Personal information

Computational Epidemiology, Computational Biology, Spoken Language Technologies for Development, Human-Machine Speech Communication, Statistical / Machine Learning Methods in Speech and Language Processing, Delphi Group

Biography

OVERVIEW

Roni Rosenfeld (BSc, mathematics and physics, Tel-Aviv University; PhD, computer science, Carnegie Mellon University) is a professor of machine learning, language technologies, computer science, and computational biology in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has taught machine learning and statistical language modeling to thousands of undergraduate and graduate students since 1997, and has been a mentor to five post-doctoral students and an advisor to a dozen Ph.D. students and many Masters and undergraduate students. From 2018 till 2024, he served as head of the machine learning department.

Roni’s current research interests are in tracking and forecasting epidemics. The Delphi research group, which he co-founded and co-leads since 2012, has been playing a leading role in the development of epidemic forecasting technology in the U.S., and has been named a National Center for Epidemic Forecasting by the U.S. CDC.

Roni has previously worked in statistical language modeling, speech recognition, human machine speech interfaces, and the use of speech and language technologies to aid international developments. He has published some 150 scientific articles in academic journals and peer reviewed conferences, is a recipient of the Spira Teaching Excellence Award (2017), and twice the recipient of the Allen Newell Medal for Research Excellence (1992, 2022).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My interests are in:

Forecasting Epidemics: The long term vision of our Delphi research group is to make epidemiological forecasting as universally accepted and useful as weather forecasting is today. As was the case with weather forecasting, this will likely take a long time. In the shorter term, we select high value epidemiological forecasting targets (currently Influenza and Dengue); create baseline forecasting methods for them; establish metrics for measuring and tracking forecasting accuracy; estimate the limits of forecastability for each target; and identify new sources of data that could be helpful to the forecasting goal.

Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), and specifically Spoken Language Technologies for Development (SLT4D), which is the term we coined for our own subfield of ICT4D: finding ways to use spoken language technologies (like automatic speech recognition, speech synthesis, and human-machine dialog systems) to aid socio-economic development around the world.

Machine Learning for Social Good (ML4SG). We continuously seek problems in non-profits and government organizations, domestically and abroad, which can benefit from machine learning solutions, and match them with suitable teams of students and supervising faculty. If your organization could use free machine learning or data science expertize to help improve its societal impact, please contact us. Best cases are those where the potential for societal impact is evident, the questions are well defined, and significant relevant data is available. Otherwise, we can work with you to get your problem ready for our students. This initiative is now overseen by Prof. Rayid Ghani.

Data Numeracy for All. I believe that universal data numeracy is as important in the 21st century as universal literacy was in the 20th. We need to increase the understanding of (and comfort with) data in all segments of society. I am interested in devising effective ways of doing that.

Activities

Employment (13)

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2017 to present | Professor by courtesy (Heinz College)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

University of Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2010 to present | Visiting Adjunct Professor of Computational and Systems Biology (School of Medicine)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2005 to present | Professor of Machine Learning, Computer Science, and Computational Biology, and Language Technologies (School of Computer Science)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2018 to 2024-06-15 | Head, Machine Learning Department (School of Computer Science)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2017 to 2017 | Interim Director, Machine Learning Minor undergraduate degree program (School of Computer Science)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2017 to 2017 | Interim Co-Director, M.S. in Machine Learning program (School of Computer Science)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2001 to 2005 | Tenured Associate Professor, (School of Computer Science)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

University of Hong Kong: Hong Kong, CN

2003 to 2003 | Visiting Associate Professor (Computer Science Department)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2001 to 2003 | Co-Director (computer science), Graduate Program in Computational and Statistical Learning (School of Computer Science)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

1999 to 2001 | Associate Professor (School of Computer Science)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

1997 to 1999 | Assistant Professor (School of Computer Science)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

1997 to 1999 | Co-Director (computer science), Inter-collegiate Computational Finance Graduate Program
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

1994 to 1997 | Research Computer Scientist (School of Computer Science)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Education and qualifications (3)

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

1994 | PhD, Computer Science
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

1991 | MSc, Computer Science
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Tel Aviv University: Tel Aviv, IL

1985 | BSc, Mathematics and Physics
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Professional activities (10)

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2022 | Allen Newell Award for Research Excellence (epidemic forecasting)
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

American Statistical Association: Alexandria, VA, US

2021 | Statistical Partnerships Among Academe, Industry, and Government (SPAIG) Award (epidemic forecasting)
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2017 | Joel and Ruth Spira Teaching Award
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Association for Computing Machinery: New York, NY, US

2012 to 2016 | ACM DEV Program Committee
Service
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

International Conference on Information & Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD): Capetown, ZA

2013 to 2013 | Senior Program Committee
Service
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Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US

2007 to 2008 | SCS Committee to Design Undergraduate Artificial Intelligence Major
Service
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Ronald Rosenfeld

Dialog & Discourse, an International Journal: Chicago, US

2006 to 2006 | Editorial Board
Service
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Ronald Rosenfeld

Journal of Computational Linguistics: Stroudsburg, PA, US

2002 to 2004 | Editorial Board
Service
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing: New York, NY, US

1999 to 2002 | Associate Editor
Service
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US

1992 | Allen Newell Medal for Research Excellence (statistical language modeling for speech recognition)
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Ronald Rosenfeld