Sara Ahmadian

Dr. Sara Ahmadian is a Researcher at the University of Waterloo's Department of Combinatorics and Optimization. She completed her Ph.D. in 2017 under the supervision of Prof. Chaitanya Swamy, earning the 2017 University of Waterloo Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies award. Her research focuses on designing efficient algorithms for optimization problems in machine learning and big data analysis, particularly in facility location and clustering. She has held visiting research positions at the University of Alberta, Hausdorff Research Institute for Mathematics, and École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo (2017)
• Master's in Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo (2010)
• Bachelor's in Computer Engineering, Sharif University of Technology (2008)

Research interests include approximation algorithms, online algorithms, and algorithmic game theory applied to clustering and facility location problems. Her work has led to advancements in k-means and k-median problems, with a notable improvement in the fundamental k-means algorithm.

Scientific Awards:

• 2017 University of Waterloo Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies (Ph.D.) designation

Advising and Grants: No specific advising or grant information is provided in the text.

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