vol 42, Nos. 1-2, 2006, pp. 21--36, with B. R. Cobb. DOWNLOAD (323K). "On the Plausibility Transformation Method for Translating Belief Function Models to Probability Models," International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, Vol. 41, No. 3, 2006, pp. 314--340, with B. R. Cobb. DOWNLOAD (785KB). "Inference in Hybrid Bayesian Networks with Mixtures of Truncated Exponentials," International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, Vol. 41, No. 3, 2006, pp. 257--286, with B. R. Cobb. DOWNLOAD (556K). "Sequential Valuation Networks for Asymmetric Decision Problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 169, No. 1, 2006, pp. 286--309, with R. Demirer. DOWNLOAD (756KB). "Hybrid Bayesian Networks with Linear Deterministic Variables" in F. Bacchus and T. Jaakkola (eds.), Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 21, 2005, pp. 136--144, AUAI Press, Corvallis, OR, with B. R. Cobb. DOWNLOAD (492K). "Nonlinear Deterministic Relationships in Bayesian Networks," in L. Godo (ed.), Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 3571, 2005, pp. 27--38, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, with B. R. Cobb. DOWNLOAD (170K). "Decision Making on the Sole Basis of Statistical Likelihood," Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 165, No. 2, 2005, pp. 137--163, with P. H. Giang. DOWNLOAD (500KB) "Two Axiomatic Approaches to Decision Making Using Possibility Theory," European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 162, No. 2, 2005, pp. 450--467, with P. H. Giang. DOWNLOAD (306K). "A Causal Mapping Approach to Constructing Bayesian Networks," Decision Support Systems, Vol. 38, No. 2, 2004, pp. 259--281, with S. Nadkarni. DOWNLOAD (304K). "Hybrid Influence Diagrams Using Mixtures of Truncated Exponentials" in M. Chickering and J. Halpern (eds.), Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 20, 2004, pp. 85--93, AUAI Press, Arlington, VA, with B. R. Cobb. DOWNLOAD (273K). "Representing Asymmetric Decision Problems Using Coarse Valuations" Decision Support Systems, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2004, pp. 119--135, with L. Liu. DOWNLOAD (274K). "Multi-Stage Monte Carlo Method for Solving Influence Diagrams Using Local Computation," Management Science, Vol. 50, No. 3, 2004, pp. 405--418, with J. M. Charnes. DOWNLOAD (188K). An online appendix to the published version is also available at the same URL. "A Comparison of Bayesian and Belief Function Reasoning," Information Systems Frontiers, Vol 5, No. 4, 2003, pp. 345--358, with B. R. Cobb. DOWNLOAD (404K). "Decision Making with Partially Consonant Belief Functions" in U. Kjaerulff and C. Meek (eds.), Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 19, 2003, 272--280, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA, with P. H. Giang. DOWNLOAD (256K). "A Linear Belief Function Approach to Portfolio Evaluation" in U. Kjaerulff and C. Meek (eds.), Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 19, 2003, 370--377, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA, with L. Liu and C. Shenoy. DOWNLOAD (1687K). "A Comparison of Methods for Transforming Belief Function Models to Probability Models," in T. D. Nielsen and N. L. Zhang (eds.), Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2711, pp. 255--266, Springer-Verlag, 2003, with B. R. Cobb. DOWNLOAD (772K). "Statistical Decisions Using Likelihood Information Without Prior Probabilities" in A. Darwiche and N. Friedman (eds.), Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 18, 2002, pp. 170--178, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA, with P. H. Giang. DOWNLOAD (297K). "Modeling Financial Portfolios Using Belief Functions," in R. P. Srivastava and T. J. Mock (eds.), Belief Functions in Business Decisions, Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, Vol. 88, 2002, pp. 316--332, Physica-Verlag, with C. Shenoy. DOWNLOAD (153K). "Sequential Valuation Networks: A New Graphical Technique for Asymmetric Decision Problems," in S. Benferhat and P. Besnard (eds.), Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2143, Springer-Verlag, 2001, pp. 252--265, with R. Demirer. DOWNLOAD (143K). "A Comparison of Axiomatic Approaches to Qualitative Decision Making Using Possibility Theory" in J. Breese and D. Koller (eds.), Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 17, 2001, pp. 162--170, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA, with P. H. Giang. DOWNLOAD (312K). "A Bayesian Network Approach to Making Inferences in Causal Maps," European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 128, No. 3, 2001, pp. 479--498, with S. Nadkarni. DOWNLOAD (344K). "Computation in Valuation Algebras," in D. Gabbay and Ph. Smets (eds.), Handbook of Defeasible Reasoning and Uncertainty Management Systems, Volume 5: Algorithms for Uncertainty and Defeasible Reasoning, 2000, pp. 5--39, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, with J. Kohlas. DOWNLOAD (309K). "A Qualitative Linear Utility Theory for Spohn's Theory of Epistemic Beliefs" in C. Boutilier and M. Goldszmidt (eds.), Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 16, 2000, pp. 220--229, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA, with P. H. Giang. DOWNLOAD (245K). "Valuation Network Representation and Solution of Asymmetric Decision Problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 121, No. 3, 2000, pp. 579--608. DOWNLOAD (472K).