Ali Tabatabaee

Ali Tabatabaee

Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science

The University of British Columbia

Biography

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, supervised by Dr. William Evans. My Ph.D. research project focuses on optimization with explorable uncertainty. With a solid background in both the theory and practice of computer science, I am interested in algorithms, blockchains, and machine learning.

Download my curriculum vitae.

Interests
  • Algorithms
  • Blockchains
  • Machine Learning
Education
  • Ph.D. in Computer Science, 2025 (Expected)

    The University of British Columbia

  • M.Sc. in Computer Science, 2021

    The University of British Columbia

  • B.Sc. in Computer Engineering, 2019

    Sharif University of Technology

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
The University of British Columbia
Research Assistant
Sep 2021 – Present Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Research on optimization with explorable uncertainty supervised by Dr. William Evans
 
 
 
 
 
The University of British Columbia
Teaching Assistant
Sep 2019 – Present Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • Intermediate Algorithm Design and Analysis (5 terms)
  • Basic Algorithms and Data Structures (3 terms)
  • Advanced Algorithms Design and Analysis (2 terms)
  • Data Structures and Algorithms for Electrical Engineers (2 terms)
  • Introduction to Theory of Computing (1 term)
 
 
 
 
 
The University of Edinburgh
Research Intern
May 2024 – Jul 2024 Edinburgh, Scotland
Research on spectral clustering for graphs with hierarchical clusters supervised by Dr. He Sun
 
 
 
 
 
Kyoto University
Research Intern
Jul 2023 – Aug 2023 Kyoto, Japan
Research on fast construction of frequency difference consensus trees supervised by Dr. Jesper Jansson
 
 
 
 
 
The University of Zurich
Research Intern
Jun 2022 – Aug 2022 Zurich, Switzerland
Research on Bitcoin consensus without block rewards and centralization in PoS blockchains supervised by Dr. Claudio J. Tessone
 
 
 
 
 
The University of British Columbia
Research Assistant
Sep 2019 – Aug 2021 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Research on transaction relay in privacy-focused blockchains and a novel BFT-based sidechain construction supervised by Dr. Ivan Beschastnikh and Dr. Chen Feng

  • Thesis: Attacking Transaction Relay in MimbleWimble Blockchains
 
 
 
 
 
Aquanow
Research Intern
Sep 2020 – Aug 2021 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Research on transaction relay in privacy-focused blockchains
 
 
 
 
 
Peer Social
Research Intern
May 2020 – Aug 2020 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Research on the scalability of a decentralized social network application
 
 
 
 
 
Sharif University of Technology
Research Assistant
Sep 2017 – Jul 2019 Tehran, Iran

Research on the unit clustering problem in a distributed setting supervised by Dr. Hamid Zarrabi-Zadeh

  • Thesis: Distributed Unit Disk Covering
 
 
 
 
 
Sharif University of Technology
Teaching Assistant
Sep 2016 – Dec 2018 Tehran, Iran
  • Design of Algorithms (3 terms)
  • Discrete Structures (2 terms)
  • Artificial Intelligence (2 terms)
  • Theory of Languages and Automata (2 terms)
 
 
 
 
 
Aalto University
Research Intern
Jun 2018 – Aug 2018 Espoo, Finland
Research on blockchains and development of a decentralized marketplace for the Secure Open Federation for Internet Everywhere (SOFIE) project supervised by Dr. Pekka Nikander
 
 
 
 
 
IT-Orbit Co.
Research Intern
Jul 2017 – Sep 2017 Tehran, Iran
Research on blockchains and cryptocurrencies
 
 
 
 
 
Salam High School
Instructor
Sep 2013 – Jan 2016 Tehran, Iran
  • Design of Algorithms
  • Programming in C++
  • Graph Theory
  • Combinatorics

Honors & Awards

The University of British Columbia
The President’s Academic Excellence Initiative Ph.D. Award
The University of British Columbia
The Faculty of Science Ph.D. Tuition Award
The University of British Columbia
The Special UBC Graduate Scholarship - Blockchain@UBC Graduate Student Award
The University of British Columbia
The International Tuition Award
Iran’s National Elites Foundation
The Grant for Undergraduate Studies
National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents (NODET)
1st Place in the 7th Hellinet Programming Contest
Salamcup
1st Place in the 2nd Salamcup Programming Contest

Presentations

The 16th Latin American Theoretical Informatics Symposium (LATIN)
Minimizing the Size of the Uncertainty Regions for Centers of Moving Entities
The 49th International Conference on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Computer Science (SOFSEM)
Fractional Bamboo Trimming and Distributed Windows Scheduling
The 4th Blockchain Technology Symposium (BTS)
One Bad Apple Spoils the Bunch: Transaction DoS in MimbleWimble Blockchains
The IEEE 4th International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC)
One Bad Apple Spoils the Bunch: Transaction DoS in MimbleWimble Blockchains

Software Projects

Course: Blockchain Software Engineering
World of Tulips
A fully decentralized application that virtualizes a tulip growing community
A decentralized marketplace that enables the trade of different types of assets
Course: Systems Analysis and Design
The Supervisor (Rahnama)
A supervisor simulator system comprising eight subsystems that provide students with recommendations on scheduling, internships, accommodation, etc.

Contact