Positions
- Research Assistant Professor at the GMU C4I Center
- Affiliate Professor at the Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering / Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research
- Invited Professor at the Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica
- Invited Professor at the University of Brasilia
Contact
Center of Excellence in C4I - George Mason University
4400 University Drive - MS 4B5
Fairfax, VA - 22030-4444
USA
Phone: +1 (703) 993-9989
FAX: +1 (703) 993-1706
email: pcosta gmu edu (alternatively, you can use this link)
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy
George Mason University - 2005
Dissertation topic: Bayesian Semantics for the Semantic Web. - Master of Science
George Mason University - 1999
Thesis topic: The Fighter Aircraft’s Autodefense Management Problem: A Dynamic Decision Network Approach - Bachelor of Science
Brazilian Air Force Academy (Engineering Degree) - 1986
Short Bio
Paulo Cesar G. da Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro and is a Brazilian citizen. He graduated with honors in the Brazilian Air Force Academy in 1986 and started his career as a fighter pilot, having flown nearly 1.800 hours in fighter aircraft such as the Brazilian-Italian made AM-X. During this period, he pursued specialization in the Electronic Warfare field, attending courses in both Brazil and England, acting as Electronic Warfare Officer in the Brazilian Air Force's first AM-X Squadron, and then as an invited lecturer in most of the courses from the BAF's Electronic Warfare Center (CGEGAR).
In 1995, he graduated first place out of 115 students, all in the rank of Captain, in the BAF's EAOAr, a major career course. In 1997, he moved to the USA and started his Master of Science degree in Systems Engineering at George Mason University, where he graduated in 1999. At that time, Dr. Costa also earned the GMU Engineering School's C3I Certificate and became a recipient of the Academic Excellence in Systems Engineering Award.
Back to Brazil in 2000, he served in the Air Force Chiefs of Staff, where he participated in many projects in the IT field. In 2003, he graduated with honors from the BAF's ECEMAR, another major career course, and returned to the USA, where he earned his PhD degree in Information Technology at George Mason University. At this time, he became a leading researcher in the field of probabilistic ontologies and developed a probabilistic extension to the OWL Web Ontology Language, called Pr-OWL, which extends the former to first-order Bayesian expressiveness using Multi-Entity Bayesian Networks. He is also a key contributor to the development of UnBBayes-MEBN, an open source, freely available, java-based probabilistic reasoner and PR-OWL GUI that enables reasoning with probabilistic ontologies.
Dr. Paulo Costa retired from the Brazilian Air Force in 2008 and currently holds the positions of Research Professor at George Mason University's Center of Excellence in C4I, Affiliate Professor at the Volgenau School's Department of System Engineering and Operations Research, and Invited Professor at the Brazilian Air Force's Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica (ITA) and at the University of Brasilia (UnB). He is also an invited expert at the W3C, where he provides advice on uncertainty representation and reasoning.
Selected Courses and Certificates
- Curso de Comando e Estado-Maior (Command and General Staff Course)
Universidade da Força Aérea – ECEMAR – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil - 2003 - Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence Certificate
George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA. 1999 - Eficácia do Armamento Aéreo (Weapons Allocation Course)
Universidade da Força Aérea – CIEAr – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil - 1995 - Curso de Aperfeiçoamento de Oficiais (Officer Training School)
Universidade da Força Aérea – EAOAr – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil - 1995 - Electronic Warfare Specialist Course
Dundridge College – Totnes, Devon, UK. 1994 - Curso Básico de Guerra Eletrônica (Electronic Warfare Officer - Basic)
1o/7o G.Av. – Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. 1994 - Curso de Segurança de Vôo (Flight Safety Officer Course)
CENIPA - Brasília, DF, Brazil. 1989
Academic Special Recognitions
- Curso de Formação de Oficiais (Baccalaureate Degree) – 3rd Place Award
Academia da Força Aérea – Pirassununga, SP, Brazil. 1986 - Curso de Aperfeiçoamento de Oficiais (Officer Training Course) – 1st Place Award
Universidade da Força Aérea – EAOAr – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 1995 - Academic Excellence in Systems Engineering Award
George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA. 1999 - Curso de Comando e Estado-Maior (Command and General Staff) – 3rd Place Award
Universidade da Força Aérea – ECEMAR – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 2003 - Best Student Paper – Modeling and Simulation Track
10th International Command and Control Research Symposium, McLean, VA, USA. 2005