Randy Calistri-Yeh
Overview
I have been a cellist for over 40 years, and am active in several music groups. I am the principal cellist and founder of the
Synergismus Duo, and I frequently perform
solo recitals. You can see several of my solo and duet recordings on
my YouTube channel. My cello was made by David Burgess, a phenominal luthier in Michigan. My main claim to fame (so far) is that I accompanied Pinchas Zukerman on cello continuo when he performed Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" at Brown University.
I also have a long history in the
computer industry building artificial intelligence personalization systems, with a Ph.D. in computer science.
My research and product areas have included personalization, user modeling, data mining, heuristics, and search engines. My work has been motivated by two core principles: using computers to help improve people's lives, and providing a more satisfying personal computer experience for each individual user.
I am the founder of
Custom Chamber Music, which provides custom arrangements of classical music for any combination of instruments.
Randy Calistri-Yeh: Musician
Founder, arranger, programmer, web designer
(2003-present)
Custom Chamber Music creates custom arrangements of classical music for chamber groups. We also have a large collection of arrangements ready for immediate download.
Solo cellist
(2017-present)
I frequently perform
solo cello recitals. I have a unique repertoire spanning many musical styles, and I am well-known for the interesting and in-depth stories I provide about the music. You can see several of my recordings on my
YouTube channel.
Principal Cellist, founder
(2005-present)
Synergismus is the premier violin-cello duo of southern Connecticut, featuring Millie and Randy Calistri-Yeh. We also perform with our friends in trios and quartets. You can book a concert or request more information
here. We have many recordings on our
YouTube channel.
Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra (CT)
Assistant Principal Cellist, Acting Principal Cellist (2022-present)
Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra (CT)
Cellist (2023-present)
Livingston Symphony Orchestra (NJ)
Principal Cellist (2007-2022)
Mercury Opera Rochester (NY)
Assistant Principal Cellist (2006-2007)
Penfield Symphony Orchestra (NY)
Acting Principal Cellist (2005-2007)
Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra (NY)
Principal Cellist (1996-2005)
Randy Calistri-Yeh: Computer Scientist
Everyday Health
Vice President of Marketing Applications
(2011-2016)
Senior Director of Search Technology
(2009-2011)
Led team of up to 32 people in 3 countries spanning system development, business intelligence (both back-end data and front-end reporting), data & content analysis, machine learning, quality assurance, and project/product management. Selected projects:
- Predictive User Modeling: I led a combined machine learning and data team to build models that predict whether users have a specific medical condition.
- Content Personalization for Health Education: I designed, led, and championed two pilot programs that treat content as medicine. A patient gets a “prescription” to access content specially tailored to their personal health conditions and education levels. Users progress through the material at their own pace, and each user might receive personal topics that others might not have. The system automatically monitors to ensure that the patient is “taking her medicine”. The goal is that as users become more educated about their conditions, their overall health improves.
- Newsletter Personalization: I built a system to optimize and personalize daily electronic newsletters based on users’ registration and behavioral data (design, algorithms, initial implementation, and team management for subsequent implementations). At its peak, the system sent >5 million personalized emails every day.
Ask.com / Ask Jeeves
Senior Director of Context Mining and Content Management
(2008-2009)
Director of Context Mining
(2006-2008)
Responsibilities include search heuristics for billions of webpages and
images, personalization for millions of users, content classification and
quality analysis, vertical search optimization, and tools for user
productivity and back-end analysis. Directed up to 25 people on 3
continents. Mentored other managers, worked closely with other business
units and partner companies. Selected projects:
- www.ask.com (related search with path-based personalization, spell checker, web results with geo-biased personalization, triggering & content for specialized vertical search, major components of ranking)
- www.dictionary.com (related search, crossword solver)
- www.rushmoredrive.com (customized search for black community)
TextWise / Manning & Napier Information Services
Director of Research
(2000-2006)
Head of Advanced Technology
(1998-2000)
Computer Scientist
(1996-1998)
Responsible for all science/research decisions and overall science direction of the company. Provide technical management and leadership for a geographically distributed team of up to 11 scientists, linguists, and analysts. Involved in all aspects of project planning, proposal writing, and customer presentations. Selected projects:
- Semantic Signatures: contextual advertising product places highly relevant ads on any webpage in real time. Principal inventor of the underlying Trainable Semantic Vector technology.
- CINDOR (Conceptual Interlingua for Document Retrieval): cross-language search.
- ContentTailor / ShrinkText: summarization and readable text compression for first-generation wireless devices.
- PatentMiner: the first commercial natural-language data mining systems that search and analyze the full text of millions of patents in real time.
ORA / Odyssey Research Associates
Manager, Artificial Intelligence Group
(1993-1996)
Computer Scientist
(1990-1993)
Project manager and principal investigator of a three-year government contract with Cornell University and the University of Iowa to build an intelligent planning architecture using techniques from planning,
scheduling, machine learning, and distributed computing.
Education
Ph.D. in Computer Science, Brown University, 1990 (advisor: Eugene Charniak).
MS in Computer Science, SUNY Albany, 1987.
BS summa cum laude in Computer Science and Mathematics, SUNY Albany, 1986.
Minors: Music, German, Russian, Statistics.
Additional Information
More information available on my
LinkedIn page.
Author of
numerous published papers and patents.