Hung Le Selected for 2024 Google Research Scholar Program

Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences Assistant Professor Hung Le was selected for the 2024 Google Research Scholar Program, which aims to support early-career faculty by providing unrestricted gifts of up to $60,000 in support of research efforts at institutions around the world. 

Le was chosen in Google's algorithms and optimization category in support of his work "Algorithmic Foundations of Road Networks," which provides cost-efficient options for delivery services by offering shorter routes for delivery vehicles.  

"The problem with many algorithms used in maps and delivery services is that they do not have any guarantee," says Le. "For example, if you run one of their algorithms to find a route for a vehicle to deliver packages to the customers, it will give you a route of 150 miles long, but you will never know how good the route is; maybe the shortest route is only 80 miles long, 100 miles long, or exactly 150 miles long. We do not know the shortest route since no known algorithm can compute it in a reasonable amount of time." 

His goal is to find a fast algorithm whose output is guaranteed to be very close to an optimal solution. "The point is that you will get a better route if you can wait longer; my algorithm gives you this control," Le explains. By reducing travel time by as little as 1%, he theorizes companies could save millions of dollars per year.  

Le's current research interests include algorithm design, theoretical computer science, combinatorial optimization, graph algorithms, metric embedding, and distributed algorithms. He is particularly interested in understanding the power and limits of structures of graphs in algorithm design. Le joined the CICS faculty in September 2020 and earned his doctorate from Oregon State University.