Colloquium - 1/28, 3:00PM, Duncan Hall 1064

Illya V. Hicks

Department of Computational and Applied Mathematics
Rice University

"Discrete Optimization and Social Networks"

Graphs or networks are everywhere and network analysis has garnered significant attention in diverse fields as an effective tool for studying complex natural and engineered systems. Novel network models of data arising from internet analytics, systems biology, social networks, computational finance, and telecommunications have led to many interesting insights. In this talk, we explore discrete optimization techniques for finding cohesive data within these network-based models. The goal is to detect cohesiveness in spite of missing information (linkages). In this regard, we will explore different aspects of cohesiveness and how they are used for different applications. In particular, we will focus in on one particular structure called a k-plex, first utilized for social network analysis.