Laura Poplawski Ma

laurama [at] bbn [dot] com
ljp [at] ccs [dot] neu [dot] edu

I completed my computer science PhD at Northeastern University in August 2009 and am currently employed by the Advanced Networking group at Raytheon BBN Technologies.
Research interests: Algorithmic Game Theory, Online and Approximation Algorithms

Northeastern Advisor: Rajmohan Rajaraman

Publications and Patents

Laura J. Poplawski and Rajmohan Rajaraman. Multicommodity Facility Location under Group Steiner Access Cost . ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA), 2011.
Shiva Kintali, Laura J. Poplawski, Rajmohan Rajaraman, Ravi Sundaram, and Shang-Hua Teng. Reducibility Among Fractional Stability Problems . Extended abstract at IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS) 2009.
Laura J. Poplawski, Rajmohan Rajaraman, Ravi Sundaram, and Shang-Hua Teng. Preference Games and Personalized Equilibria, with Applications to Fractional BGP. arXiv:0812.0598v2 [cs.GT], 2008.
Nikolaos Laoutaris, Laura Poplawski, Rajmohan Rajaraman, Ravi Sundaram, and Shang-Hua Teng. Bounded Budget Connection (BBC) games or How to make friends and influence people, on a budget. ACM SIGACT-SIGOPS Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC) 2008. Full version on arXiv: arXiv:0806.1727v1 [cs.GT].
Aaron Cote, Adam Meyerson, and Laura Poplawski. Randomized K-Server on Hierarchical Binary Trees. ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC) 2008.
Adam Meyerson, Akash Nanavati, and Laura Poplawski. Randomized Online Algorithms for Minimum Metric Bipartite Matching . ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA) 2006.
US Patent 7,194,402 B2 (with IBM Global Services), Method and System for Converting Files to a Specified Markup Language, March 20, 2007.

Presentation Slides

Bounded Budget Connection (BBC) games or How to make friends and influence people, on a budget. Slides from PODC 2008 presentation.
Decentralized Network Design. Slides from thesis proposal presentation, Feb. 4, 2008.

Educational Background

Doctor of Philosophy in computer science from Northeastern University, 2009.
Advisor: Rajmohan Rajaraman
Master of Science in computer science from UCLA, 2006.
Advisor: Adam Meyerson
Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Dartmouth College, 1999.

Graduate Coursework

Gems of Theoretical Computer Science*, Spring 2009, Northeastern University, Prof. Emanuele Viola
Intensive Computer Systems, Spring 2008, Northeastern University, Prof. Mitchell Wand
Algorithmic Power Tools, Winter 2007, Northeastern University, Prof. Rajmohan Rajaraman and Prof. Ravi Sundaram
Principals of Programming Languages, Spring 2007, Northeastern University, Prof. Mitchell Wand
Human Computer Interaction, Fall 2006, Northeastern University, Prof. Timothy Bickmore
Perfect Graphs*, Spring 2006, UCLA, Prof. Majid Sarrafzadeh
Game Theory, Winter 2006, UCLA, Prof. Adam Meyerson
Approximation Algorithms, Fall 2005, UCLA, Prof. Adam Meyerson
Distributed Algorithms, Spring 2005, UCLA, Prof. Eliezer Gafni
Online Algorithms, Winter 2005, UCLA, Prof. Adam Meyerson
Computer Security*, Winter 2005, UCLA, Prof. Peter Reiher
Software Verification, Fall 2004, UCLA, Prof. Rupak Majumdar
Web Information Management, Fall 2004, UCLA, Prof. Junghoo Cho
Topics in Combinatorics, Winter 1999, Dartmouth College, Prof. Kenneth Bogart

(* = not for credit)

Employment History

Network Scientist, Advanced Networking, Raytheon BBN Technologies - research and development in computer networks (Cambridge, MA), 09/09-present
Research Assistant, College of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University - research in approximation algorithms and algorithmic game theory (Boston, MA) 09/06-09/09
Intern in mapping, specialty load balancing, Akamai - designing and analyzing load balancing algorithms (Cambridge, MA) 06/07-05/08
Teaching Assistant, UCLA Computer Science Department - Introductions to Algorithms (Los Angeles, CA) 10/05-6/06
Application architect and developer, IBM Global Services - Boston Center for IBM e-business Innovation (Cambridge, MA) 8/99-7/04
Undergraduate Grader, Dartmouth College Computer Science Department - Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science (Hanover, NH), 1/99-6/99
Undergraduate Grader, Dartmouth College Mathematics Department - Abstract Algebra (Hanover, NH), 9/98-12/98
Computer Programming Teacher and Counselor, ACE Computer Camp (Washington DC), 6/98-7/98
Paralegal, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP (New York, NY), 1/98-3/98

Hobbies and Interests

Duplicate bridge, quilting, piano, skiing, hiking