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 recognition of the significance of this initiative, I was named as one of the Future World Changers at the University of Glasgow.
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, Supercircuits, Core15, ... ).
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.
Short video
Publications
Conference papers
-
An algorithm for Strong Stability in the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Ties
Sofiat Olaosebikan and David Manlove
Accepted for MATCH-UP 2019: the 5th International Workshop on Matching Under Preferences, 2019. -
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] -
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]
In submission
-
Super-stability in the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Ties
Sofiat Olaosebikan and David Manlove
Submitted to Journal of Combinatorial Optimization -
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 ProblemTeaching
- 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, 2019/20)
- Algorithms and Data Structures 2 (2018/19, 2019/20)
- Introductory Programming in Python (2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)
- 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 research presentations
- [upcoming] Invited speaker at the Numerical analysis & scientific computing seminar series, University of Strathclyde, UK. [September 2019]
- Poster presentation (won the third year best poster award) at the SICSA PhD Conference 2019, University of Stirling, UK.
- Paper presentation entitled "An algorithm for Strong Stability in the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Ties" at MATCH-UP 2019 in Ascona, Switzerland. Joint work with David Manlove . [May 2019]
- I gave a talk at SCM 2019 held at the University of Edinburgh, from 25 - 26 April 2019.
- I gave a talk at BCTCS & AlgoUK 2019 held at Durham University, from 15 - 17 April 2019.
- Paper presentation entitled "Super-stability in the Student Project Allocation Problem with Ties" at COCOA 2018 in Atlanta, USA. Joint work with David Manlove . [December 2018]
- I gave a talk at the Operations Research Conference ( OR60 ) held at Lancaster University, UK, from 11 - 13 September 2018.
- Poster presentation at the SICSA PhD Conference 2018, held at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK.
- Paper presentation entitled "An Integer Programming Approach to the Student-Project Allocation Problem with Preferences over Projects" at ISCO 2018 in Marrakech, Morocco. Joint work with David Manlove and Duncan Milne. [April 2018]
- 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 SICSA PhD Conference 2017, University of Dundee, UK.
Selected public engagements
- [upcoming] Invited speaker on the research panel, Standing up for Science workshop, University of Edinburgh, UK. [September 2019]
- 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).
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.
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], (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).
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.