John Platt poses with his Oscar.
The geek in question: John Platt
Title: Research Area Manager @ Microsoft Research
What are you working on?
There are several related research groups that I work with:
- Knowledge Tools
- Machine Learning & Applied Statistics
- Interactive Visual Media Group
(they helped to make PhotoSynth)
- Computer Graphics Group
Personally, I’m focused mostly on machine learning now. I’ve been working with some of the guys in Live Labs on information extraction research, where you say, “Here’s a web page – what information can you take from it?” With information extraction, you turn unstructured data into structured data.
So, wait: how does information extraction relate to your 2006 Academy Award?
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(spouse)x(spouse)+foocamp=D2R2?
The Geeks in Question: Jennifer Chayes & Christian Borgs
The job titles: Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director of Microsoft Research, respectively. Also: spouses.
You guys are heading to Foo Camp later today, right? I hear that all attendees had to answer a few questions for their bios, including “Which Star Wars character are you?”
Jennifer: I said Luke Skywalker, because I’m always seeking.
Christian: And I said, “I’m D2R2!”
Jennifer: …It’s R2D2! Forgive him, he’s European.
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My friends over in the Applied Game Theory team at MS Research. They won an MS-sponsored research contest and to celebrate, two of them dyed their hair, and they all got temporary tattoos.
In June I had a 7:30am meeting with some of the guys from the Applied Games research group. The crew was visiting from Cambridge, where they’re based, and despite jetlag and the ungodly hour (seriously, guys: 7:30 breakfast meeting? Gleargh.) we had a hilarious time.
So, WTF do they do? Well, according to their website, Our mission is to leverage the methods of approximate probabilistic inference for addressing relevant applications both in recreational games and in abstract decision games played in the real world. This means these guys make their living thinking of everything as a game … and they certainly seem to have way more fun than the average researchers.
They’re working on some cool super-secret stuff with Bungie and figuring out ways to apply their game-brains to typically un-fun stuff like online advertising. They taught me a few German phrases (quotienfrau!) and I taught them what “Brouhaha” means. (Ah yes: a noisy response to stimulus! Of course.)
