Olivia Simpson - Computer Science and Engineering

Olivia Simpson
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0404
La Jolla, CA 92093
(917) 951-6102
osimpson@cs.ucsd.edu
http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/osimpson
Research Interests
Mathematical foundations of computer science, probabilistic algorithms, spectral graph theory, partitioning
and clustering of large-scale networks, learning algorithms.
Education
University of California, San Diego
PhD student, Computer Science
Advised by Dr. Fan Chung Graham, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
University of California, San Diego
March 2014
MS, Computer Science
Thesis Title: Fast Linear Solvers for Laplacian Systems
Advised by Dr. Fan Chung Graham, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
May 2009
BS, Mathematics
Major Specic GPA: 3.85/4.0; Cumulative GPA: 3.856/4.0
Honors with Greatest Distinction
Thesis Title: Hyperelliptic Curves and the Density of Primes
summa cum laude,
Budapest Semesters in Mathematics
Spring 2008
Semester of intensive study in combinatorics, number theory, and other areas of mathematics
Relevant Course Work:
Geometric Algorithms, Algorithm Design and Analysis, Probabilistic Combinatorics and Algorithms, Numerical
Linear Algebra, Probabilistic Reasoning and Learning, Advanced Compiler Design, Programming Languages,
Complexity and Computability Theory, Topology
Research Experience
Assistantships and Internships
Graduate Research Assistantship
Fall 2011-present
University of California, San Diego
Investigation of problems concerning optimization of graph algorithms over large data using spectral
graph theory and probabilistic methods.
Advisor: Fan Chung Graham, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, UCSD
Technical Intern
Summer 2014
Sandia National Labs, Livermore
Developed large-scale graph algorithms.
Mentor: C. Seshadhri, Principal Member of Technical Sta
Relations Among Notions for Encryption Schemes
University of California, San Diego
Explored the role of CCA1-security in notions of security.
Joint work with Sarah Meiklejohn
Summer 2012
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Summer 2008 - May 2009
Capstone Experience Project
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) project in arithmetic geometry extended
to undergraduate thesis work
Determined the density of a class of primes over hyperelliptic curves
Advisor: Tom Weston, Associate Professor, Dept. Mathematics and Statistics, UMass Amherst
Summer 2007
Algorithmic Combinatorics on Words
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
NSF-funded REU project in computation theory and algorithms
Analyzed properties of border correlations of partial words
Advisor: Francine Blanchet-Sadri, Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, UNCG
Publications
Fan Chung and Olivia Simpson, \Solving Local Linear Systems with Boundary Conditions Using
Heat Kernel Pagerank" (accepted to Internet Mathematics ).
Fan Chung and Olivia Simpson, \Computing Heat Kernel Pagerank and a Local Clustering
Algorithm" (accepted to IWOCA 2014 ).
Fan Chung and Olivia Simpson, \Solving Linear Systems With Boundary Conditions Using Heat
Kernel Pagerank" Algorithms and Models for the Web Graph, 2013, pp 203{219.
F. Blanchet-Sadri, E. Clader and O. Simpson, \Border Correlations of Partial Words." Theory of
Vol. 47, 2010, pp 179{195.
Computing Systems,
Talks
\Computing Heat Kernel Pagerank and a Local Clustering Algorithm" International Workshop on
Presenting author. October 15, 2014, Duluth, MN.
Combinatorial Algorithms (IWOCA),
\A Streaming Algorithm for Estimating Graph Degree Distribution" Sandia National Labs Technical
Seminar. September 18, 2014, Sandia National Labs, Livermore, CA.
\Heat Kernel Pagerank as a Linear Solver and Applications to Consensus Problems" Workshop on
Electrical Flows, Graph Laplacians, and Algorithms: Spectral Graph Theory and Beyond, Invited
speaker. April 8, 2014, ICERM, Brown University.
\Solving Linear Systems with Boundary Conditions Using Heat Kernel Pagerank"
INFORMS Optimization Society Conference,
Invited speaker. March 8, 2014, Rice University.
Workshop on Algorithms and Models for the Web Graph (WAW),
15, 2013, Harvard University.
Presenting author. December
\Fast Linear Solvers for Laplacian Systems" UCSD Research Exam, November 8, 2013, UCSD.
Teaching Experience
Departmental head TA for the 2014-2015 academic year.
The College Classroom
participant, Fall 2014.
Olivia Simpson
3
Teaching Assistant
CSE 101: Design and Analysis of Algorithms
Instructor: Daniel M. Kane
Fall 2014
CSE 101: Algorithms
Instructor: Sanjoy Dasgupta
CSE 202: Algorithm Design and Analysis (Graduate course)
Instructor: Fan Chung Graham
CSE 105: Introduction to the Theory of Computation
Instructor: Daniele Micciancio
Spring 2014
Fall 2013
CSE 101: Algorithms
Instructor: Sanjoy Dasgupta
Winter 2015
CSE 105: Automata and Computability Theory
Spring 2013
Fall 2012
Instructor: Hovav Shacham
Industry Experience
Summer 2013
AppNeta
Software Engineer
Designed a graph processor for application performance tracing, enhanced the functionality and
performance of web application tracer with advanced graph algorithms
Implemented a frequent subgraph mining algorithm for graph databases
Projects
LinKaGe Lab for Research in Kinematics and Geometry
Smith College
Summer 2010
Parsed XML input graph representations to output interactive graphics using the Java JGraph and
JGraphT libraries.
Supervised by Ileana Streinu, Charles N. Clark Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics, Smith
College
Last updated: February 10, 2015