William H. Turkett, Jr.

Last updated: January 22, 2024
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Wake Forest University. I received my Ph.D. in 2004 from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of South Carolina, where my research was in the area of probabilistic reasoning. My BS in Computer Science (1998) was from the College of Charleston.

My current roles include being current (2020-2024) Chair of the Department of Computer Science and representing the Graduate School to the University's Committee on Information Technology (CIT). I have been trained and acted as an ABET/CSAB Peer Evaluator (last visit was in Fall 2022).

From 2008 to 2013, I directed the EuroTour Study Abroad program.

Useful Links

Google Scholar Profile

Teaching

In Spring 2024, I am teaching the following courses:
  • CSC 201 - Data Structures and Algorithms (3 hours)
  • CSC 231 - Programming Languages (3 hours)

Talks

  • Graduate School In Computer Science: Is It For Me? - Talk at Wake Forest, September 28, 2020 - Click here for slides

Research

Background: My thesis advisor was Dr. John Rose, who directed my dissertation work on Robust Multiagent Plan Generation and Execution with Decision-Theoretic Planners [PDF, ~1.0MB].

Interests: At Wake Forest, I am actively involved in teaching and research in the broad field of computational biosciences, including collaboration with colleagues in Computer Science, Mathematics, Biology, Physics, and on our Medical School campus. My interests are in applications of machine learning, with current foci on prediction and classification based on DNA and amino acid sequence analysis. I have also been involved in collaborations with the Network Security Group in CS at WFU, led by Errin Fulp.

Almost all of my work deals with datasets that are sequential or temporal in nature and are systems-scale. I also have interests in computer science education and software development processes of bioinformaticians.

Students: If you are a current WFU computer science student interested in working with me on research, please send an email. I encourage undergraduate students to look at the Wake Forest Summer Research Fellowship Program as a means of being paid to do research. If you are a current WFU graduate student and want to discuss research, make sure to come to my CSC 781 talk in the fall semester, then send me an email.