Susan Lander
Doctoral candidate in artificial intelligence (scheduled to graduate this month [August 1992]), University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Are women more interested in conflict resolution than men? Whether or not this is true, Susan Lander is looking at this area from an interesting point of view - one might even say from a woman's perspective.

In her work with multiagent systems, Lander investigates different methods for resolving conflicts, especially those in which agents don't act with hostility. Rather than competing for resources, these agents interact cooperatively. Either all agents win, or they gradually and equitably relax their requirements until they come to an agreement. She has developed systems in two domains: the design of steam condensers, and buy-sell contract negotiation. As an example, an agent negotiating a buy-sell contract in Lander's cooperative system will look for the fairest price, not just the best price from its selfish perspective.

Lander's evolution to become a scientist is unique. She came to the university as a secretary in the Computer Science Department, but knew she wanted to do more. She has been at the university for 14 years in various capacities: first as a secretary and then as a student, earning her BS, MS, and soon to receive her PhD there - along with adopting two children.

Suggestions:

1. Be aware of your priorities. ``Having it all'' is only realistic if you accept that you can't be the ``perfect'' mother, wife, student, and researcher all at the same time. Find the balance that works for you.
2. Universities should extend tenure decisions to give women with families a more reasonable amount of time to produce valuable work.