Martin Cenek | University of Portland

Martin Cenek

Martin CenekAssociate Professor of Computer Science

“In 2011, I earned my advanced degree in computer science from Portland State University in the field of artificial intelligence, focusing on complex and adaptive systems. Before joining UP, I was a computer science faculty at University of Alaska, Anchorage. My research in the intelligent cyber-physical systems develops new data-driven machine learning models to help society better manage our resources and make educated decisions.

My projects include modeling reliability of renewable power generators under changing climate conditions, monitoring and analyzing brain waves to understand how we process different stimuli (especially in an educational setting), understanding the composition and contamination in residential recyclable materials and solid waste, modeling athletic performance from wearable bio-physical sensors, and analyzing the water use patterns in rural Alaska—to name a few.

I am passionate about undergraduate education and helping students become well-rounded scholars and thinkers. Undergraduate research helps to bridge the gap between academic setting and practice. The field of computer science advances incredibly fast—when students graduate, there are new tools, programming languages, and technologies that did not exist when they started college. Undergraduate research gives students the additional high-level tools that help them evaluate, critique, adopt, and keep up with the new trends in their field.

What sets UP and the Shiley School of Engineering apart from other schools is our focus on teaching fundamentals rather than technologies, critical thinking rather than mimicry, asking good questions, and promoting networking with professionals in students’ areas of interest. My hope is for students to be passionate, curious, and keep a desire to learn for the rest of their lives.”

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