UT Algorithms and Computational Theory Group

Research Themes

The algorithms and computational theory (ACT) group focuses on the theoretical foundations of computer science. The current research interests of faculty in the group include algorithm design, complexity theory, parallel and distributed computation, graph theory, randomized computation, computational learning theory, probabilistic methods and combinatorics. A major focus of the group is on the design and analysis of provably efficient algorithms for solving fundamental computational problems, where efficiency can be measured in terms of different resources such as time, space, number of processors, and number of random bits. We also have strong connections to application areas of theoretical CS such as data mining and computational biology.

Faculty

Algorithms and Complexity

Anna Gal (panni"at"cs.utexas.edu) --- Computational complexity, lower bounds, fault tolerant computing, randomness and computation, algorithms, combinatorics.
Adam Klivans (klivans"at"cs.utexas.edu) --- Learning Theory, computational complexity, pseudorandomness, limit theorems.
Greg Plaxton (plaxton"at"cs.utexas.edu) --- Analysis of algorithms and theory of parallel computation.
Vijaya Ramachandran (vlr"at"cs.utexas.edu) --- Algorithm design and analysis, parallel computation, machine models, graph theory, graph algorithms and data structures.
David Zuckerman (diz"at"cs.utexas.edu) --- Randomness and computation, pseudorandomness, complexity theory, coding theory, distributed computing, cryptography.

Cryptography and Security

Brent Waters, cryptography.
Vitaly Shmatikov, security.

Data Mining and Machine Learning

Inderjit Dhillon, machine learning/data mining, numerical linear algebra.
Pradeep Ravikumar, statistics, machine learning.

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Chandra Bajaj, computational biology, visualization.
Bill Press, computational biology.
Tandy Warnow, computational biology, phylogenetics.

Formal Methods

Students

Postdocs

Student Awards

We are proud of the prestigious awards our students have won at major TCS conferences:

Sasha Sherstov, Best Student Paper Award (Machtey Prize) at FOCS 2009.
Sasha Sherstov, Best Student Paper Award at Complexity 2008.
Sasha Sherstov, Best Student Paper Award at Complexity 2007.
Anup Rao, Best Student Paper Award (Danny Lewin Prize) at STOC 2006.
Sasha Sherstov, Best Student Paper Award at COLT 2006.
Vladimir Trifonov, Best Student Paper Award (Danny Lewin Prize) at STOC 2005.
Seth Pettie, Best Student Paper Award at ICALP 2002.
Seth Pettie, Best Paper Award at ICALP 2000.
Pierre Kelsen, Best Student Paper Award at STOC 1992.

Seminar Series

The ACT Seminar usually meets on Fridays at 11, and features research talks, problem solving sessions, and discussion of recent theory research results.

Click here for the ACT seminar calendar.

The `algorithms' Mailing List

The algorithms mailing list is an electronic mailing list on which announcements related to seminars and activities in theoretical computer science in Austin and surrounding areas are posted. If you live in the Austin area you can add yourself to this mailing list by sending an e-mail message to vlr"at"cs.utexas.edu expressing your interest in being added to the algorithms mailing list. You can remove your name from this mailing list at any time by sending a message requesting removal to udb"at"cs.utexas.edu.