Shyan Akmal
Computer Science PhD Candidate
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Welcome!
I am a fifth-year PhD candidate studying Theoretical Computer Science at MIT, grateful to be advised by both Virginia Vassilevska Williams and Ryan Williams.
I am interested in fine-grained complexity and algorithm design, and especially enjoy thinking about problems concerning graph algorithms, string algorithms, and applications of algebraic methods in computer science.
Previously, I received a B.S. in Computer Science & Mathematics from Harvey Mudd College. I have been fortunate to have several excellent mentors and, in particular, am indebted to JJP Veerman for introducing me to research, Mohamed Omar for helping foster my interest in combinatorics, Jim Boerkoel for showing me how fascinating computer science research could be, and Ran Libeskind-Hadas for sparking my interest in theoretical computer science.
You can contact me using the email listed here .
Publications
An Enumerative Perspective on Connectivity
Faster Detours in Undirected Graphs
with Virginia Vassilevska Williams, Ryan Williams, and Zixuan Xu
A Local-to-Global Theorem for Congested Shortest Paths
with Nicole Wein
An Efficient Algorithm for All-Pairs Bounded Edge Connectivity
with Ce Jin
arXiv Conference Proceedings Journal Publication
Improved Merlin-Arthur Protocols for Central Problems in Fine-Grained Complexity
with Ce Jin, Lijie Chen, Malvika Raj, and Ryan Williams
ECCC Conference Proceedings Journal Publication
Near-Optimal Quantum Algorithms for String Problems
with Ce Jin
SODA 2022
QIP 2022
Algorithmica 2023
arXiv Conference Proceedings Journal Publication
MAJORITY-3SAT (and Related Problems) in Polynomial Time
with Ryan Williams
arXiv Conference Extended Abstract A Nitter Thread Oxford-Warwick Presentation Slides LIS Natural Computation Presentation UWaterloo Solvers, ML, Logic, & Complexity Presentation FOCS Video
If you enjoyed this paper, you may also enjoy this beautiful sequel work by Till Tantau.
Improved Approximation for Longest Common Subsequence over Small Alphabets
with Virginia Vassilevska Williams
arXiv Conference Proceedings SM Thesis Version Presentation
The main open problem raised by this work was resolved in this paper by Xiaoyu He and Ray Li.
Faster Algorithms for Bounded Tree Edit Distance
with Ce Jin
Quantifying controllability in temporal networks with uncertainty
with Savana Ammons, Maggie Li, Michael Gao, Lindsay Popowski, and Jim Boerkoel
Artificial Intelligence 2020 (Volume 289)
Quantifying Degrees of Controllability in Temporal Networks with Uncertainty
with Savana Ammons, Maggie Li, and Jim Boerkoel
ICAPS 2019 · Runner-Up for Best Student Paper
Conference Proceedings Presentation
On a Convex Set with Nondifferentiable Metric Projection
with Nguyen Mau Nam and J. J. P. Veerman
Recreational Math
During high school I participated in a few math contests, and in undergrad I wrote several problems for the Caltech Harvey Mudd Math Competition and USA Math Talent Search.
Some recreational (non-research) math problems which I particularly enjoyed from this time can be found here.