Recent Publications

2025

• Depth-Adaptive Graph Neural Networks via Learnable Bakry-Emery Curvature

Asela Hevapathige, Ahad N. Zehmakan, and Qing Wang

The 31st ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD-25), 2025. (CORE A*)

• Inter-Domain Routing with Extensible Criteria

S. Tabaeiaghdaei, J. Bommel, M. Wyss, J. Sobrinho, G. Barbiero, G. Giuliari, Ahad N. Zehmakan, and A. Perrig.

The 39th ACM Conference on Applications, Technologies, Architectures, and Protocols for Computer Communication (SIGCOMM-25), 2025. (CORE A*)

• Viral Marketing and Convergence Properties in Generalised Voter Model

Abhiram Manohara and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 34th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-25), 2025. (CORE A*)

• A First Principles Approach to Trust-Based Recommendation Systems in Social Networks

Paras Stefanopoulos, Sourin Chatterjee, and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

Online Social Networks and Media (OSNEM), 2025. (SJR Q1)

• Efficient Algorithms for Minimizing the Kirchhoff Index via Adding Edges  

Xiaotian Zhou, Ahad N. Zehmakan, and Zhongzhi Zhang.

IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE), 2025. (SJR Q1)

• Opinion Diffusion in Graphs: An Adversarial Approach  

Ahad N. Zehmakan.

Theoretical Computer Science (TCS), 2025. (SJR Q2)

• More Efficient Sybil Detection Mechanisms Leveraging Resistance of Users to Attack Requests

Ali Safarpoor Dehkordi and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 24th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems  (AAMAS-25), 2025. (CORE A*)

• DeepSN: A Sheaf Neural Framework for Influence Maximization

Asela Hevapathige, Qing Wang and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 39th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-25), 2025. (CORE A*)

• Do Stubborn Users Always Cause More Polarization and Disagreement? A Mathematical Study

Mohammad Shirzadi and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 18th ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (WSDM-25), 2025. (CORE A)

2024

• Spectral Cluster Supertree: Fast and Statistically Robust Merging of Rooted Phylogenetic Trees

Robert McArthur, Ahad N. Zehmakan, Michael Charleston, Yu Lin, and Gavin Huttley.

Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 2024. (SJR Q1)

• The Impact of External Sources on the Friedkin--Johnsen Model

Carlotte Out, Sijing Tu, Stefan Neumann, and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM-24), 2024. (CORE A)

• Fast Query of Biharmonic Distance in Networks

Changan Liu, Ahad N. Zehmakan, and Zhongzhi Zhang.

The 30th ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD-24), 2024. (CORE A*)

• Majority Opinion Diffusion: When Tie-breaking Rule Matters

Ahad N. Zehmakan.

Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (JAAMAS), 2024. (CORE A)

• Resistance Eccentricity in Graphs: Distribution, Computation and Optimization

Zenan Lu, Xiaotian Zhou, Ahad N. Zehmakan, and Zhongzhi Zhang.

The 40th IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE-24), 2024. (CORE A*)

• Viral Marketing in Social Networks with Competing Products

Ahad N. Zehmakan, Xiaotian Zhou, and Zhongzhi Zhang.

The 23rd International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS-24), 2024. (CORE A*)

• Majority-based Preference Diffusion on Social Networks

Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 23rd International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS-24), 2024. (CORE A*)

2023

• Majority Vote In Social Networks

Charlotte Out and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

Information Sciences, 2023. (SJR Q1)

• A Novel Room-Based Epidemic Model: Quarantine, Testing, and Vaccination Strategies

Sourin Chatterjee, Ahad N. Zehmakan, and Sujay Rastogi.

Chaos, Solitons & Fractals (Chaos), 2023. (SJR Q1)

• Graph-based Generalization of Galam Model: Convergence Time and Influential Nodes

Sining Li and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

Physics, 2023. 

• A Fast Algorithm for Moderating Critical Nodes via Edge Removal 

Changan Liu, Xiaotian Zhou, Ahad N. Zehmakan, and Zhongzhi Zhang.

IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE), 2023. (SJR Q1)

• Effective Vaccination Strategies in Network-based SIR Model

Sourin Chatterjee and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

Chaos, Solitons & Fractals (Chaos), 2023. (SJR Q1)

• Mitigating Misinformation Spreading in Social Networks Via Edge Blocking

Ahad N. Zehmakan and Khushvind Maurya.

The 20-th Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (PRICAI), 2023. (CORE B)

• Minimum Target Sets in Non-Progressive Threshold Models: When Timing Matters

Hossein Solatni, Ahad N. Zehmakan, Attabak B. Hushmandi.

The 26th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI-23), 2023. (CORE A)

• Why Rumors Spread Fast in Social Networks, and How to Stop It

Ahad N. Zehmakan, Charlotte Out, Sajjad Hesamipour Khelejan.

The 32nd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-23), 2023. (CORE A*)

• Random Majority Opinion Diffusion: Stabilization Time, Absorbing States, and Influential Nodes

Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 22nd International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS-23), 2023. (CORE A*)

Nominated for Best Paper Award

Some Selected Older Publications

• On The Oracle Complexity of Higher-order Smooth Non-convex Finite-sum Optimization

Nicolas Emmenegger, Rasmus Kyng, and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 25th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics (AISTATS-22), 2022. (CORE A)

• Majority Vote in Social Networks: Make Random Friends or Be Stubborn to Overpower Elites

Charlotte Out and Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 30th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-21), 2021. (CORE A*)

• Majority Opinion Diffusion in Social Networks: An Adversarial Approach

Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 35th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-21), 2021. (CORE A*)

• Threshold Behavior of Democratic Opinion Dynamics

Bernd Gärtner and Ahad N. Zehmakan. 

Journal of Statistical Physics (JSP), 2020. (SJR Q2)

• On The Spread of Information Through Graphs

Ahad N. Zehmakan. 

PhD Thesis, ETH Zurich, 2020. 

Nominated for ETH Medal

• Rumor spreading: a Trigger for Proliferation or Fading Away

Ahad N. Zehmakan and Serge Galam.

Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science (Chaos), 2020. (SJR Q1)

• Transition Operations Over Plane Trees

Torrie L Nichols, Ahad N. Zehmakan, Alexander Pilz, and Csaba D Tóth.

Discrete Mathematics (DM), 2020. (SJR Q1)

• Two Phase Transitions in Two-way Bootstrap Percolation

Ahad N. Zehmakan.

The 30th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC-19), 2019. (CORE A)

Best Student Paper Award

• Dynamic Monopolies in Two-way Bootstrap Percolation

Clemens Jeger and Ahad N. Zehmakan. 

Discrete Applied Mathematics (DAM), 2019. (SJR Q2)

• Opinion Forming in Erdős-Rényi Random Graph and Expanders

Ahad N. Zehmakan. 

The 29th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC-18), 2018. (CORE A)

Best Student Paper Award

• Majority Model on Random Regular Graphs 

Bernd Gärtner and Ahad N. Zehmakan. 

The 13th Latin American Theoretical INformatics Symposium (LATIN-18), 2018. (CORE B)