Scott Weinstein

Scott Weinstein is Professor of Philosophy, Mathematics, and Computer Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he holds his primary appointment in the Department of Philosophy within the School of Arts and Sciences. He serves as Director of the Logic, Information, and Computation Program and maintains secondary appointments in the Department of Computer and Information Science and the Department of Mathematics. Additionally, he is affiliated with the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science and the Logic and Computation Group. Weinstein received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1969 and his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University in 1975, joining the University of Pennsylvania faculty in 1975 and establishing a distinguished career there spanning over four decades.

Weinstein's research interests include computational learning theory, descriptive complexity theory, finite model theory, mathematical logic, philosophy of mathematics, logic, philosophy of mathematics, and cognitive science. He has authored numerous influential publications bridging philosophy, logic, computer science, and cognitive science. Key works include the book Systems that Learn: An Introduction for Cognitive and Computer Scientists (with D. Osherson and M. Stob, MIT Press, 1986); "Centering: A Framework for Modelling the Local Coherence of Discourse" (with B. Grosz and A. Joshi, Computational Linguistics, 1995), which earned the 2020 ACL Test-of-Time Award for its enduring impact on computational linguistics; "Infinitary Logic and Inductive Definability over Finite Structures" (with A. Dawar and S. Lindell, Information and Computation, 1995); "Path Constraints in Semistructured Databases" (with P. Buneman and W. Fan, Journal of Computer and System Sciences, 2000); "Some Applications of Kripke Models to Formal Systems of Intuitionistic Analysis" (Annals of Mathematical Logic, 1979); "The Intended Interpretation of Intuitionistic Logic" (Journal of Philosophical Logic, 1983); and "A Universal Inductive Inference Machine" (with D. Osherson and M. Stob, Journal of Symbolic Logic, 1991). Other contributions cover social learning, mechanical learners, synthesizing inductive expertise, preservation theorems in finite model theory, and formal learning theory. In 2020, he received the Association for Computational Linguistics Test-of-Time Award recognizing the lasting influence of his 1995 paper on discourse coherence modeling.

Professional Email: weinstein@cis.upenn.edu