CS Talk
Ishan Agarwal
Host: Holly Rushmeier
Title: An Introduction to Recursion
Abstract:
Recursion is a powerful idea which shows up not only in computer science, but also in other fields. It forms the basis of many interesting structures and problem solving approaches, a few of which we will see in this talk. We will look at how recursion can be used to define functions, mathematical objects and data structures, as well as how it can be a powerful problem solving tool; often allowing us to come up with clear and intelligible solutions to problems that are otherwise hard to attack. You can also expect to see some other fun instances of recursion, which might surprise you!
Bio:
I’m Ishan Agarwal, a final year PhD student at NYU. I have a broad interest in theoretical computer science. The areas I have explored so far include various topics in algorithmic game theory (my thesis work is on stable matchings and more generally matching markets), metric geometry (low distortion lattice embeddings) and computational geometry (colorings of point sets in the plane). Currently I am working on novel variations of the online matching problem.
Perhaps even more so than research, I am very passionate about teaching. I have had the good fortune to have several rewarding teaching experiences at NYU and I am aiming to make the focus of my career going forward.