Thursday, November 4, 2021
12:00pm-1:00pm
*ONLINE*
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Registration: Link (Zoom link will be provided after the registration form is submitted)
Professor Illya Hicks – Rice University
Discrete Optimization Techniques for Network and Data Analysis
Abstract:
Data is everywhere and data analysis has garnered significant attention in diverse fields as an effective tool for studying complex, natural and engineered systems. One way to model data is through graphs or networks. Novel network models of data arising from internet analytics, systems biology, social networks, computational finance, and telecommunications have led to many interesting insights. Another lesser known way to model data is through matroids. In this talk, we explore discrete optimization techniques for network and matroid based models. In particular, we will focus on finding cohesive data within network-based models. The goal is to detect cohesiveness in spite of missing information (linkages). We will also focus on secure message passaging of data via the strong rainbow connection problem. Finally, we will focus on a particular problem related to recommender systems from both a network and matroidal point of view.
Bio:
Illya V. Hicks is the professor and chair of the Computational and Applied Mathematics Department at Rice University. He received a BS in mathematics (1995) from Texas State University and both a MA and PhD in Computational and Applied Mathematics (2000) from Rice University. Illya was as faculty member in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Texas A&M University (2000-2006) and has also served as the faculty advisor to the president of Rice University (2016-2019).
In terms of research, his interests are in combinatorial optimization, graph theory, and integer programming with applications in big data, imaging, social networks, and logistics. Illya is the recipient of the 2005 Optimization Prize for Young Researchers from the Optimization Society of INFORMS and the 2010 Forum Moving Spirit Award from INFORMS for his work with the Minority Issues Forum of INFORMS. Illya was also named an INFORMS Fellow in 2020.
