Ben Taskar
Ben Taskar was a machine-learning researcher whose 2003 Max-Margin Markov Networks combined kernels with models for structured data. He earned a PhD at Stanford in 2004 and spent 18 months as a UC Berkeley postdoctoral researcher. At Penn, he co-directed PRiML, co-edited a book on statistical relational learning, and received awards in 2010 and 2011. In 2013, he joined the University of Washington as Boeing Professor of Computer Science & Engineering, where his work covered computational linguistics and computer vision; he died at age 36.
- Works
- 185
- Citations
- 11,478
- h-index
- 49
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.
Timeline
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2003
Max-Margin Markov Networks
With Carlos Guestrin and Daphne Koller, he presents Max-Margin Markov Networks in 2003. The framework combines kernels with the ability to model correlations in structured data.
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2004
A Stanford PhD and Berkeley postdoc
He earns bachelor's, master's, and PhD degrees at Stanford, completing his doctorate in 2004. He then spends 18 months as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley.
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2007
A book on relational learning
With Lise Getoor, he co-edits Introduction to Statistical Relational Learning, published by MIT Press in 2007. The book surveys models and algorithms for reasoning over structured data.
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2007–2012
Penn professor and PRiML co-director
He joins Penn in 2007 as Magerman Term Assistant Professor, is promoted in 2012, and serves as a founding co-director of the PRiML Center.
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2010–2011
Sloan and NSF awards
He receives a Sloan Fellowship and an ONR Young Investigator Award in 2010, then the NSF CAREER Award in 2011.
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2013
A Boeing professorship
In spring 2013, he joins the University of Washington as Boeing Professor of Computer Science & Engineering. His work applies machine learning to computational linguistics and computer vision, including methods that train computers to search images and videos for specific objects and actions.
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2013
Death at age 36
He dies in 2013 at age 36.
Sources and credits
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