NICHOLAS J. A. HARVEY University of British Columbia
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NICHOLAS J. A. HARVEY University of British Columbia DATE: July 2, 2020 1. SURNAME: Harvey FIRST NAME: Nicholas MIDDLE NAMES: James Alexander CITIZENSHIP: Canada and United Kingdom 2. DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL: Computer Science 3. FACULTY: Science 4. PRESENT RANK: Professor SINCE: July 1, 2020 5. POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION (a) Degrees University Degree Subject Area Date Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D. Computer Science 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology M.Sc. Computer Science 2005 University of Waterloo B.Math. Combinatorics & Optimization and Computer Science 2000 Title of Ph.D. Dissertation: Matchings, Matroids and Submodular Functions Name of Supervisor: Michel X. Goemans (Dept. of Mathematics) 6. EMPLOYMENT RECORD: (a) Prior to coming to UBC Employer Position Location Dates University of Waterloo, Dept. of Assistant Professor Waterloo, ON July 2009 - May 2011 Combinatorics & Optimization Microsoft Research Postdoctoral Researcher Cambridge, MA July 2008 - June 2009 Microsoft Research Intern Redmond, WA May 2006 - August 2006 Microsoft Research Software Design Engineer Redmond, WA May 2002 - August 2003 Microsoft Corporation Software Design Engineer Redmond, WA March 2000 - Feb 2002 Digital Electronics Corp. Undergraduate Intern Osaka, Japan June 1998 - April 1999 Paradigm Development Corp. Undergraduate Intern Vancouver, BC January 1997 - April 1997 University of British Columbia, E-GEMS Undergraduate Intern Vancouver, BC January 1996 - April 1996 Research Group 1 Nicholas J. A. Harvey Page 2 (b) At UBC Rank or Title Date Professor July 1, 2020 - present Canada Research Chair in Algorithm Design (Tier 2, 5 year renewal) April 1, 2017 - March 31, 2022 Associate Professor July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2020 Canada Research Chair in Algorithm Design (Tier 2, 5 year appointment) April 1, 2012 - March 31, 2017 Assistant Professor June 1, 2011 - June 30, 2015 7. TEACHING (a) Areas of special interest and accomplishments Computer science is a fast-paced field, and the course curricula need to be revised regularly to keep up with recent developments. My particular interests include algorithms, complexity, opti- mization, and connecting theory to applied areas such as machine learning. (b) Courses Taught at UBC Session Course Number Title Scheduled Hours Class Size 2019WT2 CPSC 320 Intermediate Algorithm Design and Analysis 6/week 341 (two sections) 2018WT2 CPSC 536J Linear Algebra Problems 3/week 6 2018WT1 CPSC 421/501 Introduction to Theory of Computing 3/week 84 2018WT1 CPSC 531H Machine Learning Theory 3/week 19 2016WT2 CPSC 536N Algorithms That Matter 3/week 22 2016WT1 CPSC 421/501 Introduction to Theory of Computing 3/week 88 2016S CPSC 320 Intermediate Algorithm Analysis and Design 7.5/week 111 2015S CPSC 320 Intermediate Algorithm Analysis and Design 7.5/week 105 2014WT2 CPSC 536N Randomized Algorithms 3/week 19 2014S CPSC 221 Basic Data Structures and Algorithms 7.5/week 120 2013WT2 CPSC 531H Machine Learning Theory 3/week 15 2013WT1 CPSC 421/501 Introduction to Theory of Computing 3/week 44 2012WT2 CPSC 536N Sparse Approximations 3/week 7 2012WT1 CPSC 421/501 Introduction to Theory of Computing 3/week 43 2011WT2 CPSC 536N Randomized Algorithms 3/week 12 (c) Graduate Students Supervised Year Student Name Program Type Start Finish Principal Supervisor Co-supervisor Victor Sanchez Portella Ph.D. 2019 Nicholas Harvey Sikander Randhawa Ph.D. 20191 Nicholas Harvey Yihan (Joey) Zhou M.Sc. 2019 Nicholas Harvey Mark Schmidt Sikander Randhawa M.Sc. Jan. 2018 20191 Nicholas Harvey Alireza Zakeri Hosseinabadi M.Sc. essay 2016 2016 Nicholas Harvey Chris Liaw Ph.D.-track M.Sc. 2015 20201 Nicholas Harvey Rebecca McKnight M.Sc. 2013 2015 Nicholas Harvey Zachary Drudi M.Sc. 2012 2014 Nicholas Harvey Samira Samadi M.Sc. 2012 2014 Nicholas Harvey Wai Shing (Isaac) Fung2 Ph.D. 2009 2011 Nicholas Harvey 1This is an expected date. 2Isaac was my Ph.D. student at the University of Waterloo. He changed his principal supervisor to Jochen Konemann¨ when I moved from Waterloo to UBC. Nicholas J. A. Harvey Page 3 (d) Continuing Education Activities 2015 Distinguished Speaker1, Institut d’Etudes´ Scientifiques de Cargese.` A 4-hour tutorial on low-stretch trees, matrix concentration and graph sparsification. 2015 Summer School Speaker, Summer School on Polyhedral Combinatorics. A 3-hour tutorial titled Approximating Submodular Functions. 2014 Tutorial Speaker, PIMS Summer School on Randomized Techniques for Combinatorial Algorithms. A 5-hour tutorial titled Graph Sparsifiers and Random Matrices. 2010 Tutorial Speaker, University of Waterloo Combinatorics and Optimization Summer School. A 1.5-hour tutorial titled Partitioning sets to decrease the diameter. 1 Also listed under Keynote Speeches at Conferences. (f) Other Supervision Postdoctoral Fellows Supervised at UBC Year Student Name Start Finish Supervisor(s) Abbas Mehrabian June 2015 December 2016 Nicholas Harvey1 1 The first 8 months were co-supervised with Petra Berenbrink at SFU. Undergraduate Students Supervised at UBC Year Student Name Program Type Start Finish Laura Greenstreet Honours Thesis 2019 2020 Emmanuel Sales Honours Thesis 2019 2020 Chris Liaw Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant 2015 2015 Keyulu Xu Work Learn Undergraduate Research Award 2014 2014 1This is an expected date. Student Outcomes and Awards Student Name Outcome Sikander Randhawa Vanier Graduate Fellowship (2020-24) Victor Sanches Portella UBC CS 4-year Fellowship (2019-23) Sikander Randhawa NSERC CGSM (2019-21) Chris Liaw NSERC PGSD (2017-20) Chris Liaw UBC CS 4-year Fellowship (2016-20) Chris Liaw NSERC CGSM (2016-18) Rebecca McKnight Now a software engineer at Amazon in Vancouver. Keyulu Xu Work Learn Undergraduate Research Award. Now a PhD student at MIT. Zachary Drudi Now a software engineer at Google. Samira Samadi Now a PhD student at Georgia Tech. (g) Courses Taught prior to coming to UBC Nicholas J. A. Harvey Page 4 Session Institution Course Number Title Scheduled Hours Class Size Winter 2011 University of Waterloo CO 750 Randomized Algorithms 3/week 8 Fall 2010 University of Waterloo CO 355 Mathematical Optimization 3/week 24 Winter 2010 University of Waterloo CO 351 Network Flow Theory 3/week 20 Fall 2009 University of Waterloo CO 355 Mathematical Optimization 3/week 11 8. SCHOLARLY AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES (a) Areas of special interest and accomplishments My research spans a wide range of topics in algorithm design, from theoretical questions near the boundary of mathematics, to practical innovations that are used in commercial products. Combinatorial Optimization. Goal: analyzing the computational complexity of foundational problems on graphs and other combinatorial objects. Key contributions: the fastest known algo- rithm for non-bipartite matching in dense non-bipartite graphs. Impact: 12 papers [C6, C15, C16, C18, C22, C23, C30, J9, J10, J13, J14, T7]. Machine Learning Theory. Goal: rigorous analysis and algorithm design for problems arising in machine learning. Key contributions: optimal sample complexity bounds for mixtures of Gaussians; optimal convergence for non-smooth gradient descent. Impact: 5 papers [C11, C14, O2, J4, C5, J3, C2, C1]. Applications of Theory to Systems and Networking. Goal: using modern algorithmic ideas to enable novel functionality in computer systems and networks. Key contributions: the first peer-to- peer system to incorporate locality into its structure; the only space-efficient method for estimating miss-ratio curves. Impact: 16 papers [C8, C9, C20, C21, C24, C25, C27, C29, C30, C31, C32, C33, J14, J15, J16, C8, T8, T9], 4 patents [P1, P3, P5, P6]. (b) Research or equivalent grants (indicate under COMP whether grants were obtained competitively (C) or non-competitively (NC)) Agency Title Comp $/Year Year(s) PIs Canada Research Chair Algorithm Design C $10,000 2017-2022 Nicholas Harvey NSERC Discovery Algorithms: Sparsification and C $38,000 2016-2021 Nicholas Harvey Applications PIMS CRG Algorithmic Theory of Networks1 C $40,000 2012-2015 Berenbrink, Ergun, King NSERC Discovery Combinatorial optimization and C $29,000 2009-2015 Nicholas Harvey communication networks Alfred P. Sloan Foundation2 C $25,000 2013-2015 Nicholas Harvey UBC Startup NC $80,000 2011 Nicholas Harvey 1 This funding is for a collaborative research group that spans many universities. Nicholas Harvey is one of 8 co-organizers, to whom no funds are directly allocated. 2 Also listed under Awards for Scholarship. (c) Invited Presentations Invited tutorials are instead listed in Section 7(d), and keynote addresses in Section 8(d). Nicholas J. A. Harvey Page 5 Intl Venue Location Event 2019 CanaDAM Vancouver, BC Session on “Graph Polynomials” University of Washington Seattle, WA Theory Colloquium 2017 UBC Vancouver, BC Math Dept Colloquium 2016 1QBit Vancouver, BC Symposium on Mathematical Programming and Quantum Optimization 2015 UBC Vancouver, BC Probability Seminar UBC Vancouver, BC Discrete Math Seminar Microsoft Research Redmond, WA Theory Seminar University of Washington Seattle, WA Theory Seminar Ecole´ Polytechnique Fed´ erale´ de Lausanne, Theory Seminar Lausanne Switzerland Intl. Symposium on Math. Programming Pittsburgh, PA Session on “The Lovasz´ Local Lemma” McGill Bellairs Research Institute Barbados Workshop on Combinatorial Optimization Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Berkeley, CA Workshop on “Kadison-Singer, Interlacing Polynomials, and Beyond” Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Berkeley, CA Workshop on “Kadison-Singer, Interlacing Polynomials, and Beyond” AMS-MAA Joint