Useful Links   

• Resources  for Women Scholars:  I Will Survive        SafeToC        TCS Women          AWM          WinCom          N2Women         IEEE WIE

• Academic Events & Fun:  Gathering 4 Gardner        CS Theory Online Talks        Links to Combinatorial Conferences          My Academic Events

• Research Blogs & More:  PolyTCS        Steiner Ratio and Gilbert-Pollak Conjecture         Beyond Shannon — Tom Odda Jr.’s Note         My X Account

Recent News

• New blog post by Tom Odda Jr. on July 6, 2025: Guided by Ron Graham’s Lighthouse: A New Path to the Steiner Ratio (In memory of Ronald L. Graham (October 31, 1935 – July 6, 2020) 🕯️🕯️🕯️ In time, the link shall be shared. But now, we pause—held in the soft stillness of mourning, where silence speaks the heart. ) 

• New blog post by Tom Odda Jr. on July 2, 2025: Uncovering the Gaps: A Re-examination of the Du–Hwang Proof for the Gilbert–Pollak Conjecture Link

• New blog post by Tom Odda Jr. on June 22, 2025:  Minyi Yue: Rediscovering a Forgotten Pioneer of the Gilbert–Pollak Conjecture (Happy 105th Birthday🎂, Professor Minyi Yue! 🎉🥳🍰🎇🎊🥂) Link

• New blog post by Tom Odda Jr. on June 12, 2025: Minyi Yue vs. Ding-Zhu Du: The Forgotten Chinese Debate on the Gilbert–Pollak Conjecture Link

• New blog post by Tom Odda Jr. on June 9, 2025: The $500 Check and the $1,000 Challenge: Ron Graham’s Changing Stance on the Du–Hwang Proof of the Gilbert–Pollak Conjecture Link

• “Tom Odda” — Ron Graham once joked it was his alias when I first met him. He laughed that it sounded like the Chinese insult “your mother” — a cross-cultural pun he delivered with playful mischief 😉. Now, it’s the perfect alias for me: Tom Odda Jr. to carry the torch and speak the truth on my new blog: Steiner Ratio and the Gilbert–Pollak Conjecture. The story lives on. Link 

• Contributed talk in CombinaTexas 2025: "Don't Roll Your Dice, Algebraize it!" April 12-13, 2025, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas Link

• Our new paper "MIST: An Efficient Approach for Software-Defined Multicast in Wireless Mesh Networks" has been accepted by IEEE PIMRC 2024 (arXiv preprint Link )

• Invited talk in Minisymposium on Algorithmic Algebra and Geometry, the 4th SIAM TX-LA sectional meeting, November 5-7, 2021, UTRGV, South Padre Island, Texas Link

• Invited talk in  Special Session on Graph Theory and Applications, AMS Spring Central Sectional Meeting, April 17-18, 2021 Link 

• Updated: PolyTCS Project Proposal—Is Semidefinite Programming (SDP) Polynomial-Time Solvable? Link 

• New:  A new PolyTCS blog! Link 

Research Works

My Research Profiles

        Google Scholar        DBLP

Recent Research Manuscripts

• Xu, Rupei, Yuming Jiang, and Jason P. Jue. "MIST: An Efficient Approach for Software-Defined Multicast in Wireless Mesh Networks." In 2024 IEEE 35th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), pp. 1-6. IEEE, 2024.  IEEE PIMRC 2024 (arXiv preprint Link )

Thesis 

• Ph.D. Thesis at The University of Texas at Dallas: "Structure,  Complexity and Computation of Next-Generation Networks." 

Supervisor: Professor Yuming Jiang (NTNU) and Professor Jason P. Jue (UTD)

• Master's Thesis at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities: "A Study of Social Networks: An Lp Norm Relaxation Approach. " 

Supervisor: Professor Shuzhong Zhang (UMN)

Academic Services

Project Creator and Website Editor

• The PolyTCS Project Blog  Link 

Conference Co-organizer 

• 14th Annual Graduate Student Combinatorics Conference (GSCC 2018) Link 

• SIAM Conference On Discrete Mathematics (SIAM DM 18 Link) Minisymposium: 

MS22 Theoretical Computer Science as a New Discovery Engine of Discrete Mathematics Link     

Conference Session Chair

• Session Chair of  Supply Chain Optimization I, INFORMS Annual Meeting 2019  Link 

• Session Chair of Telecommunications & Transportation, INFORMS Annual Meeting 2019 Link 

Paper Reviewer 

• Conference: MFCS 2018, FOCS 2019, INFOCOM 2022, ICC 2022, Globecom 2022, INFOCOM 2023, ICC 2023, Globecom 2023

• Journal: Mathematical Programming, European Journal of Operational Research, Frontiers of Computer Science, Theory and Applications of Graphs, Computer Communications

Selected Talks and Poster Presentations

Selected Talks:

• CombinaTexas, April 12-13, 2025, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

• Invited talk in Minisymposium on Algorithmic Algebra and Geometry, the 4th SIAM TX-LA sectional meeting, November 5-7, 2021, UTRGV, South Padre Island, TX

• Invited talk in the AMS Spring Central Sectional Meeting, April 17-18, 2021, Virtual

• Two talks at INFORMS Annual Meeting 2019,  Oct 20-23, 2019, Seattle, WA 

• Erdős Lecture Series, Sep 12-15, 2019, University of Memphis, TN

• 31st Cumberland Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Computing, May 18-19, 2019,  University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL

• 18th CombinaTexas Meeting, March 23-24, 2019, Texas A&M University, TX 

• Theory Lunch Seminar, March 13th, 2019, Microsoft Research Redmond, Seattle, WA 

• Fiftieth Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Computing, March 4-8th, 2019, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL

• INFORMS 2018 Annual Meeting, Nov. 4-7, 2018, Phoenix, AZ

• SIAM Conference on Discrete Mathematics, June 4-8, 2018, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO

• INFORMS Optimization Society Meeting 2018, March 23-25, 2018, University of Denver, Denver, CO

• 14th Workshop on Algorithms and Models for the Web Graph, Jun 15-16, 2017, Fields Institute, Toronto, Canada

• 24th Ontario Combinatorics Workshop, June 10 - 11, 2017, University of Guelph, Canada

• 29th Cumberland Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing, May 20-21, 2017, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 

• Ninth Discrete Geometry and Algebraic Combinatorics Conference, May 1-5, 2017, South Padre Island, TX

• 13th Annual Graduate Student Combinatorics Conference, Apr 7-9, 2017, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

• Great Plains Combinatorics Conference 2016, May 21-22, 2016, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

• MIGHTY LVII (57th MIdwest GrapH TheorY Meeting), Apr 8-9, 2016, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 

• 12th Graduate Student Combinatorics Conference, Apr 1-3, 2016, Clemson University, Clemson, SC

• 28th Cumberland Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing, May 15-17, 2015, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC  

• 11th Graduate Student Combinatorics Conference, March 27-29, 2015, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 

• Mississippi Discrete Mathematics Workshop, Nov 15-16, 2014, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 

• Rocky Mountain Mathematics Consortium Summer School-2014: Stochastic equations for complex systems: Theory and applications,  May 27th - June 6th, 2014, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

• 27th Cumberland Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing, May 16-17, 2014, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

• 15th CombinaTexas Conference, April 19-20, 2014, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 

• 10th Graduate Student Combinatorics Conference, April 4-6, 2014, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 

• Erdős Lecture Series, March 27-29, 2014, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 

• The 10th Workshop on Algorithms and Models for the Web Graph, December 14-15, 2013, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

• 24th International Conference on Game Theory,  July 8 - 12, 2013, Stony Brook, NY

• RMMC 2013 Summer School on Algebraic Graph Theory, Jun 17-28, 2013, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

• 26th Cumberland Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing, May 24-26, 2013, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 

• Summer School on Network Science, May 20-24, 27-31, 2013, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 

• 23rd International Conference on Game Theory, July 15-19, 2012, Stony Brook, NY

Selected Poster Presentations

• STOC 2019 Poster - 51st ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, June 23-26, 2019,  Phoenix, AZ

• EXCILL III: Extremal Combinatorics at Illinois, August 8-10, 2016, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 

• 2013-14 Program on Computational Methods in Social Sciences: Opening Workshop, August 18-22, 2013, Research Triangle Park, NC 

Selected Honors and Awards

• 66 Travel Awards/Supports/Scholarships from IEEE, ACM, SIAM major TCS Conferences (such as FOCS, STOC, SODA), CCC, TCS Women Workshop/TCS for All Workshop, Math Conferences, Optimization Conferences (such as SIAM Conference on Optimization), and Networking Conferences (such as INFOCOM)

• Five-time Medalist Coach (One Second Prize and Four Third Prizes) in the Shandong Province Youth and Children Robotics Competition, China

• Twice Outstanding Organization Award in the Shandong Province Youth and Children Robotics Competition, China

• Advanced Individual Award for Outstanding Organization in the Shandong Province Youth and Children Robotics Competition, China

• Coach of two First-Prize-winning teams in the Rizhao City Youth and Children Science and Technology Innovation Competition, China

• Coach of two Third-Prize-winning teams in the Shandong Province Youth and Children Science and Technology Innovation Competition, China

• Outstanding Model in Scientific and Technological Innovation and Academic Research at Qufu Normal University, China

• Outstanding Prize in the China Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling

• Outstanding Volunteer Tutor at Ankang Family (a Wenchuan Earthquake Orphan Care Center, China)

• Star Volunteer of the Red Cross Society of China

• National Outstanding Volunteer in the “Combat Earthquake and Relief Work” Program of the Red Cross Society of China

• Top Ten Star Student of the School of Operations Research and Management Science, Qufu Normal University, China

• First Prize in the Speech Competition of the School of Operations Research and Management Science, Qufu Normal University, China 

• First Prize in the May Fourth Youth Calligraphy Competition at Qufu Normal University, China

• First Prize in the National Literary Contest, China

• Second Prize in the National Math Contest for High School Students, China

• Second Prize in the National Applied Physics Contest for Middle School Students, China

More 

My hobbies include writing poems📝(published a lot when I was a teenager since age 10), painting👩‍🎨, calligraphy🖌, music🎼, hiking🏃‍♀️, and traveling ✈(I have been to more than 150 cities, although most trips were in a nerdy and simple way just between airports and conference buildings). I worked as the certified coach of the National Youth and Children Robot Competition🤖and the coach of the Math Contest 👩‍💻 of China for years during my part-time when I was an undergraduate student.