Welcome!
I am an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at UCLA where I hold the Symantec Term Chair. I am proud to be a founding member of the new UCLA Center for Engineering Economics, Learning, and Networks.
My research interests are in machine learning, algorithmic aspects of economics, and more recently, social computing, all of which I primarily study using techniques from theoretical computer science. Some of my favorite problems have involved developing new models of learning, or examining old models from a new perspective. For a more complete picture of my research, take a look at my publications or my (increasingly outdated) research statement.
My research group here at UCLA is new, but growing. If you are interested in joining my group, please read this information before contacting me.
What's New?
Hanna Wallach, Winter Mason, and I are guest editing a special issue of Machine Learning Journal on Computational Social Science and Social Computing. The submission deadline is August 1, 2012.
Jake Abernethy, Amos Storkey, and I are
organizing a Workshop on Markets, Mechanisms,
and Multi-Agent Models at ICML
2012. Submissions are due April 20 May 4, 2012.
Jake and I are also giving tutorials on Prediction, Belief, and Markets at ICML and KDD this summer.
This year I am an area chair for ICML and on the senior program committee of UAI.
I have been named the Symantec Term Chair in Computer Science.
I recently received an NSF CAREER award!
Background
Prior to arriving at UCLA I spent a year as a Computing Innovation Fellow at Harvard University where I was a member of the EconCS group and the Theory group, and an affiliate of the Center for Research on Computation and Society.
I received my Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009. I was extremely lucky to be advised by Michael Kearns. My doctoral dissertation, Learning from Collective Preferences, Behavior, and Beliefs, introduced a series of new learning models and algorithms designed to address the problems commonly faced when aggregating local information across large population, and was awarded Penn's Rubinoff award for innovative applications of computer technology. During my time at Penn, I spent two fun summers interning in New York, first with the Machine Learning and Microeconomics groups at Yahoo! Research and then in the research group at Google.
Before coming to Penn, I completed a Masters in Computer Science at Stanford where I got my first taste of research working with the Multiagent Group. Further back in the day, I was a carefree undergrad at BU.
You might remember me as Jenn Wortman. When I got married, I took Vaughan as my "official" last name and moved Wortman to my middle name. I use both names professionally, and will answer to either.
Get In Touch
4532H Boelter Hall
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1596
(310) 825-2858
jenn at cs.ucla.edu
I generally prefer email to telephone. You are likely to get the fastest response by emailing me.