HI, I'M SOFIAT OLAOSEBIKAN
I am a computer science PhD student, with background in Pure and Applied Mathematics. My journey from being a major in Mathematics to becoming a researcher in CS is fueled by my passion for problem solving and programming. I am most enthusiastic about combining tools from mathematics and theoretical computer science to come up with solutions to real-world problems.
As much as I enjoy programming, I also derive joy in teaching it, most especially the essential components that embodies programming (computational thinking, problem solving, etc.). So when I am not working on my research, you can find me in the CS undergraduate lab at the Boyd Orr building where I spend time guiding the students as they explore the world of programming.
I am also very passionate about using my skills to help people. In my spare time, I find myself reflecting on how best to inspire and pass on my computing skills to young Africans studying in a STEM related field, with the hope that they can also grow to become creative thinkers. Consequently, they can contribute to pushing Africa forward on the frontiers of science and technology. All of these thoughts and reflections led to PWSAfrica - an initiative focused on empowering scientists in Africa with basic programming skills.
In my spare spare time, I spend some time taking care of my mental health at the University gym. I mostly find myself heading to Powerplay on Level 2 for weighlifting, and when I'm feeling too lazy to think about a workout routine, I join some of the fitness classes (which includes, Kettlebells, FortyFive, Roar, Core15, Box15, ... ).
Research Interests
My research interests lie mainly in the area of Algorithms and Complexity. At present, I am working on the design of efficient algorithms for matching problems, which arise when we seek to match a set of agents to a set of objects (e.g., kidney donors to patients, junior doctors to hospitals, and students to projects). Typically, agents may have ordinal preferences over a subset of objects, and there may be constraints on the number of agents that each object can accommodate. A natural goal is to find an optimal allocation of agents to objects, according to the given preferences and constraints. A practical application of matching problems, where university departments seek to allocate students to dissertation projects, is referred to as the Student-Project Allocation problem (SPA). For my PhD, I am focused on generating new structural and algorithmic results for variants of SPA.
Supervisor: Prof. David Manlove.
Research group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA).
Affiliation: School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow.
My university page is here . My research is funded by a College of Science and Engineering Scholarship, University of Glasgow.
Publications
Super-stability in the Student-Project Allocation Problem with TiesSofiat Olaosebikan and David Manlove
In proceedings of COCOA 2018: the 12th Annual International Conference on Combinatorial Optimization and Applications, volume 11346 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 357 - 371, Springer, 2018. (Selected for Journal of Combinatorial Optimization - a special issue dedicated to COCOA 2018.)
[ Paper | Full version]
An Integer Programming Approach to the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Preferences over Projects
David Manlove, Duncan Milne and Sofiat Olaosebikan
In proceedings of ISCO 2018: the 5th International Symposium on Combinatorial Optimization, volume 10856 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 313 - 325, Springer, 2018
[ Paper | Postprint | Full version]
Student-Project Allocation with Preferences over Projects: Algorithmic and Experimental Results
David Manlove, Duncan Milne and Sofiat Olaosebikan
Submitted to Discrete Applied Mathematics
An algorithm for Strong Stability in the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Ties
Submitted to MATCH-UP 2019
The Structure of Stable Matchings in the Student-Project Allocation Problem
[Work in progress]
Teaching
- Graduate Teaching Assistant at the School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow (since 2016). The following are courses I have been involved in:
- Algorithmics Foundations 2 (2017/18)
- Algorithms and Data Structures 2 (2018/19)
- Introductory Programming in Python (2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19)
- Java Programming 2 (2017/18, 2018/19)
- Object-Oriented Software Engineering 2 (2017/18, 2018/19) - Tutor at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Ghana (2015/16)
Activities
Selected presentations and talks
- [Upcoming] I will be attending BCTCS & AlgoUK 2019 at Durham University, from 15 - 17 April 2019. Title of my talk is yet to be confirmed.
- I attended COCOA 2018 in Atlanta, USA, from 15 - 17 December 2018, where I presented "Super-stability in the Student Project Allocation Problem with Ties", joint work with David Manlove .
- I gave a talk at the Operations Research Conference ( OR60 ) held at Lancaster University, UK, from 11 - 13 September 2018.
- My slides at the Science Slam event. Second runner up (won a prize of £200).
- Poster presentation at the Scottish Informatics & Computer Science Alliance (SICSA PhD Conference 2018), held at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK.
- I attended ISCO 2018 in Marrakech, Morocco, from 9 - 13 April 2018, where I presented "An Integer Programming Approach to the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Preferences over Projects", joint work with David Manlove and Duncan Milne.
- My talk at the British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science ( BCTCS 2018 ), which took place at Royal Holloway, University of London.
- Invited speaker at the African Women in Discrete Mathematics Workshop (organised by Nancy Neudauer and AIMS South Africa) - Muizenberg, South Africa.
- Poster presentation (won the first year best poster award) at the Scottish Informatics & Computer Science Alliance ( SICSA PhD Conference 2017 ), which took place at University of Dundee, UK.
Committees
- Member of the committee organising the SICSA PhD Conference 2019 to be held at the University of Stirling
- Founder and President of the Nigerian Students' Society, University of Glasgow (NSSUofG) [Twitter | Facebook], (2018/19).
- Postgraduate student representative on the British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science (BCTCS) organising committee (2018/19).
- Member of the Postgraduate student committee that organised FICS, to celebrate 60 years of Computing at the University of Glasgow (2017/2018).
Outreach
- Lead at PWSAfrica - an initiative focused on empowering scientists in Africa with the essential programming skills needed to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Proudly supported by the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow.
- STEM Ambassador volunteering for the Science Connects Hub at the University of Glasgow. For my recent activity, I was involved in the Glasgow Science Festival 2018.
Portfolio
Projects
hopcroftkarp 1.2.4: A Python library that finds a maximum matching in bipartite graphs.
Education & Training
- Ph.D. in Computing Science (started 2016). University of Glasgow.
- M.Sc. in Mathematical Sciences (2015). African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Ghana.
- B.Sc. in Mathematics (2012). University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Scholarships & Awards
- 3.5 years Doctoral Research Scholarship, University of Glasgow.
- F.K.A Allotey Meritorious Award - Best Graduating Student (2015). African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, AIMS-Ghana.
- Fully Funded Masters Scholarship (2014). African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, AIMS-Ghana.
- Lagos State Government Scholarship, in recognition of Academic Merit (2012).
- Academic Merit Award (2010 - 2012). Dean's Roll of Honor, Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan.