CV
On this page you can find a short academic CV.
CURRENT POSITION
I am currently working as a Research Fellow in the Meel group at the School of Computing (SoC) of the National University of Singapore (NUS), where I have been since February 2022. I work on certification & verification, MaxSAT, and propositional model counting (#SAT).
DOCTORATE DEGREE
I did my doctorate research at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) of Leiden University, under supervision of prof. dr. Joost Kok (promotor), prof. dr. Holger Hoos (promotor) and dr. Siegfried Nijssen (co-promotor / daily advisor). During the entire period as a doctorate student, I was also a visiting researcher at the ICTEAM of Université catholique de Louvain, where I spent the first year of my PhD (2017). I worked with prof. dr. Fahiem Bacchus from the Knowledge Representation group at the University of Toronto, while I was a visiting researcher there from June to October of 2019.
The project I was hired on is called PROFIDDS (PRObabilistic Features for Intelligent Declarative Data Science), and was financed by an NWO TOP Grant, awarded to dr. Siegfried Nijssen.
My dissertation, Optimal decision-making under constraints and uncertainty, was accepted in March 2022. I defended it on 13 September 2022 and received my doctorate degree on that day.
PUBLICATIONS
See publications.
EDUCATION
- MSc in Artificial Intelligence, Leiden University, 2016. Cum laude. I did a 42 ECTS research project with the DTAI group of KU Leuven, under the supervision of the developers of ProbLog. The title of the resulting thesis was: Incremental algorithms for solving stochastic constraint optimisation problems with probabilistic logic programming.. Received my degree cum laude (with distinction).
- Pre-master in Computer Science (60 ECTS of Bachelor CS courses), Leiden University, 2014. GPA: 9.2/10 (A+).
- BSc in Physics and Astrophysics, Amsterdam University, 2012.
AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, GRANTS
2023: Travel grant, to visit the Simons Institute at UC Berkeley for a month, in order to attend the Extendend Reunion: Satisfiability. Grant covered travel, accommodation and food for one month.
2021: Outstanding Program Committee Member Award AAAI 2021, which was awarded to the 13 best reviewers. The AAAI-21 Program Committee: “Your efforts were characterised by exceptional care, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness in the reviews and discussions of the papers assigned to you.”
2019: Travel grant from Google to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration in Orlando, Florida.
2019: ICT.OPEN Pitch Prize for the best 3-minute elevator pitch, scored on content, clarity, and charisma. See here and here.
2018: Google’s Women Techmakers Scholars Program (formally known as the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship Program) provides scholarships for students in computing and technology who identify as female, to encourage them to excel in their field, and to become active leaders and role models in computing and technology. I am deeply honoured to be one of the recipients of the scholarship.
2017: The KNVI (Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Informatieprofessionals, or Royal Dutch Association for Information professionals) together with the KHMW (Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen, or Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities) each year awards three master students with a prize for their grades and their thesis. In order to win, your work not only has to be of excellent quality, it also has to be relevant and valuable to society. I received this award for the work I did at KU Leuven, which resulted in my Master thesis. The jury: “Despite the complexity of the material, Anna managed to write a thesis that is very pleasant to read, with clear arguments and explanations. The jury is impressed by the quality of the work and the way in which Anna conducted the research.”
Press releases can be found on the website of Leiden University and the website of KNVI. The full jury report can be downloaded from the website of KHMW. All of these are in Dutch. The thesis itself can be downloaded here.
2017: Travel grant for attending the Constraint Programming Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
2013: The Hugo van Woerden award is a prize that is given to young amateur astronomers that work to promote astronomy with children and youngsters. I received the award for the work I did for the Jongeren Werkgroep voor Sterrenkunde (JWG): a Dutch youth association for astronomy. Specifically, I received the award for the work I did to reinvent our astronomy magazine for children: Universum. The jury: “Anna’s dedication and vigour have permanently elevated Universum to a higher level.”
TEACHING
See teaching.
SERVICE
CO-ORGANISER
- CP 2023 (publicity chair, website chair)
- BNAIC/BENELEARN 2020 (sponsor chair, social chair)
PROGRAM COMMITTEE MEMBER
- NeurIPS 2023
- AAAI 2023
- NeurIPS 2022
- AAAI 2021 (awarded with an Outstanding Reviewer Award)
REVIEWER
SUB-REVIEWER
MISCELLANEOUS
- Member of the Diversity Policy Feedback Group of Leiden University (Oct 2015-Dec 2019).
OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT KNOW ME FROM
- I am featured on a page to promote the first Informatics Ladies Day, organised in November 2017 by VHTO and Leiden University, and again in 2018.
- I am a member of the programme committee of Leiden University’s Studium Generale.
- In 2015 a bunch of awesome fellow students and I organised a scientific field trip to Boston and New York, for study association De Leidsche Flesch.
- In 2014 a different bunch of awesome fellow students and I made a very special yearbook for De Leidsche Flesch. Leiden University’s weekly newspaper De Mare honoured our yearbook with the yearbook-of-the-year award, which consisted of free beer and life-long fame, of course. The theme? Ikea.