He received his PhD in Computer Science at the University of Pennsylvania while working on the topic of wiki and open collaboration security, writing over a dozen academic papers relevant to Wikipedia's operations (see his C.V. and website). English Wikipedia was a primary case study in these efforts, motivating much of the community involvement detailed below.
Now, all participation is done on a purely volunteer/unaffiliated basis.
Project Involvement
Of particular interest to Wikipedia, Dr. West has developed several tools:
STiki – A collaborative anti-vandalism/spam GUI tool characterized by machine-learning and prioritized inspection (900k+ reverts!)
WikiAudit – Given an IP range(s), produces an audit report of suspicious users and editing activity
Several other projects are ongoing or in development:
This user fights vandalism using the STiki anti-vandalism tool.
Awards
The vast quantity of barnstars which I have been awarded are in the context of my WP:STiki tool and have been stored in the "awards" section there. However, I have also been individually recognized:
The Signpost Barnstar
For your fantastic Signpost story on the most popular Wikipedia articles, which gathered a staggering 5877 views on the day it was published, please accept this token of my gratitude. Ed[talk][majestic titan] 08:33, 8 February 2013 (UTC)
Hey Andrew! A Big Congratulations on your recent successful adminship! I knew you will be an admin someday and now, here it is and you're an admin now. Congrats again Andrew! ;) Mediran (t • c) 11:35, 28 February 2013 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence
I'd like to thank you for going to great lengths to secure funding for tutorials for the general public, carefully guiding the grant process, being willing to extend help non-stop to those who request it (particularly myself in my recent statistic request), and your recent work as a new administrator. Congratulations, and thank you, again! I hope that the dissertation is going well! Jackson Peebles (talk) 05:46, 4 April 2013 (UTC)
The Brilliant Idea Barnstar
We really need this (in reference to the popular redlinks page) for every Wikipedia ... all these items should have a Wikidata item (with statements) as well :) GerardM (talk) 16:32, 28 November 2013 (UTC)
Some day, some way, in some far away place, Wikipedia will finally acknowledge the debt it owes to the countless tool creators it takes for granted. But it won't be today, so until then I offer this in thanks for all you have done, and hope that, in some glorious, fluffy future time, you will no longer have to do it. Serendipodous 19:33, 1 July 2015 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
I realize that the vast majority of messages you get must be complaints about STiki; so here' something to let you know your mighty contributions to this project are much appreciated, no matter how much criticism you may see on a daily basis. Regards, Vanamonde93 (talk) 05:29, 22 January 2016 (UTC)