Personal Website for Tom Hayden

Last Blog Post - Harambee #hbee Conference 2010 & Social Networks SIMPLEX!

I just returned from Durham, North Carolina where I was at the Harambee 2010 Social Networks for Educators workshop.* I was there wearing two hats: 1) as someone who is qualified to talk about teaching a social networks course (using this text) and  2) as a teacher interested in using social networks to get high school students interested in social networks.** There were about 40 other acad ...

Read the whole Blog and/or post comments | Subscribe to my RSS Feed

Hello!

Hello, this is the personal website for me, Tom Hayden. Technically, I'm Tom Hayden III, hence the domain name. On the right is a picture of me after I won the Stanley Cup (haha! Just kidding). This photo was taken in 2007, after the Detroit Red Wings won the NHL Stanley Cup.

Currently, I am a first year doctoral student in the Computer Science Theory Group at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. My research focuses on the interdisciplinary study of theoretical computer science and applied (or empirical) social science. On the computer science side, I work with discrete mathematics, algorithms, optimization, and graph theory. On the applied side, I work with simulation, data analysis, economics, game theory, and my primary research focus, social networks. I am interested in using techniques in Computer Science to improve research and academic study across many academic disciplines. My adviser at Northwestern is Nicole Immorlica.

In the long run, I am interesting in doing both research and teaching. Particularly, I am interested in teaching discrete mathematics, social networks, and computer science to undergraduates.

I have a Masters of Science in Information from the University of Michigan: School of Information. At SI, I specialized in Incentive-Centered Design (ICD). I describe ICD as the intersection of economic theory, statistical decision making theory and information technology. Before Michigan, I earned a bachelors from the Telecommunications, Information Studies and Media (TISM) program at Michigan State (Go Green!).

Before that, I grew up in Troy, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit. I graduated in 2001 from Troy High School. I've lived all over Southeast Michigan, including Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, East Lansing, Detroit, Grosse Pointe Park and Troy. Now, I reside in Evanston, Illinois.

I worked for six years as a systems administrator and IT manager for Benefit Advisors, Inc, a third-party administrator and software firm in Saint Clair Shores, Michigan. While there, I directed a large-scale software implementation and managed programmers, among other tasks.

My non academic interests include: playing the guitar, curling, simulation video games (Simcity, Transport Tycoon, OOTP Baseball), professional sports, running 5ks, tweeting, live indie rock (in both Chicago and Detroit), and reading.

Old Projects

Technological Diffusion with Compatibility - This is based off of a model presented at one of Umichigan's STIET lectures this year.
New Projects will be posted to the blog.

Stalking Me

If I judged my popularity on the amount of spam I received, I'd be the most popular person in town. Therefore, it must be pretty easy to find me on the Internet. I give up on having any kind of Internet privacy. Here's some help:
Facebook
LibraryThing
Twitter
LinkedIn
Spam Me

Links

My Blog - I finally gave in and created a blog where I can post about whatever I like.

My Professional CV - This site has all of the relevant professional links about me; go here if you're interested in my academics.

Proof of the Day - I created this as an addendum to my blog. I will (try) to post a unique proof everyday. They will be across a variety of disciplines, including computer science, discrete math, and economics.

My Fantasy Football Blog - I don't update this as often as I like. It's about fantasy football and statistics. I try to do a lot of interesting prediction algorithms and stuff on the numbers.

FFSML - Fantasy Football Statistics Mailing List - A not very high volume mailing list for fantasy football stats geeks.

Fun SI Projects

Using Bidding Networks to Search for Exposure in Auctions - Auction 73 Case - This is some work I did in Fall 2008, as a final project for my Networks course at SI. I'm currently trying to see if this is publishable.

Technological Diffusion with Compatibility - This is based off of a model presented at one of Umichigan's STIET lectures this year.