Age: 34
Residence: Point Breeze
Family: Fiancee, Kristina Woods
Occupation: Guestrin is the Finmeccanica Associate Professor in the Machine Learning and Computer Science departments at Carnegie Mellon University.
Education: He earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1998 and a doctorate in computer science from Stanford University in 2003.
Background: Before coming to CMU, Guestrin worked at Intel Labs Berkeley researching sensory networks. Popular Science magazine profiled him as "the Information Wrangler" for its "Brilliant 10" class of 2008. He is known for creating an algorithm with applications as wide ranging as studying pollution and sorting through Internet information overloads.
Noteworthy: Guestrin was at the White House on Jan. 13 with more than 100 others winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The Department of Defense nominated him for his efforts at sorting the important information from complex systems.
Quote: "I would like to empower every individual to really understand what's happening in the world. Rather than getting and digesting information from another source, like a newspaper, I would like to try to empower individuals to connect the dots between complex events. With more knowledge, we'll have a more democratic society. I think if people understand better the consequences of their actions, they'll make better choices and we'll have a better overall society."
