John Yen

John Yen is a Penn State computer scientist whose AI work connects expert systems, fuzzy logic and agents that support human teams. He studied electrical engineering and computer science in Taiwan and California, worked on an AI architecture at USC, and built a fuzzy logic research center at Texas A&M. He coauthored a fuzzy-logic textbook, held leadership roles at Penn State, helped develop R-CAST, earned research and teaching honors, and shared a 2013 patent for collaborative decision software. In April 2025, he was professor-in-charge of data sciences/AI; as of October 2026, he is a professor at Penn State whose research uses AI for high-dimensional data and interpretable recommendations.

Now at: College of Information Sciences and Technology
Born: 1958

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

1958–1986

From Hsinchu to a Berkeley PhD

Born in Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1958, he earns a B.S. in electrical engineering at National Taiwan University in 1980 and an M.S. in computer science at the University of Santa Clara in 1982. He completes a computer science Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in 1986 under Lotfi A. Zadeh, with a thesis on evidential reasoning in expert systems.
1986–1989

Research scientist at USC/ISI

After completing his computer science Ph.D. at Berkeley in 1986, he joins USC's Information Sciences Institute as a research scientist. From 1986 to 1989, he serves as the main architect of an AI architecture that integrates descriptive logic knowledge representation with production rules.
1989–2000

Fuzzy logic research and a book

He begins his academic career at Texas A&M in 1989 and forms the Center for Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems Research in 1991. In 1992, he receives the NSF Young Investigator Award, followed by early tenure and promotion. With Reza Langari, he publishes Fuzzy Logic: Intelligence, Control, and Information in 1999, with a foreword by Lotfi A. Zadeh; IEEE names him a Fellow in 2000.
2001–2007

Leadership at Penn State IST

In 2001, he joins Penn State's School of Information Sciences and Technology. In 2003, he becomes Professor in Charge; in 2007, he becomes Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs.
2005–2013

R-CAST and a 2013 patent

In 2005, he presents the paper “Extending the Recognition-Primed Decision Model to Support Human-Agent Collaboration” at AAMAS in Amsterdam. In 2013, he receives U.S. patent 8,442,839 with Michael McNeese, Xiaocong Fan and Shuang Sun for an agent framework that extends CAST with a recognition-primed decision model. R-CAST supports information sharing across teams of people and agents.
2010–2015

Penn State awards and research

In 2010, he returns to the faculty. He receives an IBM Faculty Award in 2012 and Penn State's Graduate Faculty Teaching Award in 2015; in 2015, he directs strategic research initiatives in the College of IST and belongs to the Penn State Cancer Institute's Population Health and Cancer Control Research Program.
April 2025

Professor-in-charge at Penn State

In April 2025, he is professor-in-charge of data sciences/AI at Penn State's College of IST.
As of October 2026

Professor at Penn State

He is a professor at Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology. In 2022, he coauthors a paper on changes in scanning behavior in large network telescopes that uses deep representation learning to form high-dimensional scanner profiles. His current research develops AI for big and high-dimensional data and studies how interpretability can help people calibrate trust in system recommendations.