At Aspiedent I have used my skills in analysis of complexity and problem solving to create an autism profiling tool. This tool enables me to get to the underlying issues that are behind the symptoms of the autism of an individual. The same symptom (eg difficulty with social interaction) can have several different causes. Working what is actually going on helps tremendously in coming up with a solution.I use the autism profiling tool during work place assessments in order to work out what is really going on and to make recommendations. These recommendations are generally simple to carry out. In fact so simple that they either appear obvious with hindsight, or we have a hard time persuading employers to try them.I am currently applying my skills to identify precisely what it is about their autism that is preventing an autistic individual from moving into employment. The challenge then is to devising a programme to help them develop new skills and/or strategies so that they can move forward.

My responsibilities include • Liaising with providers• Designing and prototyping algorithms for analysing user generated text• Initiating new projects

My research projects have includedo Identifying when someone is carrying a weapon in the street without having to search them o Identifying terrorists via surveillanceo Identifying defects in railway lines.o Developing a new framework for doing semantics. o Working on natural language parsing using the Role and Reference Grammar linguistic paradigmo Combining Pedagogy with Persuasive Technology by developing persuasive learning objects.o App to aid in therapy for people who stammer (it may be extended to autism and mental health)

My project involved investigating and inventing techniques for modelling the soft tissues of the face. The main aim was to provide tools so that surgeons can predict what a patient’s face will look like after surgery. This was achieved by using the finite element method to model the behaviour of the soft tissue. Other aspects of this work have involved developing methods for locating corresponding points between two surfaces, and improving on existing methods for rigid registration, or alignment of two surfaces. I was also required to interact with European collaborators and with industry, and to collaborate with clinicians. This project was an EU funded project.

After completing a 3 month intensive course in Linquistics in the autumn of 1996, I went to Sudan in January 1997. My work there involved grammatical analysis of unwritten or recently written languages and some literacy work. I was in charge of the analysis of 7 related languages and my main role was to teach native speakers of these languages how to read and write and analyse the grammar of their own language. Normally people on this programme work on one language.

After completing my PhD, I spent 19 months on two projects related to the work of my PhD. The first was to extend the algorithms I developed as part of my PhD to a slightly harder problem; the second was to port the program I created as part of my PhD to the Cray T3D super-computer at Edinburgh University. I wrote the applications for funding for both of these projects. Both projects were funded by the Medical Research Council.