Aaron Chen

Senior Lecturer School of Engineering and Computer Science

• address
• 04 463 5114
• AM405, Alan MacDiarmid Building, Kelburn Campus

Qualifications

B.Eng, PhD

Research Interests

My research focuses on

• Machine learning, in particular reinforcement learning algorithms and learning classifier systems.
• Evolutionary computation algorithms for optimization and scheduling
• Multi-agent and peer-to-peer systems
• Data mining for network security applications

We are involved in organized two upcoming research conferences (AI2018 and CEC2019) in the area of evolutionary computation and artificial intelligence.

Research Projects and Prospective PhD Students

I am currently working on a University funded project on evolutionary reinforcement learning in multi-agent systems. If you want to be a research assistant working on this project, please contact me (send me an email, call me, or drop in).

PhD scholarships are available for students who are highly motivated and have good grades (A- or above). Students with significant research/industry experience will also be considered.

Research topics for prospective PhD students to consider include (but not limited to) the following:

• Reinforcement learning algorithms and learning classifier systems for multi-agent, multi-objective learning
• Evolutionary computation algorithms and their application to optimization and scheduling problems
• Resource discovery, management, and load balancing in networked systems, such as peer-to-peer networks and cloud computing systems
• Data mining technologies for network security applications, such as network intrusion detection and defence

Based on XCS, a widely researched accuracy-based learning classifier system, we have recently developed a new Natural XCS system to support stochastic multi-step reinforcement learning. A paper on this algorithm has been accepted for publication by IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation ( paper link). Here you can find a draft paper ( nxcs-paper.pdf) showing more details of this algorithm. The Java source code for this algorithm can also be downloaded from here ( NXCS.zip).

Biography

I obtained my B.Eng degree from Beijing Institute of Technology in China (2000) and PhD degree from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore (2006) respectively. From July 2000 to November 2001, I worked as Software Engineer at Founder Electronics Pte. Ltd, Beijing China. From April 2005 to January 2006, I worked as Software Engineer at Crimsonlogic Pte. Ltd, Singapore. From August 2006 to March 2007, I worked as Research Fellow at the Information Communication Institute of Singapore (ICIS), School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) at NTU. From April 2007 to June 2010, I worked as teaching fellow and visiting assistant professor at school of EEE, NTU. From July 2010 to February 2012, I worked as lecturer and postgraduate programme leader in the Department of Computing at Unitec institute of technology. Since February 2012, I became a senior lecturer in the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Victoria University of Wellington.