This textbook presents basic knowledge and essential toolsets needed for people who want to step into artificial intelligence (AI). The book is especially suitable for those college students, graduate students, instructors, and IT hobbyists who have an engineering mindset. That is, it serves the idea of getting the job done quickly and neatly with an adequate understanding of why and how. It is designed to allow one to obtain a big picture for both AI and essential AI topics within the shortest amount of time.

Leo Liu’s research interests include poromechanics, multiphysics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and cyber-physical systems. The scope covers both traditional civil engineering applications, such as unsaturated soil mechanics, geohazards, energy geotechnics, and more interdisciplinary innovations, such as intelligent geosystems (for smart cities), system resilience against disaster and weather, and “big data” solutions for intelligent geosystems and transportation systems. His research has many direct applications in infrastructure safety, energy resources, environment protection, and advanced materials.