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'{{short description|Slovenian computer scientist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Blaž Zupan | image = Blaž_Zupan 2.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1968|1|26}} | birth_place = [[Postojna]], [[Slovenia]] | death_date = <!-- WD --> | death_place = <!-- WD --> | nationality = [[Slovenia|Slovenian]] | field = [[artificial intelligence]], [[machine learning]], [[data science]], [[bioinformatics]] | work_institution = [[University of Ljubljana]], [[University of Houston]], [[Baylor College of Medicine]] | alma_mater = [[University of Ljubljana]] | doctoral_advisor = [[Ivan Bratko (computer scientist)|Ivan Bratko]] | doctoral_students = [[Marinka Žitnik]] | known_for = [[Orange (software)]] | prizes = Golden Plaque of the University of Ljubljana (2011 and 2019) | religion = | footnotes = }} '''Blaž Zupan''' is a [[Slovenia|Slovenian]] [[computer scientist]] and university [[professor]], * [[26 January]] [[1968]], [[Postojna]], [[Slovenia]]. ==Career== After finishing the [[Bežigrad Grammar School]] in 1986, Zupan graduated in computer science at the [[University of Ljubljana]] in 1991. Next, he received an MS degree in computer science from [[University of Houston]] in 1993 under the mentorship of prof. dr. Albert Mo Kim Cheng.<ref>[http://www2.cs.uh.edu/~acheng/acheng.html Home page of Mo Kim Cheng at University of Houston]</ref> In 1997 he received his PhD degree in computer science from the University of Ljubljana under the mentorship of prof. dr. [[Ivan Bratko (computer scientist)|Ivan Bratko]].<ref>[https://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=263133 Blaž Zupan] v [[Mathematics Genealogy Project]]</ref> After spending two years as a postdoc researcher at the [[Jožef Stefan Institute]] in Ljubljana, Zupan became in 1999 an assistant professor at the [[Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Ljubljana|Faculty of Computer and Information Science]] at the [[University of Ljubljana]], where in 2009 he became a full professor.<ref>[https://fri.uni-lj.si/en/o-fakulteti/osebje/blaz-zupan Home page of [[Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Ljubljana|FRI UL]] - prof. dr. Blaž Zupan]</ref> In 2010 Zupan founded the Bioinformatics Laboratory<ref name=zbornik>[http://eprints.fri.uni-lj.si/3655/ FRI 20 : 1996-2016 : 20 let Fakultete za računalništvo in informatiko Univerze v Ljubljani]. Ljubljana : Fakulteta za računalništvo in informatiko, 2016 {{COBISS|ID=284639232}}</ref> which has currently more than 20 members.<ref>[https://www.fri.uni-lj.si/en/laboratory/biolab Bioinformatics Laboratory] at the Faculty of Computer and Information Science in Ljubljana</ref> In the years 2006–2008 and 2010–2012 Zupan served as the vice dean for research and development.<ref name=zbornik></ref> Blaž Zupan still collaborates with scientists in [[Houston]], [[USA]], where he has a position of a visiting professor at [[Baylor College of Medicine]].<ref>[https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/blaz-zupan-33768 Blaž Zupan] at Baylor College of Medicine</ref> In the academic year 2008-2009 Zupan was a visiting scientist in the Center for [[tissue engineering]] at [[University of Pavia]] in [[Italy]]. ==Teaching and research== Blaž Zupan teaches [[artificial intelligence]], [[machine learning]], [[data mining]] and [[bioinformatics]] at the [[University of Ljubljana]] and at the [[Baylor College of Medicine]] in [[Houston]]. His research focuses on constructive induction, epistasis approaches for reconstructing gene networks, large-scale data fusion, and algorithms to propose informative data visualisations. In the Bioinformatics Laboratory that he runs at the [[Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Ljubljana|Faculty of Computer and Information Science]] in Ljubljana, he leads the development of the open-source machine learning tool [[Orange (software)|Orange]]. [[Orange (software)|Orange]] is written in [[Python (programming language)|Phython]] and is a machine learning tool with a graphical user interface and excellent visualisations.<ref>[http://biolab.orange.si Orange Data Mining]</ref> With an easy-to-use interface and visual programming for the construction of data analysis workflows, Orange aims at the democratization of data science. Zupan is engaged in the preparation of teaching material for practical workshops that use Orange. This material includes scripts for popular YouTube videos on data science, which have received millions of views.<ref>[http://youtube.com/orangedatamining Orange Data Mining on YouTube]</ref> With Orange, Zupan carried out over forty hands-on workshops on introduction to machine learning and data science all around the world. Zupan has published nearly three hundred peer-review articles<ref name=cobiss>[http://splet02.izum.si/cobiss/bibliography?code=12536 Bibliography of Blaž Zupan] in the Slovenian bibliography database [[COBISS]]</ref> that have received in total more than eleven thousand citations.<ref>[https://scholar.google.si/citations?user=jpa_na8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao Blaž Zupan in Google Scholar]</ref> Zupan had more than ten doctoral students<ref name=cobiss/><ref>[https://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=263133 Blaž Zupan] in [[Mathematics Genealogy Project]]</ref> and was advisor for more than hundred undergraduate and graduate theses.<ref name=cobiss/> === Selected bibliography === * [[Blaž Zupan]], Marko Bohanec, Janez Demšar, [[Ivan Bratko (computer scientist)|Ivan Bratko]] [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0004-3702(99)00008-9 "Learning by discovering concept hierarchies"]. ''Artificial Intelligence'' 109:211-242, 1999. * [[Blaž Zupan]] et al. [https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btf871 "GenePath: a System for Automated Construction of Genetic Networks from Mutant Data"]. ''Bioinformatics'' 19(3):383, 2003. * Nancy Van Driessche et al. [https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1545 "Epistasis analysis with global transcriptional phenotypes"]. ''Nature Genetics'' 37(5):471-477, 2005. * Riccardo Bellazzi, [[Blaž Zupan]]. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1386505606002747 "Predictive data mining in clinical medicine: Current issues and guidelines"]. ''International Journal of Medical Informatics'' 77(2):81-97, 2008. * Janez Demšar et al. [https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/2567709.2567736 "Orange: data mining toolbox in python"]. ''The Journal of Machine Learning Research'', January 2013. * [[Marinka Žitnik]], [[Blaž Zupan]]. [https://doi.org/10.1109/TPAMI.2014.2343973 "Data fusion by matrix factorization"]. ''IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence'' 37(1):41-53, 2015. * [[Marinka Žitnik]], Edward E. Nam, Chris Dinh, Adam Kuspa, Gad Shaulsky in [[Blaž Zupan]]. [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004552 "Gene prioritization by compressive data fusion and chaining"]. ''PLoS Computational Biology'' 11(10):e1004552, 2015. * Martin Stražar et al. [https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btz348 "scOrange – A Tool for Hands-On Training of Concepts from Single Cell Data Analytics"]. ''Bioinformatics'' 35(14):i4-i12, 2019. * Primož Godec et al. [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12397-x "Democratized image analytics by visual programming through integration of deep models and small-scale machine learning"]. ''Nature Communications'' 10(1):4551, 2019. ==Awards== Blaž Zupan received already in primary and secondary school several awards at national and international competitions in mathematics and life sciences. Next, as a student at [[University of Ljubljana]] he received in 1991 the university's highest student prize for research (Prešeren award). As a MS student at [[University of Houston]] he became a member of [[Phi Kappa Phi]]. For his PhD thesis he received the Jožef Stefan Golden Plaque in 1999.<ref>[https://www.ijs.si/ijsw/Dobitniki%20zlatih%20znakov%20Jožefa%20Stefana Recipients of the Jožef Stefan Golden Plaques]</ref> Zupan is the recipient of the {{ill|Zois Award|lt=Zois Award|sl|Zoisovo priznanje}} (2010), two Golden Plaques of the University of Ljubljana (2011, 2019), a [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright Scholarship]] (2013),<ref>[https://www.cies.org/grantee/blaz-zupan Fulbright scholar list]</ref> and is a six-time recipient of the [[Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Ljubljana|FRI UL]] Best Teacher Award (2008-2017). Res Publica, [[Financial Times]], [[International Visegrad Fund|Visegrad Fund]], and [[Google]] enlisted him in the Top 100 Most Influential Innovators of Central and Eastern Europe (2016).<ref>[https://www.ft.com/content/ece06f66-90a7-11e6-a72e-b428cb934b78 New Europe 100 — changemakers in central and eastern Europe] Financial Times</ref> The Slovenian Academy of Engineering selected Zupan as an associate member in 2017. <ref>[http://en.ias.si/index.php/clanstvo/redni-in-izredni-clani/ Full and Associate Members of the Slovenian Academy of Engineering].</ref> ==In media== <div style="font-size:smaller"> * [https://www.rtvslo.si/znanost-in-tehnologija/umetna-inteligenca-spreminja-svet/441933 ''Umetna inteligenca spreminja svet'']. MMC, RTV SLO, 2 January 2018 * [https://www.vecer.com/najprej-bi-v-solah-prepovedal-powerpoint-6382491 ''Najprej bi v šolah prepovedal PowerPoint'']. Interview in daily [[Večer (Slovenia)|Večer]], 13 Januar 2018 * [https://www.gov.si/novice/2020-05-06-izjava-glede-aktualnega-stanja-v-zvezi-z-epidemijo-bolezni-covid-19/ ''Izjava glede aktualnega stanja v zvezi z epidemijo bolezni COVID-19''], (Video of press conference, Blaž Zupan starts to speak at 00:24:57). www. gov.si, 6 May 2020 * Ali Žerdin. [https://www.delo.si/sobotna-priloga/val-okuzb-v-sloveniji-ni-bil-visok-a-to-najbrz-pomeni-da-bo-daljsi-306803.html ''Val okužb v Sloveniji ni bil visok. A to najbrž pomeni, da bo daljši.'']. Interview in daily [[Delo (newspaper)|Delo]], Sobotna priloga, 9 May 2020 </div> == External links == * [https://www.fri.uni-lj.si/sl/o-fakulteti/osebje/blaz-zupan Home page of Blaž Zupan] * {{Google Scholar id|jpa_na8AAAAJ}} * [http://splet02.izum.si/cobiss/bibliography?code=12536 Bibliography of Blaž Zupan] in the Slovenian Bibliographic database [[COBISS]] * [https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Iskanje.php?type=enostavno&lang=eng&niz=blaz+zupan&vir=dk Blaž Zupan in the Repository of the University of Ljubljana] == References == {{reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Zupan, Blaž}} [[Category:1968 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Slovenian computer scientists]] [[Category:Engineers from Ljubljana]] [[Category:Scientists from Ljubljana]] [[Category:University of Ljubljana alumni]] [[Category:University of Ljubljana faculty]]'