Viterbi News Article: Four Faculty Honored for Excellence in Leadership, Research and Innovation

Best Paper – 2011 International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems

Recipient: Milind Tambe with TEAMCORE and CREATE

Milind Tambe , an expert in artificial intelligence and autonomous and multiagent systems in the Computer Science and Epstein Departments, members of his TEAMCORE Research Group, and members of USC Viterbi’s National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorist Events (CREATE), have received yet another award for their Game­Theoretic Unpredictable and Randomly Deployed Security system (GUARDS). Tambe; his Ph.D. student/first author James Pita; co­author Chris Kiekintveld of the University of Texas at El Paso; Erin Steigerwald of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA); and Shane Cullen of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Division all contributed to the Best Paper in the Innovation Track category entitled “GUARDS: Game Theoretic Security Allocation on a National Scale.” Presented at the 10th Annual International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS) last month, the work proposes deployment of the system around the nation. The GUARDS randomization system for scheduling security checks and other measures in airports and other gateways that makes such monitoring unpredictable to observers, would replace the TSA’s outmoded system. GUARDS, which is an enhanced iteration of the earlier Assistant for Randomized Monitoring over Routes system (ARMOR), is currently in testing at Los Angeles and Pittsburgh International Airports. Tambe also received a Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation Homeland Security Award in 2010.