Biography

I am Andrew G. West, a Principal Research Scientist at Verisign in the Washington D.C. area. In my role with the Strategy & Analytics group I apply deep learning, machine learning, forecasting, and other data science techniques across our domain name business and associated marketing efforts. I publish my research and pursue intellectual property protection via my affiliation with Verisign Labs. Prior to Verisign, I completed my Ph.D. at UPenn in 2013 (MSE 2010) and received my B.Sc. at Washington & Lee University in 2007.

My recent work has focused on: (1) Leveraging deep learning for generative and classification tasks, (2) modeling and forecasting many aspects of the domain name lifecycle, (3) applying big data techniques to Internet-scale quantification problems, and (4) designing crowd-sourced data collection for market measurement and competitive intelligence. Complementing this work are broader research interests that include reputation management, metadata analysis, email/Web 2.0 abuse, underground economies, behavioral profiling, and Internet virality. Though the majority of my insights are now internally facing, my research approach draws from a rigorous background of 35+ peer-reviewed publications and a desire to bring emergent techniques to bear on business problems.

Before my current role, my dissertation research investigated security in "open collaboration" applications. I examined how user-generated content and collaborative semantics change how abuses manifest and can be detected. This yielded tools still in popular use, notably “STiki”, which has been used to remove 1.1+ MILLION damaging revisions from Wikipedia. Media outlets such as the Chronicle of Higher Education and Gizmodo have recognized my contributions, and I remain an active volunteer in the Wikipedia community.

http://www.andrew-west.com -- my professional website, has my full C.V., copies of my publications, and enumerates my academic and professional involvement.