Associate Professor Yixin Cao from Hong Kong Polytechnic University was invited to speak at Academic Forum of HUST on the 50th Anniversary for the Construction of Computer Science and Technology Major
On the morning of May 27, Yixin Cao, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, was invited to speak at Academic Forum on the 50th Anniversary for the Construction of Computer Science and Technology Major. He delivered an academic report titled "Enumerating Maximum Induced Subgraphs," introducing computer algorithm theory, graph theory, and his own research results to the faculty and students.
Yixin Cao began by using the historical example of people studying the optimal diet that satisfies human nutritional needs at the lowest cost to explain the necessity of enumerating methods due to the problem of mathematical model building. He pointed out that the solution to optimization problems obtained by mathematical modeling may sometimes be somewhat unreasonable, thus highlighting the importance of enumerating methods. Through examples, he vividly described the operational mechanism and effectiveness of enumerating methods.
Then, Yixin Cao posed a question to the students present regarding the number of maximal acyclic subgraphs in a pentagon graph, which led to the focus of his presentation: retaliation-free paths. He explained the complexity of enumerative algorithms and the problem of maximal induced subgraphs, introducing the history of related research and his personal research achievements. He used tree diagrams and interval graphs to demonstrate step-by-step the process of constructing a solution mapping for retaliation-free paths, allowing students to intuitively see the key role of retaliation-free paths in enumerating maximal induced subgraphs.
The students actively engaged in interactive discussions with Yixin Cao on topics such as interval graphs, research directions in computer theory, and problems encountered in their research involving graph theory algorithms. Cao encouraged the students to have a clear understanding of their research interests, to be passionate and persistent in their research work, especially for those interested in graph theory algorithms and computer theory. He emphasized that interest is the best motivation. Computer algorithm theory plays an extremely important role in computer science.He encouraged students with an interest in this field to persist in their studies and to inject more energy into their research pursuits, thereby contributing to the development of computer science in China.
Dr. Yixin Cao is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is also an Executive Committee Member of the Technical Committee of Theoretical Computer Science of China Computer Federation, as well as a Director of the Mathematical Programming Branch and the Graph Theory and Combinatorics Branch of Operations Research Society of China. His research interests include algorithmic graph theory, fine-grained complexity and algorithm design, combinatorial optimization, and their applications in bioinformatics and social networks. His research is supported by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
