Background

Academic: As Professor of Computer Science at BU, my academic research centers on data-analytic and algorithmic challenges in two disciplines: the science of computer networking (e.g., transport protocols, network architecture) and the empirical study of Internet platforms (such as Airbnb, Groupon, and Yelp).

Entrepreneurial: As founding Chief Scientist at the Cogo Labs technology incubator (founded in 2005), I help research and design our own technology platform: we provide proprietary methods for online advertising, algorithmic marketing, and data science analytics that help power our incubated portfolio companies from inception to profitability and beyond.

In the News

• 7/13/17: Excited to be a member of the inaugural class of Boston University Data Science Fellows. See this Q&A on my perspective.
  
  
• 7/13/17: Harshal presented our work on "app of the day" Appstore promotions at the Platform Strategy Research Symposium here at BU.
  
  
• 4/20/17: Our forthcoming EdX course, Business Analytics for Data-Driven Decision Making (part of BU Questrom's MicroMasters in Digital Innovation), was featured in today's Daily Free Press.
  
  
• 3/5/17: Presented our work on "app of the day" Appstore promotions at the 2017 Winter Conference on Business Analytics.
  
  
• 1/27/17: Had a great time chairing a panel of industry experts at Boston University Data Science Day!
  
  
• 1/25/17: Presented at the TYPES panel at CPDP 2017, Brussels. CPDP = Computers, Privacy and Data Protection.
  
  

Research and Affiliations

I'm a Computer Science Professor and a Data Science Fellow at BU. I'm a member of the Networks Research group and the DBLab at BU, both of which hold open weekly talk series. Please join us! I also hold appointments as Fellow at the Hariri Institute and an adjunct appointment in the Department of Marketing in BU Questrom.

My academic research is currently supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Hariri Institute at Boston University, and by a Google Faculty Research Award.

At Cogo Labs, I've been working on a fascinating problem domain since the company's founding: the algorithmic, data management, and systems-building challenges that arise on the buy side of pay-per-click advertising, a canonical Big Data optimization problem. A great example of a successful launch from Cogo Labs using this technology is EverQuote, the Cambridge-based auto insurance marketplace.

I've also collected a few useful pointers to helpful advice for prospective or current graduate students.

Teaching

• CS 131 - Combinatoric Structures (Fall '17), co-taught with Babis Tsourakakis.
• CS 330 - Intro to Algorithms (Spring '17), co-taught with Dora Erdos.
• CS 591 - Networks and Markets: Theory and Applications (Fall '16)
• CS 112 - Intro to Data Structures (Spring '12)
• CS 455/655 - Computer Networks (Fall '10)
• CS 559 - Algorithmic Aspects of Computer Networks (Spring '10)
• CS 591 - Electronic Commerce (Fall '15)
• CS 697 - Computer Science Graduate Initiation Course (Spring '10)