Ph.D. Student
Office: Biosciences West, 246B
E-mail: augustw AT email DOT arizona DOT edu
- Biochemistry / Neuroscience B.S., Marlboro College, 2001
- Computer Science M.S., University of Arizona, 2011
- Genetics Ph.D., University of Arizona, In Progress
Research Summary
My research interests are varied. In general, I am interested in applications of computer science to population genetics, as well as bioinformatics and computational biology in general. I am 5th year PhD student in genetics (despite who is hosting this webpage!), coadvised by
John Kececioglu and
Michael Hammer .
My research spans the boundaries between computer science and genetics, with some of it falling strictly within the bounds of computer science. My research in computer science relates to proximity search in generalized metric spaces. Specifically, my thesis focuses on the K-Nearest Neighbors problem, and the design of efficient and scalable data structure called a dispersion tree that provide good (polylog) average-case search times. My research in genetics focuses on how to use testable hypotheses on properties expecant of selectively neutral genome sequence to find the very few regions of the genome that appear unaffected by the forces of natural selection. While this harkens back to the arguments brought forth with the neutralist-selectionist debate, my work instead focuses on avoiding the confounding effects of selection at linked sites (i.e.., background selection and hitchhiking).
My family and I recently relocated to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I will be completing my thesis this summer, and am currently looking for interesting and challenging post-doc opportunities in the area.
Publications
Full list of publications (NCBI)