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  • May
    29

    CS Distinguished Lecture: Cheating Detection and Cognitive Modeling At Chess (Ken Regan)

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    12:00 PM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    Wednesday / CS Distinguished Lecture
    May 29th / 12:00 PM
    Hybrid / Mudd 3514

    Speaker
    Ken Regan, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

    Talk Title
    Cheating Detection and Cognitive Modeling At Chess

    Abstract

    The "Fidelity" model of human move-choice at chess resembles utility-based predictive models that gauge risk and forecast consumer behavior. The events are possible moves in a series of chess positions; the utilities are the values of those moves given by strong chess-playing programs; the parameters are player skill indicators; and the outputs give projections and confidence intervals for various aggregate statistics. The outputs are employed by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and various national federations to help arbitrate allegations of players cheating with strong computer programs in human-only matches. The model also promotes general research on human decision making, in real competitive settings where evaluation metrics such as the Elo rating system are robust and long established.

    The talk will present some applications, including how results give positive feedback on the security of competitions. Then it will address matters of the "replication crisis" and general conduct of science as employed in forecasting. How can we tell the line between results indicating human psychological phenomena and artifacts of the model's construction and graininess? What cross-validations and simple sanity checks are there for its conclusions on cheating and other matters of human development? This will open to general Q&A.

    *Some of this work is joint with the late Guy Haworth of the University of Reading (UK) and with my PhD graduate Tamal Biswas (RKMVERI in Kolkata, India) and reflects discussions with other students in graduate seminars. Computational resources are provided by the Department of CSE and the UB Center for Computational Research (CCR).

    Biography
    Kenneth W. Regan is a full professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo. He has worked in Computational Complexity Theory since obtaining his B.A. in 1981 from Princeton University and his doctorate in 1986 from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He co-writes Richard Lipton's popular weblog "Gödel’s Lost Letter and P=NP" and has written with Lipton a textbook on quantum computing for MIT Press. He is an International Master at chess and conducts a second major research program on human decision-making (at chess). Regan has been consulted in major international chess-cheating cases since 2011 and was a charter member in 2013 of the precursor to the International Chess Federation's Fair Play Commission, for which he now consults. He is married with two children.

    Research Area/Interests
    Theory of Computation / Predictive Modeling of Games

    Zoom: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/94908924865?pwd=SGh5VHhTNkpFTmFNb3ppNTJlK2w2Zz09

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    TIME Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

    LOCATION 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

  • May
    29

    Computer Science End of Year Awards

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    2:30 PM Cohen Commons, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM

    LOCATION Cohen Commons, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

  • Jun
    15

    2024-2025 Commencement Ceremony

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILSmore info

    TIME Sunday, June 15, 2025

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    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

  • Jun
    16

    Northwestern Engineering PhD Hooding and Master's Degree Recognition Ceremony

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    9:00 AM 2705 Ashland Ave

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, June 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    LOCATION 2705 Ashland Ave   

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    CONTACT Northwestern Engineering Events    northwestern-engineering-events@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Jun
    16

    Northwestern Engineering Undergraduate Convocation

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    2:00 PM 2705 Ashland Ave

    EVENT DETAILSmore info

    TIME Monday, June 16, 2025 at 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

    LOCATION 2705 Ashland Ave   

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    CONTACT Northwestern Engineering Events    northwestern-engineering-events@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science