Chris White is a Principal Researcher and Partner at Microsoft working on special projects. His team develops software for data analysis, focusing on the intersection of artificial intelligence and business intelligence, including analytics tools for structured numerical and unstructured streaming data. They recently helped Microsoft become the visionary market leader for business intelligence. Their work has also been applied to fighting digital crime and worldwide tech scams, including the Federal Trade Commission’s Operation Tech Trap (see more here). Learn more about current work from a profile of Chris by Microsoft.
Before joining Microsoft, Chris was a Program Manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he created and managed DARPA’s leading programs XDATA, Memex, and the Open Catalog. His work has been applied to countering human trafficking, financial fraud, and terrorism. In recognition of this work, Chris received the 2016 Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons (see more here). He also received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, and a Department of Treasury Intelligence and Analysis medallion for combatting terrorism financing.
Chris also served DARPA as the Agency’s country lead in Afghanistan, where he oversaw DARPA’s portfolio of programs and led the data science and analytics efforts under General David Petraeus and General John Allen. His work was cited in President Obama’s Big Data Report as helping commanders solve operational challenges during the most violent years of the war in Afghanistan. In recognition of this work, he received the Department of Defense Joint Meritorious Unit Award.
Chris’s work has been featured in media outlets including Popular Science, CBS’s 60 Minutes, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone Magazine, TEDx, and Google’s Solve for X. Chris was profiled in a cover feature for the Sept/Oct 2016 issue of Popular Science.
Prior to DARPA, Chris was a fellow at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He was a Department of Homeland Security Graduate Fellow and earned a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in electrical engineering, where his research focused on machine learning, statistical methods for large data sets, and human language technology. He earned a BS from Oklahoma State University.
