Michael Kassoff

Summary

I am graduating with my PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University in August 2011. I am an entrepreneur who wants to make a difference in the world.

Experience

  • Founder at Dragosaurus

    February 2010 - Present

    Dragosaurus is an iOS app shop that I work on in my spare time. I created a game (Just 1 Level), some word game "helpers" (Cheats With Words and Cheats With Hangman) and a sound effects app (Big Sounds). Cheats With Words is available for Mac as well.

    All of my apps have been successful, but Cheats With Words for iOS is my biggest success. It has had over 200,000 downloads and has been in the top 200 paid iPhone apps in the US for most of the last 6 months.

    I do all the design, development, management, and promotion myself. I contract out for graphics and sound effects.

  • Research Assistant at Stanford University Logic Group

    January 2002 - August 2011

    The Logic Group studies the applications of computational logic to data. My research centered around Logical Spreadsheets, which allow for capturing structured data with semantic constraints. Webcell is a logical spreadsheet engine I created that can be used to add logical spreadsheet capabilities to any Web page.

    I was the Teaching Assistant for CS246, Information Integration, in Fall 2001 and Spring 2003.

  • Developer at gumshoe.com

    May 2008 - March 2009

    Gumshoe is a children's shoe store chain in the Bay Area. I created gumshoe.com as their online arm and helped run it for a year.

    I built all aspects of the gumshoe.com e-commerce site, including database layer, content management system, payment processing, front end, email notifications, reporting, and feed generation.

    I learned about SEO, security and A/B testing.

    I also learned about the retail supply chain, search engine marketing, and running a brick & mortar small business.

  • Founder at Second Floor Systems

    August 2007 - August 2008

    Second Floor sold information about products to retailers. I took time off from my PhD studies to found Second Floor Systems. I was the technical co-founder.

    Second Floor had auspicious beginnings. We won the BASES E-Challenge business plan competition at Stanford. (There were 125+ submissions and it was judged by prominent VCs including Roelof Botha and Ann Winblad.)

  • Founder at Charitopia

    January 2007 - December 2008

    I co-created Charitopia.org, a non-profit website that connected donors of goods to those in need of them.

  • Web Architect at govWorks.com

    December 1999 - September 2001

    I designed and implemented a search/browse site for government websites. I built an e-commerce application for paying parking tickets online.

  • Research Assistant at Cornell University Robotics and Vision Lab

    June 1997 - December 1998

    I created graphical tools for exploring new image detection algorithms.

  • Programmer at I.D. Systems

    June 1998 - August 1998

    I designed and wrote firmware for an Ethernet card. I created the company website.

Studies

  • Computer Science at Stanford University

    Doctor of Philosophy

    September 2004 - August 2011

    My thesis is entitled Logical Spreadsheets. My advisor is Michael Genesereth.

  • Computer Science at Stanford University

    Master of Science

    September 2000 - June 2004

    I specialized in Artificial Intelligence.

  • Computer Science at Cornell University

    Bachelor of Arts

    August 1996 - June 2000

    I minored in Mathematics.

    I graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Patents

Michael Genesereth, Michael Kassoff, and Nathaniel C. Love, US. Pat. No. 7707486, "Logical Spreadsheets", 2010.

Publications

Michael Kassoff and Michael Genesereth, "Paraconsistent Inference from Data using Existential Omega-Entailment," Data, Logic and Inconsistency, 2011.

Michael Kassoff and Michael Genesereth, "The Markov Reformulation Theorem," Symposium on Abstraction, Reformulation, and Approximation, 2011.

Michael Kassoff, Charles Petrie, Lee-Ming Zen and Michael Genesereth, "Semantic Email Addressing: The Semantic Web Killer App?," IEEE Internet Computing, January/February 2009, 48-55.

Michael Kassoff and Andre Valente, "An Introduction to Logical Spreadsheets." Knowledge Engineering Review, Cambridge University Press, Volume 22, Issue 3, September 2007, pp. 213-219.

Michael Kassoff and Michael Genesereth, "PrediCalc: A Logical Spreadsheet Management System." Knowledge Engineering Review, Cambridge University Press, Volume 22, Issue 3, September 2007, pp. 281-295.

Michael Kassoff, Charles Petrie, Lee-Ming Zen, and Michael Genesereth, "Semantic Email Addressing: Sending Email to People, Not Strings," AAAI 2006 Fall Symposium on Integrating Reasoning into Everyday Applications.

Michael Kassoff, Lee-Ming Zen, Ankit Garg, and Michael Genesereth, "PrediCalc: A Logical Spreadsheet Management System," 31st International Conference on Very Large Databases (VLDB), Trondheim, Norway, 2005, 1247-1250.

Michael Kassoff, Daishi Kato, and Waqar Mohsin, "Creating GUIs for Web Services," IEEE Internet Computing, September/October 2003, Vol 7, No. 4, 66-73.

Charles Petrie, Michael Genesereth, Hans Bjornsson, Rada Chirkova, Martin Ekstrom, Hidehito Gomi, Tim Hinrichs, Rob Hoskins, Michael Kassoff, Daishi Kato, Kyohei Kawazoe, Jung Ung Min, and Waqar Mohsin, "Adding AI to Web Services," in Luder van Elst, Virginia Dignum, and Andreas Abecker (Eds.), Agent Mediated Knowledge Management, LNAI 2926, Springer 2004, 322-338.

Memberships

Member, YMCA Triathalon Club

Program Committee Member, AAAI 2010 Spring Symposium on Linked Data Meets Artificial Intelligence

Program Committee Member, AAAI-07

Co-Editor, Special Issue on Logical Spreadsheets, Knowledge Engineering Review, September 2007

Chair, AAAI 2006 Symposium on Integrating Reasoning into Everyday Applications

Organizer, Workshop on Logical Spreadsheets, 2005