Tom M. Mitchell

May 2015 Honorary Degree Recipient

Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)

It’s safe to say that if computer scientists had fan clubs, the membership in Tom Mitchell’s would be substantial. His research is the leading edge of disruptive technologies that will change how we interact with the web and with our mobile devices.

Dr. Mitchell has a Bachelor of Science from MIT and a PhD from Stanford University. In 1986, he joined Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh as a professor, and in 1999 became the E. Fredkin Professor in the School of Computer Science. In 2006, Dr. Mitchell founded the Machine Learning Department within the School of Computer Science – the first and only such department in the world – and was appointed Chair, a position he holds today. His key areas of research involve using brain imaging to understand human language processing, and leading the team that created and runs the Never-Ending Language Learner, or NELL, the first computer system to simulate human learning.

In addition to being one of the world’s most influential computer scientists, Dr. Mitchell is a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. He is or has been on the advisory boards of seven leading journals in artificial intelligence and cognitive science. In 1997, Tom Mitchell published the book Machine Learning, the standard reference on the topic for generations of graduate students. Dalhousie is very proud to be the first university to bestow an honorary degree on Dr. Tom M. Mitchell.