Johan Ugander

657 Frank H.T. Rhodes Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
jhu5 {at} cornell.edu

About

I am a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Center for Applied Mathematics at Cornell University. My research uses the tools of 'big data' to better understand the structure of social systems, social networks, and human decision making. In doing so, my work examines large-scale computational problems at the intersection of graph theory, probability theory, statistics, optimization, and algorithm design. My advisor is Jon Kleinberg. I currently co-ordinate the meetings of the Networks Journal Club at Cornell. Since the summer of 2010 I have also held an affiliation with the Facebook Data Science team as a continuing graduate research intern.

I use Twitter, and you can find my infrequent tweets here. I recently started to keep a research blog to organize non-publication writing. Posts are expected to be very infrequent, but can be found here.

Press coverage

Publications

In Preparation

Talks

A list of talks I've given, in addition to those implied by the conference proceedings publications above:

Background

During 2008-2009 I studied applied mathematics and statistics at the University of Cambridge, UK, completing Part III of the Mathematical Tripos (CASM). For my Part III essay I was supervised by Frank Kelly. My essay proposed a model for systemic risk in interbank loan networks using mathematical techniques from models of telecommunication networks.

From 2004-2008, I studied Applied Mathematics at Lund University, Sweden, focusing my studies within the Department of Automatic Control. During the spring of 2008 I completed my M.Sc. thesis for Lund as a visiting student at the Department of Control and Dynamical Systems at Caltech, working under Richard Murray. This work studied delays in genetic regulatory networks, and developed a theoretical framework for engineering stability into gene regulation systems using delay.

I began my higher education at Deep Springs College, where I spent two years in the deserts of eastern California and my studies covered a broad range of liberal arts subjects. For more on Deep Springs, I recommend having a look at the wikipedia article.

I have previously done summer work on image segmentation and quantification algorithms in medical imaging, as a software developer for Medviso, a small Swedish start-up. In my younger years, during the summers of 1999-2000 (beginning when I was 14) I also worked as a system adminstrator for Spray Networks, Sweden's then-largest internet portal.

When not doing research, I clear my mind by rock-climbing, mountaineering, and skiing. I have been a member of the American Alpine Club since 2010. The above photo is from the top of Fairview Dome, Yosemite National Park, taken in August 2012.

I am a dual citizen of the United States and Sweden.

Misc

Cornell Coursework