Kang Zhao

I am currently a 3rd-year Ph.D. candidate at the College of Information Sciences and Technology, The Pennsylvania State University, USA. I also hold an M.S. in Computer Science and a B.E. in Electrical Engineering.

Look forward to meeting you all at Santa Fe!

Personal Website;
Email
I created a Facebook group for CSSS 2010. Join the group and keep in touch after the program!

Research Interests

My research focuses on computational analysis of complex networks, including social, organizational, supply-chain and information networks.

My current research focuses on two areas:

The analysis of multi-dimensional networks. I am interested in the interaction between different dimensions of a network and how one dimension affects another. For example, I used agent-based simulations to study how structural changes to the communication network among humanitarian organizations affects the structure of their collaboration network.

The design of supply chain networks that are resilient against disruptions. I worked on resilience metrics that reflect heterogeneous roles of nodes in a supply chain network. I also developed network models that generate supply chain networks with interesting resilience properties.

Expertise

Agent-based simulation
Network analysis
Optimization
Web programming (PHP, MySQL, …)
Some data mining techniques

What I hope to get out of the CSSS

I hope to improve my understanding of complex systems, especially from a mathematical perspective.

I believe the multi-disciplinary program will bring in diverse research and knowledge from a wide range of areas. Hopefully, we can kick off some exciting collaborative research.

I am also eager to learn from outstanding researchers, and to interact with brilliant fellow students from all over the world.

Possible projects in mind

I am open to projects that involve complex networks or simulations:)

In particular, there are two projects I would like to work on.

I want to study how information diffuses through social or communication networks, especially in web-based social media. Can we build an inter-personal diffusion or influence model using data retrieved from the Web (say Twitter)?

I hope to extend my work on supply chain network resilience. I am interested in exploring the dynamic behaviors of nodes in the network when disruptions happen. I am also thinking about incorporate transportation networks into the study of supply chain network resilience. A transportation network may include different means of transportation, travel distance, cost, etc, and serves as the underlying infrastructure network for a supply chain network.

Hobbies

I love traveling. I have been to 20 states in the US (New Mexico will be the 21st) and 14 countries (excluding China and US).
I enjoy watching sports (football, soccer, basketball,…) and movies. It's so bad games for the World Cup will be aired during the day time...
I also play soccer, badminton and Ping-Pong.