Rick Valenzano is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Toronto Metropolitan University. He completed his MSc and PhD in Computing Science at the University of Alberta and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto. He has also been an Applied Research Scientist at Element AI where he focused on using AI for financial applications. Rick’s research focuses on understanding different sequential decision-making methods, such as those used in automated planning, heuristic search, reinforcement learning, and game-playing systems. He has made a number of advancements in these areas, including the development of an automated planning system that has twice won the multi-core track of the International Planning Competition.