Anshumali Shrivastava (Ph.D. ’15, Cornell) is an assistant professor of computer science, electrical and computer engineering and statistics at Rice University. He specializes in creating clever algorithmic strategies that enable faster, more scalable computations for both big data and machine-learning applications. Recently, Shrivastava was recognized as one of Science News Top 10, a prestigious annual list of top young scientists who are on their way to widespread acclaim for tackling the big questions facing science and society.
Shrivastava, who joined Rice in 2015, has repeatedly shown that creative approaches for handling big data can pay huge dividends in terms of time, energy and computational effort. In an analysis of six online social networks presented last month, he and Rice graduate student Chen Luo applied a 20-year-old internet search technique to show that chances of forming online friendships depend mainly on the number rather than the types of groups people join.