Joint Meeting of the
Chattanooga Section and UTC's Student Branch
November, 2004 Meeting


Subject:                Data Mining
Where:                  UTC, University Center, Chickamauga Room
Date/Time:      Thursday, November 4, 2004 @ 11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Speaker:                        Dr. Juan Vargas, Academic Relations Manager,
Microsoft Co.
Lunch:                  Pizza
Cost of Lunch:  $5.00 per person (members & nonmembers)

Data Mining, also known as Knowledge Discovery in Databases, is the
extraction of hidden predictive information from very large databases.  It
is a powerful new technology with great potential to help companies focus on
the most important information in their data warehouses. Data mining tools
predict future trends and behaviors, allowing businesses to make proactive,
knowledge-driven decisions. The automated, prospective analyses offered by
data mining move beyond the analyses of past events provided by
retrospective tools typical of decision support systems. Data mining tools
can answer business questions that traditionally were too time consuming to
resolve. They scour databases for hidden patterns, finding predictive
information that experts may miss because it lies outside their
expectations.

Dr. Juan Vargas will provide us an overview of data mining technologies with
a particular emphasis on an algorithm known as Bayesian networks, or
"probabilistic networks". The appeal of the Bayesian approach is that
probabilistic inference can be performed on sample data to reach conclusions
even under conditions where the evidence is inconclusive and incomplete. Dr.
Vargas will discuss the history, theory, applications and recent trends in
Bayesian networks.  He will also show examples of recent research that
illustrate how Bayesian networks are used to assist decision makers in
reaching conclusions under conditions of inconclusive and incomplete
evidence.

Dr. Juan Vargas is Academic Relations Manager for Microsoft Co.  From 1988
until May, 2004, Dr. Vargas was a professor of Computer Science and
Engineering at the University of South Carolina, where he taught courses on
Data Mining, Bayesian Networks, Operating Systems, Data Structures,
Algorithms, etc.  Dr. Vargas' research expertise includes data mining,
embedded systems and sensor networks.  His research has attracted more than
$9 million in funding, resulting in more than 60 publications, several book
chapters, and numerous conferences.

If you would like to join us for lunch, please contact Paula Klintworth at
[log in to unmask] or by phone at 423-425-4349 to let her know if you,
or others, are planning to attend.  Confirmation of attendance is crucial in
deciding how much pizza to order.  I look forward to seeing everyone there!


Dawn Ellis
Chair, IEEE Computer Society




Dawn Ellis
Instructor, Computer Science
College of Engineering & Computer Science
University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
Phone:  423-425-4384