Yolanda Gil is a Spanish-born American computer scientist specializing in knowledge discovery and knowledge-rich intelligent user interfaces at the University of Southern California (USC). She has held leadership roles in major AI organizations, including president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence (SIGAI). In 2024, Gil was appointed to the National Science Board. Her research focuses on integrating Machine learning with scientific discovery, particularly in geoscience and health.
Education
Gil was born in Madrid, Spain, and earned a licenciate in Computer Science from the Technical University of Madrid in 1985. She pursued graduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University, completing her Ph.D. in 1992. Her dissertation, supervised by Jaime Carbonell, addressed planning and learning in AI systems.
Career and research
In 1992, Gil joined the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at the University of Southern California. She holds the title of research professor of Computer Science and Spatial Sciences, and serves as Senior Director for AI and Data Science Initiatives. She also directs the Center for AI Research for Health at USC. Her work has advanced knowledge-guided Machine learning, where domain expertise is integrated into learning algorithms to improve scientific discovery. She has contributed to intelligent workflow systems that support geoscience and other data-intensive fields.
Awards and honors
Gil has received numerous accolades for her contributions to AI and scientific discovery. She was elected chair of SIGAI for two terms, from 2010 to 2016, and served as president of AAAI from 2018 to 2020. She became a Fellow of the AAAI in 2012, a Fellow of the ACM in 2016, a Fellow of the IEEE in 2021, a Fellow of the AAAS in 2020, and a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society in 2024. In 2022, she was the first computer scientist to receive the Geological Society of America M. Lee Allison Award for Outstanding Contributions to Geoinformatics and Data Science.
Leadership and service
Beyond her research, Gil has been a prominent leader in the AI community. Her service includes roles on editorial boards and advisory committees for various AI initiatives. She has advocated for the responsible use of Artificial intelligence in science and society, emphasizing the importance of transparent and reproducible AI methods. Her leadership has helped shape the direction of AI research, particularly in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between computer science and domain sciences.
Selected publications
Gil has authored numerous papers on topics such as knowledge-discovery, intelligent-user-interfaces, and scientific-workflows. Her work is widely cited, and she has been an invited speaker at major conferences. Her research has been supported by grants from agencies including the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. She has also contributed to the development of AI standards and best practices through her involvement in professional organizations.