Patrick Prosser

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Patrick Prosser

| image = Prosser_SandYacht_Nov_2003_lzn.jpg

| caption = Prosser in 2003

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|09|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland

| citizenship =

| nationality = Scottish

| fields = Constraint programming

| workplaces = University of Glasgow

| alma_mater = Strathclyde University

| doctoral_advisor = Iain Buchanan

| academic_advisors =

| doctoral_students =

| notable_students =

| known_for = Conflict-directed backjumping

| author_abbrev_bot =

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| influences =

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}}

Patrick Prosser (born 8 September 1952) is a computer scientist who spent the bulk of his career at the University of Glasgow. His research has centred on constraint programming, although it has extended into the application of those techniques into other areas. For his major contributions to the theory and practice of constraint programming, Patrick was awarded the Association for Constraint Programming's Research Excellence Award on 15 September 2011: he is only the sixth recipient of this award.[http://4c110.ucc.ie/acp/a4cp/awards/research-excellence-award Association for Constraint Programming's Research Excellence Award website.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402120935/http://4c110.ucc.ie/acp/a4cp/awards/research-excellence-award |date=2 April 2012 }} He gave a prerecorded acceptance speech, which is available on YouTube.[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB09ABCAFDFBDFBB5&feature=mh_lolz Patrick Prosser's video acceptance speech playlist on Youtube.]

His most notable contribution is his invention of conflict-directed backjumping, an advanced technique for reducing search in constraint problems by avoiding unnecessary work on backtracking. His 1993 paper{{cite journal | url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8640.1993.tb00310.x | doi=10.1111/j.1467-8640.1993.tb00310.x | title=Hybrid Algorithms for the Constraint Satisfaction Problem | date=1993 | last1=Prosser | first1=Patrick | journal=Computational Intelligence | volume=9 | issue=3 | pages=268–299 }} describing this has been widely cited.[https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=prosser+constraint&btnG=Search Google Scholar search]

Other areas of constraint programming he has researched include the identification of hard problems{{cite journal | url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0004-3702%2895%2900048-8 | doi=10.1016/0004-3702(95)00048-8 | title=An empirical study of phase transitions in binary constraint satisfaction problems | date=1996 | last1=Prosser | first1=Patrick | journal=Artificial Intelligence | volume=81 | issue=1–2 | pages=81–109 }}

and techniques for solving vehicle routing problems.{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1009621410177 | doi=10.1023/A:1009621410177 | date=2000 | last1=Backer | first1=Bruno De | last2=Furnon | first2=Vincent | last3=Shaw | first3=Paul | last4=Kilby | first4=Philip | last5=Prosser | first5=Patrick | title=Solving Vehicle Routing Problems Using Constraint Programming and Metaheuristics | journal=Journal of Heuristics | volume=6 | issue=4 | pages=501–523 | s2cid=15296616 }} His interest in applications of constraint programming has included (for example) how it can be used in computing species trees.[http://www.jair.org/papers/paper2580.html N. C. A. Moore and P. Prosser (2008) "The Ultrametric Constraint and its Application to Phylogenetics", JAIR, Volume 32, pages 901-938]

Amongst his recreations is kite flying as a founder of the [http://www.kcos.org/ Kite Club of Scotland]. He has written about the Tetrahedral kite.[http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~pat/tet.ps The tetrahedral principle in kite design, revisited, Patrick Prosser, 1996].