Mohammad Hajiaghayi

Mohammad Hajiaghayi is the Jack and Rita G. Minker Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park, with appointments in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) and as an affiliated Professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. He is also a Research Affiliate at MIT CSAIL and a Permanent Member of DIMACS at Rutgers.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, MIT (2005)
• M.Sc. in Computer Science, University of Waterloo (2001)
• B.Sc. in Computer Engineering, Sharif University of Technology (2000)

Research Interests: Professor Hajiaghayi's work focuses on the design and analysis of algorithms, particularly approximation algorithms, fixed-parameter tractability, and algorithmic game theory. His research extends to combinatorial optimization, network design, computational geometry, and the theoretical foundations of big data and streaming algorithms. He has made significant contributions to bidimensionality theory and hardness of approximation.

Scientific Awards:

• ACM Fellow (2018)
• IEEE Fellow (2020)
• AAAS Fellow (2023)
• EATCS Fellow (2020)
• Guggenheim Fellow (2019)
• Blavatnik National Awards Honoree (2020)
• Washington Academy of Science Distinguished Career Awardee (2023)
• University of Waterloo Alumni Achievement Medal (2022)
• EATCS Nerode Prize (2015)
• ONR Young Investigator Award (2011)

Advising and Grants: He has mentored over 30 PhD and Master's students, many of whom now hold prominent positions in academia and industry. His research is supported by prestigious grants including an NSF CAREER Award, an ONR Young Investigator Award, multiple Google Faculty Research Awards, and funding from Northrop Grumman, AT&T, DARPA, and AFOSR.

Labs and Teams: He co-leads the BigDND (Big Dynamic Network Data) project with Erik Demaine at MIT, focusing on large-scale network data analysis.