Mark Finlayson

Mark Finlayon is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences, Florida International University (FIU), and serves as Associate Director for Research & Academic Affairs. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from MIT (2012), an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from MIT (2001), and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan (1998). Prior to joining FIU, he was a Research Scientist at MIT’s CSAIL (2012-2014).

Research Interests: His work focuses on computational models of narrative, higher-order semantic patterns in natural language, and intersections of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and digital humanities. Key areas include

• Artificial Intelligence
• Natural Language Processing
• Cognitive Science
• Computational Social Science
• Digital Humanities

Scientific Awards: Recipient of prestigious recognitions such as the NSF CAREER Award (2018), IBM Faculty Award (2019), Edison Fellow for AI at USPTO (2019-2021), and multiple teaching/research awards at FIU.

Grants: Funded by NSF, NIH, DARPA, OSD, ONR, DHS, and IBM for his work on narrative analysis, semantic patterns, and language processing.

Laboratory: Directs the Cognac Laboratory (Cognition, Language, and Culture lab), which explores computational approaches to narrative science.