PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Paulo Shakarian

Paulo Shakarian is a computer scientist who works on symbolic and neuro-symbolic AI and on AI for security. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, he served in the United States Army from 2002 to 2014, with two combat tours in Iraq, and earned a Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Maryland in 2011. He taught at West Point and Arizona State University, mined hacker websites for cyber threat intelligence, and co-founded the startup CYR3CON in 2017. In 2023, his group introduced the PyReason logic framework and he prepared the book Neuro-symbolic Reasoning and Learning. He is the KG Tan Endowed Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Syracuse University, where he directs the Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Works
289
Citations
2,716
h-index
26
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2002–2014

    Army officer and DARPA fellow

    After earning a B.S. in computer science at the U.S. Military Academy in 2002, he serves in the U.S. Army until 2014 and completes two combat tours in Iraq. In 2007, he is a military fellow at DARPA.

  2. 2009–2011

    A Maryland PhD in logic

    He earns an M.S. in computer science at the University of Maryland in 2009 and a Ph.D. in 2011 under V. S. Subrahmanian. His doctoral work centers on symbolic AI, in particular logic programming, temporal logic and abductive inference.

  3. 2011–2014

    West Point and social networks

    He teaches at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, as an assistant professor from 2011 to 2014, his final military assignment. In 2012, he presents a fast method for identifying the sets of nodes that maximize the spread of a contagion in a social network.

  4. 2014–2025

    Professor at Arizona State

    He joins Arizona State University as an assistant professor in 2014, earns tenure, and is promoted to associate professor in 2020. By 2018, he directs ASU's Cyber-Socio Intelligent Systems Laboratory, and he becomes Research Director for the School of Computing and AI.

  5. 2016–2022

    Hacker forums and CYR3CON

    In 2016, his team presents a data-mining framework for cyber threat intelligence that covers more than 40 hacker websites. In 2017, he co-founds Cyber Reconnaissance, Inc. (CYR3CON), which combines artificial intelligence with information mined from hacker communities, and serves as its CEO. The company raises $8 million in venture capital and is acquired in 2022.

  6. 2023

    PyReason and neuro-symbolic AI

    In 2023, he co-authors the paper that introduces PyReason, a Python-based software framework for open-world temporal logic that supports neuro-symbolic reasoning. He is among 100 attendees at DARPA's AI Forward workshops in 2023 and prepares his book Neuro-symbolic Reasoning and Learning for release in September 2023.

  7. 2025

    Inaugural KG Tan professorship

    In June 2025, he announces that he has left Arizona State to become the inaugural KG Tan Endowed Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Syracuse University, in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. His research has covered logic programming, data mining and AI and security, and he now explores metacognitive AI.

  8. September 2026

    Directing the Institute for AI

    In September 2026, Syracuse University launches its Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and he serves as director and executive committee chair. The institute brings together faculty from four schools and colleges, with expertise in engineering, information science, public policy and communications.

Career

  1. Since 2025Syracuse UniversityKG Tan Endowed Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Director and Executive Committee Chair
  2. From 2017Cyber Reconnaissance, Inc.Co-Founder, CEO
  3. 2014–2025Arizona State UniversityAssistant Professor, Associate Professor
  4. 2011–2014United States Military AcademyAssistant Professor
  5. 2002–2014United States Department of DefenseArmy officer

Education

  1. 2011University of MarylandPh.D. in computer science
  2. 2009University of MarylandM.S. in computer science
  3. 2002United States Military AcademyB.S. in computer science

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Darknet and deepnet mining for proactive cybersecurity threat intelligence2016 · 198 citations
  2. A review of evolutionary graph theory with applications to game theory2011 · Biosystems · 148 citations
  3. Introduction to Cyber-Warfare: A Multidisciplinary Approach2013 · 106 citations
  4. Early Warnings of Cyber Threats in Online Discussions2017 · IEEE ... International Conference on Data Mining workshops · 104 citationsWith Emilio Ferrara
  5. DarkEmbed: Exploit Prediction With Neural Language Models2018 · Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence · 94 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Paulo Shakarian. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Syracuse University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Syracuse University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Syracuse University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Paulo Shakarian yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Paulo Shakarian - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Paulo Shakarian | ASU Search search.asu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Get to Know Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Professor Paulo Shakarian | College of Engineering and Computer Science ecs.syracuse.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Award-winning cybersecurity startup springs from ASU research news.engineering.asu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. PyReason: Software for Open World Temporal Logic arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. ASU researchers bridge security and AI news.engineering.asu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Syracuse University Launches Institute for Artificial Intelligence | Syracuse University Today news.syr.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.