Education

Activities

Research

Teaching

Honors

Affiliations

Azin Ashkan aashkan [at] uwaterloo [dot] ca

Education   ^

PhD in Computer Science, University of Waterloo. Certificate in University Teaching, Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. MSc. in Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo. BSc. in Computer Engineering, University of Tehran.

Recent Activities   ^

Program Committee Member for SIGIR Conferences 2014-2016 and 2019-2023. Program Committee Member for WSDM Conferences 2015 and 2018-2021. Program Committee Member for WWW Conferences 2011-2017 and TheWebConf 2023. Program Committee Member for KDD Conference 2017-2019. Program Committee Member for RecSys Conference 2017. Program Committee Member for ICWSM Conferences 2014 and 2017 Program Committee Memner for CIKM Conferences 2015 and 2016. Program Committee Member for IJCAI Conference 2016. Demo Program Committee Member for CIKM Conference 2013. Poster Program Committee Member for SIGIR Conferences 2011 and 2012. Associate Chair for the GRAND Conference 2011. Research Intern at Yahoo! Labs in Fall 2010. Reviewer for the Journal of Machine Learning Research (JMLR). Reviewer for the Journal of Information Retrieval. Reviewer for the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST). Reviewer for the Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval. Reviewer for the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence. Member of the Organizing Committee of the First Waterloo Conference on Characteristics, Risks & Management of Natural Hazards (ChaRisMa 2010). Graduate Recruiting Committee Member in the School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo. Women in Computer Sceince Committee Member, University of Waterloo.

Research   ^

Interests: Personalization, data-driven predictive modeling, online learning, relevance feedback, recommender systems, and computational advertising. Publications: A. Ashkan and D. Metzler, Revisiting Online Personal Search Metrics with the User in Mind, In Proceedings of the 42nd ACM International Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval (SIGIR), pp.625-634, July 2019. S. Zong, B. Kveton, S. Berkovsky, A. Ashkan, Z. Wen, Get to the Bottom: Causal Analysis for User Modeling, In Proceedings of the 25th Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP), pp. 256-264, July 2017. W. Trouleau, A. Ashkan, W. Ding, B. Eriksson, Just One More: Modeling Binge Watching Behavior, In Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD), pp. 1215-1224, August 2016. A. Ashkan, B. Kveton, S. Berkovsky, and Z. Wen, Optimal Greedy Diversity for Recommendation, In Proceedings of the 24th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), pp. 1742-1748, July 2015. Z. Wen, B. Kveton, and A. Ashkan, Efficient Learning in Large-Scale Combinatorial Semi-Bandits, In Proceedings of the 32nd International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), pp. 767-776, July 2015. A. Ashkan and C. Clarke, Location- and Query- Aware Modeling of Browsing and Click Behavior in Sponsored Search, ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology (TIST), vol. 5, no. 4, 32 pages, December 2014. A. Ashkan, B. Kveton, S. Berkovsky, and Z. Wen, Diversified Utility Maximization for Recommendations, ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys), Oct. 2014. B. Kveton, Z. Wen, A. Ashkan, H. Eydgahi, and B. Eriksson, Matroid Bandits: Fast Combinatorial Optimization with Learning, In Proceedings of the 30th Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI), July 2014. B. Kveton, Z. Wen, A. Ashkan, and H. Eydgahi, Matroid Bandits: Practical Large-Scale Combinatorial Bandits, In Proceedings of the AAAI Workshop on Sequential Decision Making with Big Data , July 2014. A. Ashkan and C. Clarke, Impact of Query Intent and Search Context on Clickthrough Behavior in Sponsored Search, Knowledge and Information Systems Journal, vol. 34, pp. 425-452, February 2013. A. Ashkan and C. Clarke, Modeling Browsing Behavior for Click Analysis in Sponsored Search, In Proceedings of the 21st ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM), pp. 2015-2019, November 2012. A. Ashkan, J. Whissell, and C. Clarke, Unsupervised Learning of Result Page Context for Clickthrough Analysis in Sponsored Search, In Proceedings of the 5th Annual International Workshop on Data Mining and Audience Intelligence for Advertising (ADKDD), pp. 44-52, August 2011. A. Ashkan and C. Clarke, On the Informativeness of Cascade and Intent-Aware Effectiveness Measures, In Proceedings of the 20th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW), pp. 407-416, March 2011. C. Clarke, N. Craswell, I. Soboroff, and A. Ashkan, A Comparative Analysis of Cascade Measures for Novelty and Diversity, In Proceedings of the 4th ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (WSDM), pp. 75-84, February 2011. A. Ashkan and C. Clarke, Characterizing Commercial Intent, In Proceedings of the 18th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM), pp. 67-76, November 2009. J. Whissell, C. Clarke, and A. Ashkan, Clustering Web Queries, In Proceedings of the 18th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM), pp. 899-908, November 2009. A. Ashkan, C. Clarke, E. Agichtein, and Q. Guo, Estimating Ad Clickthrough Rate through Query Intent Analysis, In Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence (WI), pp. 222-229, September 2009. Q. Guo, E. Agichtein, C. Clarke, and A. Ashkan, In the Mood to Click? Towards Inferring Receptiveness to Search Advertising, In Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence (WI), pp. 319-324, September 2009. A. Ashkan and C. Clarke, Term-Based Commercial Intent Analysis, In Proceedings of the 32nd ACM International Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval (SIGIR), pp. 800-801, July 2009. A. Ashkan, C. Clarke, E. Agichtein, and Q. Guo, Classifying and Characterizing Query Intent, In Proceedings of the 31st European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR), pp. 578-586, April 2009. C. Clarke, M. Kolla, G. Cormack, O. Vechtomova, A. Ashkan, S. Büttcher, and I. MacKinnon, Novelty and Diversity in Information Retrieval Evaluation, In Proceedings of the 31st ACM International Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval (SIGIR), pp. 659-666, July 2008. A. Ashkan, C. Clarke, E. Agichtein, and Q. Guo, Characterizing Query Intent From Sponsored Search Clickthrough Data, In Proceedings of the SIGIR Workshop on Information Retrieval and Advertising, pp. 15-22, July 2008. Q. Guo, E. Agichtein, C. Clarke, and A. Ashkan, Understanding Abandoned Ads: Towards Personalized Commercial Intent Inference via Mouse Movement Analysis, In Proceedings of the SIGIR Workshop on Information Retrieval and Advertising, pp. 27-30, July 2008. A. Ashkan and L. Tahvildari, A Hybrid Analysis Framework to Evaluate Runtime Behavior of OO Systems, In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Program Comprehension through Dynamic Analysis (PCODA), pp. 1-5, October 2006. S. A. Tonu, A. Ashkan, and L. Tahvildari, Evaluating Architectural Stability Using a Metric-Based Approach, In Proceedings of the 10th IEEE European Conference on Software Maintenance and Reengineering (CSMR), pp. 261-270, March 2006. Theses: A. Ashkan, Characterizing User Search Intent and Behavior for Click Analysis in Sponsored Search, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Waterloo, May 2013. A. Ashkan, RUMBA: Runtime Monitoring and Behavioral Analysis Framework for Java Software Systems, Master's Thesis, University of Waterloo, May 2007. A. Ashkan, Design and Implementation of a Web-Based Client/Server Human Resource System using JSP and Java Technology, Bachelor's Thesis, Department of E&CE, University of Tehran, August 2004.

Teaching   ^

Instructor for CS135: Designing Functional Programs, School of CS, University of Waterloo, Winter 2013. Instructional Apprentice for CS135: Designing Functional Programs, School of CS, University of Waterloo, Winter 2010 & Winter 2011. Teaching Assistant for CS860: Advanced Topics in Algorithms and Complexity - Search Engines, from Design to Implementation, School of CS, University of Waterloo, Fall 2009. Teaching Assistant for CS115: Introduction to Computer Science, School of CS, University of Waterloo, Winter & Spring 2009. Teaching Assistant for CS341: Algorithms, School of CS, University of Waterloo, Fall 2007 & Fall 2008. Teaching Assistant for CS134: Principles of Computer Science, School of CS, University of Waterloo, Spring 2007 & Winter 2008. Teaching Assistant for ECE251: Programming Languages and Translators, Department of E&CE, University of Waterloo, Spring 2006. Teaching Assistant for ECE250: Data Structure and Algorithm, Department of E&CE, University of Waterloo, Winter & Fall 2006. Teaching Assistant for ECE456: Database Systems, Department of E&CE, University of Waterloo, Winter 2005. Teaching Assistant for ECE619: Internet Engineering, Department of E&CE, University of Tehran, Winter 2004. Teaching Assistant for ECE149: System Analysis and Design (Software Engineering I), Department of E&CE, University of Tehran, Fall 2003.

Honors   ^

NSERC Industrial R&D Fellowship (IRDF), Canada, 2011. Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship (Finalist), Canada, 2011. David R. Cheriton Scholarship (Type I), University of Waterloo, 2010. NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGSD3), Canada, 2008. President's Graduate Scholarship, University of Waterloo, 2008. David R. Cheriton Scholarship (Type I), University of Waterloo, 2008. Graduate Entrance Scholarship, University of Waterloo, 2007. Faculty of Engineering (FOE) Award, University of Waterloo, 2006. Faculty of Engineering (FOE) Award, University of Waterloo, 2005. Faculty of Engineering (FOE) Award, University of Tehran, 2004.

Last modified: March 2023