Dr. Fahiem Bacchus

Fahiem Bacchus received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Alberta in 1979, his master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto in 1983, and his PhD in computer science in 1988. Later that same year he joined the University of Waterloo as a faculty member, where he remained for 11 years before taking on his current faculty position at the University of Toronto. 

Throughout his career, Professor Bacchus has made significant contributions to the area of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning. His contributions can be felt both on the theoretical side, where his insights helped advance the mathematical foundations of that area, as well as in applications such as novel state-of-the-art solvers and planning systems. The scope of his impact can be felt from his 100 peer-reviewed publications which together have been cited over 10,000 times and won multiple best-paper awards, as well as from his solvers which won top placements in several international competitions.

In addition to his track-record of outstanding research contributions, Professor Bacchus has a history of service towards the AI community. Most recently, he has been selected to service as President of the Board of Trustees for IJCAI, and is also the current chair of the SAT Association Board. Prior to this, he served as conference chair or program chair for several of the most prestigious conferences in AI, including IJCAI, the Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, and the International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling. And he is frequently invited to give keynote speeches or tutorials at conferences, including at this conference, Canadian AI, in 2004. 

For his lifetime contribution to the field of AI, CAIAC is delighted to award Dr. Fahiem Bacchus the 2022 CAIAC Lifetime Achievement Award.