HI, I'M SOFIAT OLAOSEBIKAN



Photo of 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 recognition of the significance of this initiative, I was named as one of the Future World Changers at the University of Glasgow.


For sports, I enjoy weightlifting - I am a member of the Glasgow University Weightlifting Club. Other workouts I participate in at the University gym include boxing, high-intensity training and pilates.



Videos

Research

My current research 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 results as well as efficient (polynomial-time) algorithms for variants of SPA.


Research interests: Algorithms, Graph Theory, Inapproximability, Integer Programming, Optimisation.

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 .
A copy of my CV can be found here.
My research is funded by a College of Science and Engineering Scholarship, University of Glasgow.

Publications

Conference papers

  1. An algorithm for Strong Stability in the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Ties
    Sofiat Olaosebikan and David Manlove
    Accepted for MATCH-UP 2019 (no proceedings). To appear in proceedings of CALDAM 2020: International Conference on Algorithms and Discrete Applied Mathematics.
    [ Full version ]


  2. Super-stability in the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Ties
    Sofiat 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 ]


  3. 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. (Selected for Discrete Applied Mathematics - a special issue dedicated to ISCO 2018.)
    [ Paper | Postprint | Full version ]


In submission

  1. Super-stability in the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Ties
    Sofiat Olaosebikan and David Manlove
    Submitted to Journal of Combinatorial Optimization


  2. Student-Project Allocation with Preferences over Projects: Algorithmic and Experimental Results
    David Manlove, Duncan Milne and Sofiat Olaosebikan
    Submitted to Discrete Applied Mathematics


Work in progress

The Structure of Stable Matchings in the Student-Project Allocation Problem

Teaching

Activities

Selected research activities


Committees

  • Member of the SICSA PhD Conference 2019 organising committee. I chaired the workshop on "Mental Health and Wellbeing".
  • Founder and President of the Nigerian Students' Society, University of Glasgow (NSSUofG) [Twitter | Facebook], (2017 - 2019).
  • 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

  • Founder and Lead Coordinator at PWSAfrica - an initiative focused on empowering scientists in Africa with computer programming skills. Proudly supported by the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. The first workshop took place in August 2018 at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, while the second workshop took place in August 2019 at the University of Rwanda in Kigali. Since the initiative started, my team and I have trained approximately 200 students and staff from various STEM departments on the fundamentals of Python programming and how it can be used as a tool for scientific computing.
  • STEM Ambassador volunteering for the Science Connects Hub at the University of Glasgow.

Selected public engagements

  • [upcoming] Invited panelist at the Africans in STEM symposium, University of Cambridge. [April 2020].
  • Invited speaker at the event celebrating Ada Lovelace Day, School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow. [8 October 2019].
  • Invited panelist at the Standing up for Science workshop, University of Edinburgh, UK. [20 September 2019]. My talk was centred around the PWSAfrica initiative and why it is important for early career researchers to engage with the public, media and policy makers.
  • Invited speaker at Glasgow Pint of Science Festival, 22 May 2019.
  • Visited Springfield Primary School in Linlithgow on 26 March 2019, alongside my PhD supervisor, to speak to the pupils about Mathematics and Computer Science.
  • My slides at the Science Slam event, which took place in July 2017. Second runner up (won a prize of £200).

Blogs

Portfolio

Projects

hopcroftkarp 1.2.4: A Python library that finds a maximum matching in bipartite graphs.


Education & Training


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.

Contact

Office address (also mailing address):
G161, Sir Alwyn Williams Building,
School of Computing Science,
University of Glasgow,
Glasgow G12 8RZ, UK.

(I share an office with Benjamin Bumpus, Frances Cooper, Michael McKay and Ivaylo Valkov)

Telephone:
+44 (0)141 330 4691

Email:
s.olaosebikan.1(at)research.gla.ac.uk

You can also find me on other websites

Linkedin | Github | Twitter