Title: Assistant Professor of Computer Sciences
Hometown: Athens, Greece
Educational/professional background:
I was a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Microsoft Research New England. I obtained my Master of Science and PhD in Computer Science from MIT. I did my undergraduate studies in Electrical and Computer Engineering at National Technical University of Athens.
How did you get into your field of research?
Even in high school I was excited by puzzles and algorithmic challenges. I would constantly think and try to come up with efficient solutions to these questions. I participated in several National and International Programming Competitions and won several distinctions, which sparked my enthusiasm even further. As an undergraduate student, I worked together with Professor Dimitris Fotakis from NTUA to advance the state of the art in theoretical computer science. We focused on designing algorithms that are robust to strategic manipulations from self-interested individuals. This was my first experience doing research in the interface of computer science and economics, which fascinated me. During my PhD, I continued working on this area, known as algorithmic game theory, which lies in the interface between theoretical computer science and economics.
What attracted you to UW-Madison?
UW-Madison has a great set of faculty that are doing research very close to my research interests. There are people studying the design of auctions and pricing mechanisms, like Shuchi Chawla and Paris Koutris, as well as a lot of other great faculty in data science, machine learning and optimization. In addition, compared to other places where different faculty are working on their own research problems, UW-Madison has a very friendly environment that promotes collaboration. This is apparent by the large number of joint research papers and grant proposals that people are working on. Even though I am just starting, I am already part of different reading groups and research groups such as the Algorithmic Game Theory reading group and the Institute on Foundations of Data Science. I am also writing my first joint research proposal.
What was your first visit to campus like?
I was excited to meet so many great researchers and talk to them in my first visit. But I also loved the city! Madison seems like a great place to be. It is quiet, relaxing and friendly and has everything you could ask for. It is amazing living so close to the beautiful lakes and the great scenery!
What’s one thing you hope students who take a class with you will come away with?
In theoretical computer science, we like studying tough and complex problems and pushing the limits of what is possible. There is great value in breaking down problems and making them as simple as possible. I strongly believe that everything no matter how difficult can be simplified when viewed from the right angle. This is the biggest lesson I want to teach my students. To have faith in their abilities, look for tough and difficult challenges and overcome them by approaching them from different perspectives. The ability to zoom in and out the difficulties and details of a problem is valuable in every aspect in life and I hope they come away with this understanding in hand.
Do you feel your work relates in any way to the Wisconsin Idea? If so, please describe how.
My goal is to study problems that will have impact to the daily lives of the people around us. My research in the interface of economics and computer science aims to understand the principles with which systems should be designed to incorporate human preferences. It is important to design systems that cater to each individual’s needs (are efficient) without putting anyone at a disadvantage (are fair) and cannot be exploited by self-interested parties (are robust to manipulations). Example of such systems include voting systems, school admission systems and systems that match medical transplants to patients. As technology improves, a lot of these decisions are becoming more and more automated and understanding how to design such systems is an absolute necessity.
What’s something interesting about your area of expertise you can share that will make us sound smarter at parties?
Here are is one theorem in theoretical computer science that I really like, called a zero-knowledge proof: Suppose you have the answer to a very hard Sudoku puzzle. There is a way to convince someone that you know the solution without revealing it! This is not specific to Sudoku and works for any puzzle or problem you know the answer to.
Fun fact: USA and Russia have an agreement to destroy nuclear weapons simultaneously and they use zero-knowledge proofs to convince each other that they are truly doing so, while hiding sensitive information such as the technology used in the weapons. It is also used to design cryptocurrency systems such as Z-cash.
Another important application that has not caught up yet is to prove to a website that you know the password without revealing it/typing it. The web would be a lot more secure if people used those instead of complicated passwords such as “ad@I43df9!#” that are easy to steal and hard to remember!
Hobbies/other interests:
I like listening to music and playing the guitar. I also like to make things. As theoretical computer scientist, I am not a very hands-on person, but I am fascinated about the world of digital fabrication. The fact that you can transform ideas to everyday objects through 3D printing/laser cutting and other methodologies amazes me. Thinking about ways to convert these ideas into objects, in a general and principled way, is one of my favorite things to ponder. After all, this is an algorithm design problem and I always enjoy algorithmic challenges.