Shay Golan

Shay Golan is a Senior Lecturer in the Computer Science department at Ariel University, where he teaches core algorithms and data structures courses. Previously, he held postdoctoral positions at Reichman University, Haifa University (hosted by Shay Mozes and Oren Weimann), and was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley's EECS department (hosted by Jelani Nelson). He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Bar-Ilan University under the supervision of Ely Porat and Tsvi Kopelowitz.

Dr. Golan's primary research focuses on string algorithms with emphasis on streaming, small space, and dynamic settings. His work spans multiple subfields including data structures, graph algorithms, and discrete algorithms. He has made significant contributions to pattern matching, edit distance problems, and string compression techniques, with applications extending to bioinformatics for DNA sequence analysis.

His recent publication trajectory (2022-2026) reveals a strong focus on string algorithmic challenges across multiple dimensions: theoretical complexity analysis (LZ77 compression, string covers), specialized string problems (2D string matching, hairpin structures), graph algorithm applications (planar graph distance oracles), and bioinformatics implementations (DNA minimizers). His work consistently appears in top theoretical computer science venues including STOC, SODA, and CPM, demonstrating both theoretical depth and practical relevance.

• Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley

As an educator, Dr. Golan has consistently taught foundational computer science courses including Algorithms 1, Algorithms 2, Data Structures, and Computability since 2016. His research is supported through collaborations with leading institutions including Reichman University, Haifa University, and UC Berkeley. He maintains active research partnerships with prominent computer scientists including Itai Boneh, Ely Porat, and Tsvi Kopelowitz.

Dr. Golan participates in the broader theoretical computer science community through conference presentations and workshop participation, with recorded talks available for several of his publications. His work bridges theoretical computer science with practical applications, particularly in computational biology and genomic sequence analysis.