Srikanta Tirthapura

Academic Bio

I am an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. I graduated with a Ph.D in Computer Science from Brown University in 2002, and got my B.Tech. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 1996. My cv (pdf) has further gory details about my academic activities.

My Ph.D. thesis advisor at Brown U. was Maurice Herlihy, and I also had the good fortune of learning from Philip Klein. As an undergraduate student in IIT Madras, my research advisor was D. Janaki Ram.

Research

I enjoy designing efficient algorithms, and am especially interested in algorithmic problems that arise in distributed computing and databases. A lot of my research has involved the use of randomization in some manner, either as a tool for modeling input, or as a way of making the algorithm more efficient. Currently I am working on:

Algorithms for Processing Massive Data Streams
Distributed Algorithms for Wireless and Sensor Networks
Distributed Data Structures
Gossip Protocols

Publications
Research Funding
Professional Activities

Courses

Spring 08: Cpr E 310: Theoretical Foundations of Computer Engineering
Fall 07: Cpr E 528x: Probabilistic Methods in Computer Engineering
Fall 07: Cpr E 310: Theoretical Foundations of Computer Engineering
Spring 07: Cpr E 185: Introduction to Engineering and Problem Solving
Spring 07: Cpr E 310: Theoretical Foundations of Computer Engineering
Fall 06: Cpr E 426/526: Introduction to Parallel Algorithms and Programming
Spring 06: Cpr E 308: Operating Systems, Principles and Practice
Fall 05: Cpr E 426/526: Introduction to Parallel Algorithms and Programming
Fall 05: Cpr E 594: Probabilistic Methods in Computer Engineering
Spring 05, Cpr E 308: Operating Systems, Principles and Practice
Fall 04 (new course): Cpr E 594: Probabilistic Methods in Computer Engineering
Fall 03, Spring 04: CprE 308: Operating Systems, Principles and Practice
Spring 03 (new course): Algorithms for the Internet
Fall 02: Cpr E 310: Theoretical Foundations of Computer Engineering

Seminars

Spring 05, Fall 04, Fall 03: Distributed Computing Seminar
Fall 04: Wireless and Sensor Networks Seminar

Graduate Students

Zhenhui Shen (Ph.D. completed April 2007)
Thesis Title: Techniques for Building a Scalable and Reliable Publish-Subscribe System
First Employment: Akamai, Boston

Bojian Xu (Project: Processing Asynchronous Data Streams)
Expected graduation Dec 2008
Bibudh Lahiri (Project: Distributed Data Aggregation)
Puvi Pandian (Project: Sensor Networks for Indoor Monitoring)
Gunhwan Kim

Undergraduate Students (research)

Tycho Andersen (Project: Sensor Networks for Indoor Monitoring)
Joseph Sloan (Project: Sensor Aided Distributed Directories)
Currently a Graduate Student in ECE, University of Illinois
Patrick Mooney (Project: Implementation of Data Stream Algorithms

Upcoming and Recent Events I am involved in

PODC 2008, Annual ACM SIGACT-SIGOPS Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing
DCOSS 2008 International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems
ACS/IEEE International Conf. on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA) 2008
ICDCN 2008 , International Conference on Distributed Computing and Networking
PODC 2007 -- Annual ACM SIGACT-SIGOPS Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing
ICPP 2007 -- IEEE International Conference on Parallel Processing
IPDPS 2007 -- IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium
IIT-Kanpur Workshop on Algorithms for Data Streams, Dec 2006

Personal

Sankalp: Resolve for a progressive India, a student organization at Iowa State U.
Warren Senders, a musician and my guru, based in Boston
My sister Gayathri's blog
My home state Karnataka

Contact

Office Coordinates	Mailing Address
Room 3212, Coover Hall Iowa State University Email: snt at iastate dot edu (voice) (515) 294-3546 (fax) (515) 294-3637	2215, Coover Hall Dept. of ECE Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011