Pascal Hitzler

Pascal Hitzler is the University Distinguished Professor and endowed Lloyd T. Smith Creativity in Engineering Chair at Kansas State University's Department of Computer Science within the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering. He serves as Director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (CAIDS) and Director (Research) of the Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics (ID3A). Previously, he held roles at Wright State University, including NCR Distinguished Professor and Director of Data Science. His academic journey includes a PhD in Mathematics from University College Cork (2001) and a Diplom in Mathematics from the University of Tübingen (1998).

• Affiliations: Kansas State University (2020–present), Wright State University (2009–2020), University of Karlsruhe (2004–2009), TU Dresden (2001–2004).
• Education: PhD in Mathematics (2001, UCC Cork), Diplom in Mathematics (1998, Tübingen).

His research focuses on neuro-symbolic AI, semantic web technologies, knowledge graphs, and ontology modeling. Key contributions include founding editorships of the Neurosymbolic Artificial Intelligence and Semantic Web journals, co-authoring the Foundations of Semantic Web Technologies textbook, and pioneering ontology design patterns. His work emphasizes semantic web standards like OWL and integrates explainable AI with deep learning.

Recent articles explore neuro-symbolic integration, geospatial knowledge graphs (KnowWhereGraph), and explainable AI through concept induction. He has received awards such as the SWSA Ten-Year Award (2020) and is a highly cited researcher in artificial intelligence.

Grants and collaborations span digital agriculture, cybersecurity (K-CaTS), and interdisciplinary initiatives like the NSF-funded Global Food Systems Datahub. His DaSe Lab develops advanced semantic technologies, with projects including the Enslaved.org hub ontology and crisis management frameworks (HIP Ontology).

Labs/Teams: Director of the DaSe Lab for Data Semantics, leading projects on knowledge graphs, neuro-symbolic AI, and geospatial data integration. Collaborates with institutions like the University of Notre Dame, Jönköping University, and IOS Press.