Dennis G. Wilson is a Professor at ISAE-Supaero of artificial intelligence and data science. His research is inspired by the many forms of biological intelligence, specifically through the study of evolutionary algorithms and neural networks. He earned his PhD at the Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse (IRIT), focused on the evolution of design principles for artificial neural networks. Prior to that, he worked on evolutionary developmental models in the Anyscale Learning For All group at CSAIL, MIT. His current work focuses on environmental applications of AI, specifically how AI can help accelerate environmental science in the face of climate change.
A complete CV follows. It is also available as a PDF.
Academic Positions
- 2019-present: Professor at ISAE-Supaero
- Associate Professor from 2019 to 2025, HDR and tenure in 2025
- Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in the Learning, Decision, and Optimization group of the Complex Systems Engineering Department
- 2019: Postdoctoral researcher at University of Toulouse
- Research on the application of genetic programming to electrical grid crisis management
- 2016-2019: Lecturer at University of Toulouse
- Teaching Master’s classes in Machine Learning and Databases
- 2011-2014: Researcher at MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, ALFA group
- Optimization using distributed evolutionary algorithms and genetic regulatory networks and data classification with genetic algorithms, advised by Kalyan Veeramachaneni and Una-May O’Reilly
Industry Experience
- 2019-2021: Co-Founder at Nautilia Computing, Toulouse, France
- Artificial Intelligence consulting and services for environment observation and simulation
- 2014-2016: Software engineer at Infinidat LTD, Israel
- Full-time position in infrastructure development for data storage systems
Education
- 2016-2019: PhD in the REVA team, IRIT, University of Toulouse, France
- “Evolving Principles of Artificial Neural Design,” advised by Sylvain Cussat-Blanc and Hervé Luga
- 2010-2014: BSci in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, Cambridge, USA
Teaching
- 2020-present: Evolutionary Computation, ISAE-Supaero
- 30-hour Master’s level course on evolutionary algorithms and genetic programming
- 2019-present: Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, ISAE-Supaero
- Head of a 240-hour Master’s level program on AI and data science with 60 students
- 2018-2019: Computational Intelligence, Lecturer, University of Toulouse
- 2016-2018: Databases, Lecturer, University of Toulouse
- 2014: Introduction to Python, Teaching Assistant, MIT
Advising
- 2023-present: Camilo de la Torre
- PhD in symbolic regression for image analysis, with IRIT
- 2023-present: Estelle Chigot
- PhD in generative AI for learning with synthetic data, with ANITI and Airbus
- 2022-present: Paul-Antoine le Tolguenec
- PhD in reinforcement learning for autopilot testing, with ANITI and Airbus
- 2021-2023: Valerii Sukhorukov
- Postdoctoral research in modeling neural cultures with ANNs, with IRIT
- 2021-2022: Erwan Lecarpentier
- Postdoctoral research in genetic programming for interpretable control, with IRT and IRIT
- 2021-present: Paul Templier
- PhD in evolutionary strategies for neuroevolution
- 2020-2023: Mahmoud Al Najar
- PhD in AI for coastal geography estimation and forecasting, with the CNES and IRD
- 2020-2023: Kaitlin Maile
- PhD in developmental neural networks, with IRIT
Grants, Honors & Awards
- 2022: CIFRE thesis grant with Airbus
- 2021: CIFRE thesis grant with ANITI and Airbus
- 2020: Winner, GECCO competition on agent control in DOTA
- 2020: SIGEVO Best Dissertation Award
- 2019: Thesis grant from the CNES on shoreline forecasting
- 2019: Thesis grant from La Région Occitaine and ISAE-Supaero on neuroevolution
- 2017: SIGEVO student representative, ACM Turing Award Celebration
- 2017: Winner, SIGAI Essay Contest on Ethics and AI
- 2015: CIMI Doctoral Fellowship recipient, France
- 2013: Best paper nomination, GECCO 2013 GDS track
Invited Talks
- 2023: Impact of AI on Education, ANITI 2023
- 2023: Keynote, Evolutionary Reinforcement Learning Workshop, GECCO 2023
- 2021: Evolutionary Reinforcement Learning, Reinforcement Learning Virtual School
- 2018: Julia for Machine Learning, ANF APSEM 2018, CNRS, Toulouse
- 2018: Evolving simple programs for playing Atari games, IT University of Copenhagen
- 2017: Evolving neural programs for continuous learning, CSAIL, MIT
Organizational Roles
- present: Reviewer for NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, AAAI, IJCAI, GECCO, ACM TELO, IEEE TEVC, ECJ
- 2022-present: Organizer, Graph Genetic Programming Workshop
- 2022-present: Co-Chair, Gender Equality committee, ANITI
- 2021-present: Mentor, Climate Change AI Workshop
- 2021-2023: ISAE Representative, AI for the Environment Committee (ENVIA)
- 2021-2022: Secretary, ISAL Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
- 2019-2021: Chair, Complex Systems Track, GECCO
- 2018-2020: Organizer, Developmental Neural Networks Workshop
- 2017-2018: Communications Chair, ISAL Student group