A recent paperLink opens in a new window published by Dr. Ian MertzLink opens in a new window, a postdoctoral researcher in the Theory and Foundations (FoCS)Link opens in a new window research group and the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and its Applications (DIMAP)Link opens in a new window, has disproved a longstanding conjecture on the limitations of space-bounded computation.

For many years it had been believed that a function, known as Tree Evaluation, would be the key to separating two fundamental classes of problems: those computable quickly (P), and those computable in low space (L). Mertz, along with James CookLink opens in a new window of Toronto, builds on their earlier work to show a low-space algorithm for Tree Evaluation, thus refuting this belief. In particular, their technique has attracted attention for shedding new light on the power of space-bounded computation, suggesting novel approaches to age-old questions in complexity theory. They show that space can be used in surprising ways, with the same memory serving many simultaneous purposes.

The paper, which Mertz will present at the 56th Annual ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC 2024)Link opens in a new window, has been invited to the special issue of SIAM Journal on Computing (SICOMP)Link opens in a new window for the conference. STOC is the main conference of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and one of the two premier venues for theoretical computer science, with only the top results being invited for publication in the special issue.

Mertz has also presented this work at many venues, including the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Columbia University, Oxford University, Warwick (Online Complexity Seminar)Link opens in a new window, McGill University, and others.

We are happy to announce two recent promotions in the department effective from 1 August 2024:

• Dr Amina Asif has been promoted to Assistant Professor
• Dr Andrew Hague has been promoted to Associate Professor

Many congratulations to our colleagues for their achievements!

The University of Warwick will launch a new Computer Science programme with the Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics (NURE) this September. This announcement coincides with the second anniversary of the University of Warwick's official twinning with NURE (29 Mar). The full story is available hereLink opens in a new window.

The DCS hosted CS-ARC on the 22nd of March, with over 70 alumni coming to campus to reminisce and share their stories.

Dr Fanghui Liu was selected as a speaker in AAAI 2024 New Faculty Highlights Program to present his research on machine learning theory as well as theoretical-oriented applications.

The department congratulates all 2022-2023 MSc students graduating in January 2024. Extra congratulations to the winners of the following MSc prizes:

Luisa F. Estrada Plata: Best dissertation in MSc Data Analytics & Best overall performance (MSc Data Analytics)

Aakash Chandnani: Best overall performance (MSc Computer Science)

Yijie Zhu: Best dissertation in MSc Computer Science

Weitong Liao: Best dissertation in MSc Computer Science

We are happy to announce four promotions in the department:

• Dr Charilaos Efthymiou has been promoted to Associate Professor
• Dr Igor Carboni Oliveira has been promoted to Associate Professor
• Dr Hongkai Wen has been promoted to Professor
• Dr Weiren Yu has been promoted to Associate Professor

Many congratulations to our colleagues for all their achievements!

We are happy to announce that Dr Paris Giampouras has joined the Department of Computer Science as an Assistant Professor. Originally from Greece, he has relocated to Warwick from Baltimore, where he spent four years working as a Postdoctoral Fellow and later as a Research Faculty member at the Mathematical Institute for Data Science at Johns Hopkins University. His expertise lies in machine learning theory and its applications in image processing and computer vision. More specifically, his research has focused on exploring parsimonious representations to address various inverse problems and adversarial robustness.

Currently, he is focusing on two main areas: a) leveraging structured representation in Generative AI applications, and b) developing algorithms that enable continual learning of various tasks for deep learning systems. His goal is to contribute to the foundational understanding of AI algorithms, with a focus on robustness, applications of AI in medicine, and climate change.

We welcome him to the department!

We are happy to announce that Dr Fanghui Liu and Dr Debmalya Mandal have joined the Department of Computer Science as Assistant Professors.

Fanghui finished his PhD degree at Institute of Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2019. Then he gained the research experience in Europe as a postdoc researcher, at ESAT-STADIUS, KU Leuven from 2019 to 2021 and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland from 2021 to 2023, respectively. His research interests include machine learning, statistical learning theory as well as applications in trustworthy machine learning systems.

Debmalya completed his Master’s degree in Computer Science and Automation from Indian Institute of Science, and his PhD in Computer Science from Harvard University, where he was also part of the EconCS group. He then gained experience as a postdoctoral researcher at the Data Science Institute of Columbia University, and at the Max Planck Institute of Software Systems. He is broadly interested in the theoretical foundations of AI/ML systems and often incorporate tools from computational social choice, game theory, and machine learning theory in his research. He is currently working on fairness in machine learning, reinforcement learning, and the exciting problem of AI alignment.

We welcome them both to the department!