Cassandra Marcussen

I am a Ph.D. student in theoretical computer science at Harvard University, advised by Madhu Sudan. In 2022, I graduated from Columbia University, where I double-majored in Mathematics and Computer Science and was advised by Xi Chen.

I am interested in theoretical computer science and probability theory. I like to think about problems related to property testing, error correction, probabilistic network models, and stochastic processes.

My email is cmarcussen-at-g-dot-harvard-dot-edu.

Research

Errors are Robustly Tamed in Cumulative Knowledge Processes [pdf]. COLT 2024.
Anna Brandenberger, Cassandra Marcussen, Elchanan Mossel, Madhu Sudan.

Uniformity Testing over Hypergrids with Subcube Conditioning [pdf]. SODA 2024.
Xi Chen, Cassandra Marcussen.

Uniform scrambles on graphs [pdf]. Australasian Journal of Combinatorics, 2023.
L. Cenek, L. Ferguson, E. Gebre, C. Marcussen, J. Meintjes, R. Morrison, L. Ostermeyer, S. Ramakrishna.

Scramble number and tree-cut decompositions [pdf].
L. Cenek, L. Ferguson, E. Gebre, C. Marcussen, J. Meintjes, R. Morrison, L. Ostermeyer, S. Ramakrishna, B. Weber.

Bounds on higher graph gonality [pdf]. Presented at the Young Mathematicians Conference, 2021.
L. Cenek, L. Ferguson, E. Gebre, C. Marcussen, J. Meintjes, R. Morrison, L. Ostermeyer, S. Ramakrishna.

Data Preparation of the nuMoM2b Dataset [pdf]. Technical report.
A. Goretsky, A. Dmitrienko, I. Tang, N. Lari, O. Kunhardt, R. Rashid Khan, C. Marcussen, A. Catto, D. Mallia, A. Leshchenko, A. Lin, A. Raja, A. Salleb-Aouissi, Itsik Pe'er, R. Wapner, C. Gyamfi-Bannerman. (Non-alphabetical author ordering)

Authors are ordered alphabetically unless otherwise indicated.

Teaching

At Harvard:

• Teaching Fellow for Essential Coding Theory (CS 229r) taught by Madhu Sudan (Fall 2023)

At Columbia, I was a Teaching Assistant for the following courses:

• Advanced Algorithms (COMS 4232) taught by Alexandr Andoni (Spring 2022)
• Introduction to Cryptography (COMS 4261) taught by Tal Malkin (Spring 2022)
• Analysis of Algorithms I (CSOR 4251) taught by Xi Chen (Summer 2021) and Alexandr Andoni (Fall 2021)
• Artificial Intelligence (COMS 4701) taught by Ansaf Salleb-Aouissi (Spring 2021)
• Discrete Mathematics: Combinatorics and Graph Theory (COMS 3203) taught by Ansaf Salleb-Aouissi (Fall 2020)

Other:

• TA for the PCMI Undergraduate Summer School on Quantum Computation (Summer 2023)
• I lectured and served as a TA for the Undergraduate Math Society's Introduction to Proofs workshop (Fall 2020, Fall 2021)

Fellowships and Selected Awards

• NDSEG Fellowship (2024)
• NSF GRFP Fellowship (2024, declined in favor of NDSEG)
• Magna cum laude, Columbia College (2022)
• John Jay Scholar – Columbia University Scholars Program (2018 - 2022)
• Verizon App Challenge: Best in Nation (2017)

Seminars and Organizations

• I currently organize TGINF, a theory seminar for graduate students and postdocs at Harvard.
• Columbia Undergraduate Learning Seminar in Theoretical Computer Science: Founder and Leader (Summer 2021 to Spring 2022)
  • Organizer of Analysis of Boolean Functions and Property Testing group (Summer 2021)
  • Organizer of Theorist's Toolkit group (Fall 2021)
  • Organizer of High Dimensional Probability and Applications to CS group (Spring 2022)
• Columbia-Barnard Association for Women in Mathematics: Co-President (2021-2022)
  • Organizer of Simple Random Walks reading group (Summer 2020)
  • Organizer of Topology reading group (Summer 2021)

Research and Work Experience

• Senior Thesis: Uniformity Testing over Hypergrids with Subcube Conditioning
  • Advisor: Xi Chen
• Mathematics Researcher at the SMALL REU in Mathematics at Williams College (Summer 2021)
  • Project: Algorithms and Complexity in Chip-Firing Games and Graph Gonality
  • Advisor: Ralph Morrison
• Research Assistant in Artificial Intelligence (January 2020 to August 2021)
  • Project: Running Predictor of Preterm Birth using Machine Learning Techniques
  • Advisor: Ansaf Salleb-Aouissi
• Independent Developer in the Microsoft Research Reinforcement Learning Open Source Fest (Summer 2020)
  • Project: Parallelized Parsing in C++ for Vowpal Wabbit
  • Advisor: Peter Chang (Microsoft Research)
• STEP Software Engineering Intern at Google (Summer 2020)
• AFE Software Engineering Intern at Amazon (Summer 2019)

Axioms

• Axiom 1. Mathematical potential is equally present in different groups, irrespective of geographic, demographic, and economic boundaries.
• Axiom 2. Everyone can have joyful, meaningful, and empowering mathematical experiences.
• Axiom 3. Mathematics is a powerful, malleable tool that can be shaped and used differently by various communities to serve their needs.
• Axiom 4. Every student deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

Music