I am a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Computer Science Department at Indiana University. I work on two different yet related projects. Together with my advisor Dirk Van Gucht and Marc Gyssens, I am developing a general theoretical framework for implication problems such as the implication problems for probabilistic conditional independence statements and the implication problem for disjunctive association rules. It involves methods from mathematical logic, probability theory, lattice theory, and data mining. The second research project is concerned with the design of algorithms that populate and extend an ontology for the discipline of Philosophy. Together with Colin Allen and Cameron Buckner, I developed InPhO, a system that combines statistical text processing, human expert feedback, and logic programming to extend and populate dynamic ontologies. InPhO will be integrated in the editorial workflow of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, providing a unique opportunity to harness the knowledge of its editors and authors for our purposes.

Publications

• Mathias Niepert, Dirk Van Gucht. Logical Properties of Stable Conditional Independence. In Proceedings of the 4th European Workshop on Probabilistic Graphical Models (PGM), Hirtshals, Denmark, pages 225-232, 2008. (selected for plenary presentation) [paper] [slides]
• Mathias Niepert, Dirk Van Gucht, Marc Gyssens. On the Conditional Independence Implication Problem: A Lattice-Theoretic Approach. In Proceedings of the 24th Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI), Helsinki, Finland, pages 435-443, AUAI Press, 2008. (best student paper runner-up award) [paper] [slides]
• Mathias Niepert, Cameron Buckner, Jaimie Murdock, Colin Allen. InPhO: A System for Collaboratively Populating and Extending a Dynamic Ontology. (demo abstract) In Proceedings of the 8th ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, page 429, ACM Press, 2008. [abstract] [poster]
• Cameron Buckner, Mathias Niepert, Colin Allen. Taxonomizing Ideas: Designing an Ontology for the Discipline of Philosophy. In a special issue of Synthese, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2009 (forthcoming)
• Colin Allen, Cameron Buckner, Mathias Niepert. The World is Not Flat: Expertise and InPhO. Selected papers from the Ninth Annual WebWise Conference. First Monday, Volume 13, Number 8, 2008. [article]
• Mathias Niepert, Cameron Buckner, Colin Allen. Answer Set Programming on Expert Feedback to Populate and Extend Dynamic Ontologies. In Proceedings of the 21st International FLAIRS Conference, Coconut Grove, Florida, pages 500-505, AAAI Press, 2008. [paper] [slides]
• Cameron Buckner, Mathias Niepert, Colin Allen. InPhO: The Indiana Philosophy Ontology. APA Newsletter on Philosophy and Computers, Volume 7, Number 1, pages 26-28, 2007. [newsletter]
• Mathias Niepert, Cameron Buckner, Colin Allen. A Dynamic Ontology for a Dynamic Reference Work. In Proceedings of the 7th ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL), Vancouver, British Columbia, pages 288-297, ACM Press, 2007. [paper] [slides]

Presentations

• On the Conditional Independence Implication Problem: A Lattice-Theoretic Approach. Mathias Niepert*, Dirk Van Gucht, Marc Gyssens. Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Helsinki, Finland, July 12th, 2008
• Answer Set Programming on Expert Feedback to Populate and Extend Dynamic Ontologies. Mathias Niepert*, Cameron Buckner, Colin Allen, International FLAIRS Conference, Coconut Grove, FLorida, May 17th, 2008
• The Implication Problem for Disjunctive Rules. Mathias Niepert*, Dirk Van Gucht, Marc Gyssens. Research Seminar in Databases and Data Mining, Indiana University, September 24, 2007
• A Dynamic Ontology for a Dynamic Reference Work. Mathias Niepert, Cameron Buckner*, Colin Allen. North American Computers and Philosophy Conference (NA-CAP), Loyola University, Chicago, July 28, 2007
• A Dynamic Ontology for a Dynamic Reference Work. Mathias Niepert*, Cameron Buckner*, Colin Allen. ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, Vancouver, British Columbia, June 22, 2007
• Combining Statistical Language Processing and Defeasible Reasoning for Collaborative Ontology Learning. Research Seminar in Databases and Data Mining, Indiana University, March 5, 2007
• Ontology Learning and Population From Text. Research Seminar in Databases and Data Mining, Indiana University, February 13, 2006