Acknowledgments

There is no question that this section will be incomplete; there are so many people who have made contributions to this book. Perhaps we should simply follow the format of the rest of this book and go somewhat chronologically. Thus, we start with the man who first introduced us to the field of computational intelligence, David E. Goldberg. Dr. Goldberg was Chuck Karr’s dissertation advisor at The University of Alabama, and arguably the leading figure in the field of genetic algorithms. His course provided Chuck with an excellent overview of genetic algorithms. Dr. Goldberg patiently (and sometimes painfully) guided and prodded him through various applications of genetic algorithms, and taught him how to pay attention to the details necessary to conduct quality research. For this, and much more, Chuck is in this gentleman’s debt.

Next, we owe a great deal to many people at the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Our supervisor, Bernard Scheiner, was infinitely patient when we would go off course and start working on “hair-brained” ideas. To his credit, when it was time to quit wasting time, he told us. Furthermore, on those few occasions when we were right and he was wrong, he admitted that “even a blind hog occasionally finds an acorn.” Most importantly, this gentleman has served as a tremendous resource. He has over 30 years experience in the minerals industry and knows virtually everyone who is anyone in the field. Thanks Bernie; thanks a bunch.

Additionally, we need to thank two Bureau of Mines employees from the Washington, DC office: Bob Kaplan and Fred Schottman. Bob was head of the Minerals and Materials Science Division in the Bureau. Although it often appeared that we had led the research group “way out in left field,” Bob stuck with us. Fred was head of the program under which this work was done. He had to answer to Bob, and often bought us valuable time.

So much for the people above us, now for the people on the front line. There is no question that thanks need to go to our co-workers and former and current students. We will not try to kid you: these are the folks who have done all of the work, we pretty much just “wrote it up.” Since this book represents their contribution, we will simply try to list their names: Sandra Bodle, Charlie Burroughs, Barry Cole, Brod Davis, Cindy Dunn, Jen-Ho Fang, John Fleming, Mike Freeman, Ed Gentry, Tony Harper, Jeffrey Harris, Cy Jordan, Willie Larry, Don Meredith, Pat Moore, Kevin Mosley, Chad Phillips, Sandeep Sharma, Patricia Vann, Barry Weck, Mike Wrenn, and Dorian Yeager. We sure hope we did not leave anyone out, but we probably did.

In conclusion, let us just say that we, and we alone, are responsible for any errors or oversights in this book. We are sure there are mistakes, and for that we are truly sorry. In summation, the people we mentioned above are responsible for what is right with this book, while we contributed all that is wrong.

Dedication

During my life there have been so many people who have contributed to making me the man that I am. However, there is one person in particular who, like the Lord, has always been behind me, supporting me with all that she is. Oftentimes, because of my personal shortcomings, I have neglected to give her the acclaim and attention she deserves. I know that this does not make up for all the times that I have slighted her, neglected to thank her, and disappointed her; no matter, I dedicate this book to my mother, Betty Karr. I love you.