PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Walter J. Scheirer

Also known as W. Scheirer

Walter Scheirer is a computer scientist whose AI work examines how systems can recognize unfamiliar classes and read difficult handwriting. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Lehigh and an engineering doctorate at Colorado Springs, then joined Notre Dame in 2015 after research roles at Harvard, Colorado Springs and Securics. His 2013 paper introduced the 1-vs-Set Machine for open-set recognition, and his 2020 NSF CAREER project focused on biologically inspired visual-recognition models. In 2021, his team used human perception to guide AI transcription of ninth-century Latin manuscripts, and he received the PAMI Mark Everingham Prize in 2022 and published A History of Fake Things on the Internet in 2023, tracing online deception from nineteenth-century image manipulation to AI-generated deepfakes. As of October 2026, he is a professor of computer science and engineering at Notre Dame, where his research spans vision and language, machine learning, biometrics and digital humanities, and his July 2026 essay argued for keeping AI decisions close to the people affected by them.

Timeline

  1. 2004–2009

    Lehigh and Colorado degrees

    He earns a B.A. in computer science and international relations at Lehigh in 2004, an M.S. in computer science in 2006, and an engineering Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, in 2009.

  2. 2013

    The 1-vs-Set Machine

    In 2013, he coauthors “Towards Open Set Recognition,” which formalizes computer-vision recognition when some classes are unknown and introduces the 1-vs-Set Machine.

  3. 2015

    Joining Notre Dame

    He joins Notre Dame in 2015 after research associate and postdoctoral roles at Harvard, an assistant professor adjoint role at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and a director of research and development role at Securics.

  4. 2020

    An NSF CAREER award

    He receives a 2020 NSF CAREER Award for “Learning at the Edge,” a project focused on developing biologically inspired models of visual recognition for artificial intelligence.

  5. 2021

    AI for ancient manuscripts

    He and Notre Dame colleagues develop an artificial neural network to read ancient handwriting using human perception. Their team studies digitized Latin manuscripts written by scribes in the Cloister of St. Gall in the ninth century.

  6. 2022

    A PAMI service prize

    He receives the 2022 PAMI Mark Everingham Prize for outstanding long-term service to the computer vision community.

  7. 2023

    A history of internet fakery

    He publishes A History of Fake Things on the Internet in 2023, tracing online deception from nineteenth-century darkroom manipulation to AI-generated deepfakes.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at Notre Dame

    He is a professor of computer science and engineering at Notre Dame, where his research spans recognition across vision and language, machine learning, human biometrics and digital humanities. In July 2026, he argues that subsidiarity can place AI decisions close to the people affected by them.

Career

  1. Since 2015University of Notre DameProfessor
  2. Harvard UniversityResearch associate
  3. University of Colorado Colorado SpringsAssistant professor adjoint
  4. SecuricsDirector of research and development

Education

  1. 2009University of Colorado Colorado SpringsPh.D.
  2. 2006Lehigh UniversityM.S.

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Notre Dame. 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.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Notre Dame. 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.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Notre Dame. 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.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Harvard University. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Walter J. Scheirer | Red Hat Research research.redhat.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Walter Scheirer - College of Engineering engineering.nd.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Open Set Recognition wjscheirer.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Scheirer receives 2020 NSF Early Career Development Award - Computer Science and Engineering cse.nd.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Researchers use AI to unlock the secrets of ancient texts - College of Engineering engineering.nd.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. PAMI Mark Everingham Prize - IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence tc.computer.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. A History of Fake Things on the Internet - Walter Scheirer - Google Books books.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. The Catholic principle guiding popes through tech upheavals, from the Industrial Revolution to AI theconversation.com. Checked 21 October 2026.