Alberto J. Canas was born in Costa Rica. He is an Associate Director of the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. Until 2005 he was also an Associate Professor at The University of West Florida, where he was a member of the Department of Computer Science. He received a Bachelors Degree in Computer Engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, and a Masters Degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Management Science, both from the University of Waterloo, Canada. He has taught at the Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica, Tulane University, INCAE (in Costa Rica), and currently at the University of West Florida. For many years, Prof. Canas has been involved in the use of technology in education, specifically in the K-12 area. Before coming to UWF, Prof. Canas was the Director of IBM's Latin American Education Research Center in Costa Rica. Prof. Canas is interested in understanding the pedagogical aspects of using technology, and taking advantage of his Computer Science background to come up with innovative solutions. He is interested not only in the theoretical aspects, but also in the implementation details and scalability of the use of computers in education. His research include: uses of computers in education, knowledge management, knowledge acquisition, information retrieval, and human-machine interface. He is currently involved in research projects at IHMC in: Knowledge Modeling and Sharing, Performance Support Systems with Embedded Training, Collaborative Tools for Education and for Research, Multimedia-based Knowledge Construction and Browsing Tools, Distance Education, and Corporate Memory.

Selected Papers

(Other papers are available in the Publications list of the CmapTools website.)

Concept Maps: A Theoretical Note on Concepts and the Need for Cyclic Concept Maps,
Safayeni, F., Derbentseva, N, Cañas A. J., submitted for publication (pdf)

Concept Maps vs. Web Pages for Information Searching and Browsing, M. J. Carnot, B. Dunn, A J. Cañas, P. Graham, J. Muldoon, Manuscript in preparation, 2001.

Enhancing Web Searches from Concept Map-based Knowledge Models,
Carvalho, M., R. Hewett, A. J. Canas, SCI 2001: Fifth Multi-Conference on Systems, Cybernetics and Informatics, Orlando, FL (July 2001)"(pdf)

Using WordNet for Word Sense Disambiguation to Support Concept Map Construction, Canas A. J., Valerio, A., Lalinde-Pulido, J., Carvalho, M., Arguedas, M., SPIRE 2003 – 10th International Symposium on String Processing and Information Retrieval, October 2003, Manaus, Brazil. (pdf)

Knowledge Construction and Sharing in Quorum,
Canas A. J., Ford K. M., Brennan J., Reichherzer T., Hayes P., World Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, Washington DC, July 1995. (pdf, ps)

Colaboracion en la Construccion de Conocimiento Mediante Mapas Conceptuales,
Canas, A. J., K. M. Ford, P. H. Hayes, T. Reichherzer, N. Suri, J. W. Coffey, R. Carff, G. Hill, Invited Plenary Talk, VIII Congreso Internacional sobre Tecnología y Educación a Distancia, San José, Costa Rica, (Nov. 1997). Available in the Proceedings of the Conference, pp. XXV- XLII. (pdf version, ps version)

Using Using Concept Maps with Technology to Enhance Collaborative Learning in Latin America, Canas, A. J., K. M. Ford, J. D. Novak, P. Hayes, T. Reichherzer, N. Suri, accepted for publication, Science Teacher.

Algunas Ideas sobre la Educación y las Herramientas Computacionales Necesarias para Apoyar su Implementación, Canas, A. J., Revista RED: Educación y Formación Profesional a Distancia, Ministerio de Educación, España, (Otoño 1999).

Herramientas para Construir y Compartir Modelos de Conocimiento Basados en Mapas Conceptuales , Canas, A. J., K. M. Ford, J. W. Coffey, T. Reichherzer, N. Suri, R. Carff, D. Shamma, G. Hill, M. Breedy, Revista de Informática Educativa, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2000), pp. 145-158.

El-Tech: A Performance Support System with Embedded Training for Electronics Technicians, Canas, A. J., J. W. Coffey, T. Reichherzer, N. Suri, R. Carff, G. Hill, Proceedings of the Eleventh Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Symposium, Sanibel Island, Florida, (May 1997). (pdf version)

The Giant: An Agent-based Approach to Knowledge Construction & Sharing, Reichherzer, T. R., A. J. Canas, K. M. Ford, P. J. Hayes, The Eleventh International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Symposium Conference, Sanibel Island, (1998) (pdf version).

The Giant: A Classroom Collaborator, Reichherzer, T. R., Canas, A. J., Ford, K. M., Hayes, P. J., Workshop on Pedagogical Agents of the Fourth International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS), San Antonio, 1998, pp. 83-86. (pdf version).

Managing, Mapping and Manipulating Conceptual Knowledge, Canas, A. J., D. B. Leake, D. C. Wilson, AAAI Workshop Technical Report WS-99-10: Exploring the Synergies of Knowledge Management & Case-Based Reasoning, AAAI Press, Menlo Calif, (July 1999). (pdf version)

Participatory Explanation, Ford, K. M, A. J. Canas, J. W. Coffey, Proceedings of FLAIRS 93: Sixth Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Symposium, Ft. Lauderadale, FL, (April 1993), pp. 111-115.

A Learning Environment Organizer for Asynchronous Distance Learning Systems, Coffey, J. W. & A. J. Canas, Proceedings of the Twelth IASTED International Conference Parallel and Distributed Computing and Systems (PDCS 2000). November 6-9, 2000, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mining the Web to Suggest Concepts during Concept Mapping: Preliminary Results, Canas,A. J., M. Carvalho, M. Arguedas, XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação – SBIE – UNISINOS 2002, November 2002, Brazil.

A Concept Map-Based Knowledge Modeling Approach to Expert Knowledge Sharing, Coffey, J. W., R. Hoffman, A. J. Canas and K. M. Ford, IKS 2002- The IASTED International Conference on Information and Knowledge Sharing, November 2002, Virgin Islands.