Professor Goldstein's research has generally been in the areas of database management, expert systems, and computer-privacy issues. He has developed a series of models for estimating the impact, financial and otherwise, of altering computerized information systems in order to protect personal privacy. Two books have been published out of this work: The Cost of Privacy and Modelling Privacy Costs. The first of these has also appeared in a Japanese edition.
In the late 1960's, Professor Goldstein was one of the developers of a database management system which is generally considered to be the first complete implementation of the relational data model. Two Ph.D. dissertations, completed under his supervision, led to the development of an expert system that automates much of the database design process. One of these dissertations won a 1986 award for Outstanding Dissertation in Management Information Systems sponsored by the International Centre for Information Technologies.
His current research interests within the database area include techniques for increasing the efficiency of database systems while maintaining the integrity of stored data, and the application of Expert Systems technology to database design. He is also interested in increasing the effectiveness and usability of expert systems, generally, through the incorporation of learning and commonsense reasoning capabilities.
Professor Goldstein has been at U.B.C. since 1974. Prior to that, he worked for the International Business Machines Corporation, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and the Laboratory for Computer Science at M.I.T.