Vita
David E. Goldberg
PhD, Jerry S. Dobrovolny Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurial Engineering
Director, Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory (IlliGAL)
Co-founder, Engineering and Technology Studies at Illinois (ETSI)
Co-founder, Illinois Foundry for Tech Vision and Leadership(iFoundry)
Address/e-mail
- Room 105 Transportation Building
(217) 333-0897
deg@uiuc.edu
Mailing Address
- 117 Transportation Building MC-238
Department of Industrial and Enterprise Engineering,
104 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana IL 61801
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Fax: 217-244-5705
Consulting Contact
- website: www.davidegoldberg.com
email: deg@davidegoldberg.com
Biography
David E. Goldberg obtained degrees (BSE, 1975, MSE, 1976, PhD, 1983) in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is currently Jerry S. Dobrovolny Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and director of the Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory (IlliGAL). Between 1976 to 1980 he held a number of positions at Stoner Associates of Carlisle, PA, including Project Engineer and Marketing Manager. Following his doctoral studies he joined the Engineering Mechanics faculty at the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) in 1984, where he was a 1985 recipient of an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award. In 1990, he moved to the University of Illinois, and in 1995 he was named an Associate of the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois. His book Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization and Machine Learning (Addison-Wesley, 1989) is among the most widely cited reference in computer science, and according to the tabulation by Palsberg, he is among the top cited authors in computer science more generally. He lives in Champaign, IL with his wife and two sons.
Research
Professor Goldberg’s research centers on the theory and application of genetic algorithms–search procedures based on the mechanics of natural genetics and selection. In particular his work has been concerned with (1) developing an effective design theory for selectorecombinative GAs, GAs that use selection and recombination mechanisms, (2) designing competent GAs, GAs that solve hard problems, quickly, reliably, and accurately, and (3) enhancing the efficiency of such GAs to permit tractable solutions to hard problems.
Published Books
Goldberg, David E. The Entrepreneurial Engineer. New York, NY: Wiley, 2006. ISBN: 0470007230
Goldberg, David E. The Design of Innovation: Lessons from and for Competent Genetic Algorithms. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002. ISBN: 1402070985
Goldberg David E. Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization and Machine Learning. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. 1989. ISBN: 0201157675 (French and Polish translations in print)
Goldberg, David E. Life Skills and Leadership for Engineers. McGraw Hill College Div. 1995. ISBN: 0070236895
Honors and Awards
- Finalist, Most Entrepreneurial Scientist in the USA, Technopolicy Network, Internationalising Regional Innovation, 4th Annual Conference, Fairfax, VA, 2007
- Silver Humie (Human Competitive Performance) Award, Multiiobjective Genetic Algorithms for Multiscaling Excited–State Direct Dynamics in Photochemistry. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, Seattle, WA, 2006
- Gold medal, Lincoln Arc Welding Award (faculty advisor), Butterfly Cage Control Valve Design II, Yeary & Associates, 2005 (also, advisor to 4 Merit awards from Lincoln Arc Welding & 3 Bernt O. Larson Awards for excellence in Senior Design)
- Jerry S. Dobrovolny Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurial Engineering, UIUC, 2003-present
- Senior Fellow, International Society for Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, 2003
- Honorary Chair, 6th Online World Conference on Soft Computing in Industrial Applications (WSC6), 2001, 2003
- Outstanding Instructor Award, Genetic Algorithms, National Technological University, 2001, 2000
- Honorary Co-Chair (with Lotfi Zadeh and Gail Carpenter), International Symposium on Computational Intelligence, Kosice, Slovakia, 2000
- Gambrinus Fellow, University of Dortmund, Germany, 1997
- Wickenden Award (for ASEE best paper: Change in Engineering Education: One Myth, Two Scenarios, and Three Foci), American Society for Engineering Education, 1996
- Associate, Center for Advanced Studies, UIUC, 1995-1996
- Engineering Advisors List, University of Illinois, 1992
- Distinguished Visiting Professor, ITESM, Monterey, Mexico, 1990
- Capstone Engineering Society Outstanding Research Award, University of Alabama, 1989-1990
- Presidential Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation, 1985-1990
- Prater Exchange Professor, University of Alabama & National Taiwan University, 1986
Professional Affiliations
Dr. Goldberg is a registered engineer in Alabama and Pennsylvania and is a member of a number of professional organizations, including ACM, ASCE, ASEE, ASME, Chi Epsilon, and Tau Beta Pi. He co-founded the ACM Special Interest Group on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (SIGEVO), and served as founding chairman and business committee member (1999-2007) of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO). Dr. Goldberg is currently founding co-chairman of the Workshop on Philosophy and Engineering (WPE-2007).
Publications
- Authored or co-authored over 400 publications, including 34 book chapters, 87 journal & magazine articles, 210 proceedings articles, & 58 other reports and manuscripts of which 280 were refereed.
- Amassed an h-index score of h = 54 according to the compilation by Palsberg (http://www.cs.ucla.edu/~palsberg/h-number.html). An author’s h score is the number of papers that have h or more citations each.
- Authored 3 original books and two extensively revised editions.
- Edited or co-edited 3 conference proceedings volumes
- Edited 2 special editions of scholarly journals (Machine Learning & Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering).
- Authored or supervised over 58 computer codes & platforms.
- Filed 14 patents with 4 issued and 10 pending.


