Hi there! My name is Pachara but some people might know me as Akin. I am a rising fifth-year PhD student in the Theory Group at Princeton University. My advisor is Huacheng Yu . Prior to Princeton, I obtained a B.S. (in Mathematics and in Compute Science) and an M.Eng. (in Computer Science) from MIT where I was advised by Ronitt Rubinfeld .
email: [1stname] ๑ princeton dot edu | office: 35 Olden St #318b CV available upon request
I am looking for postdoctoral positions starting in Fall 2027 or Spring 2028. Please reach out if you believe I will be a good fit!
Research I try to understand various foundations of algorithmic hardness and the interplay between them. This often includes areas such as communication complexity, information theory, as well as their extensions to data structure lower bounds. I also think about algorithms in models of computation with restricted access, e.g., query, communication, and streaming/sketching. Lately, I am intrigued by the complexity of composed functions. Gap-Majority Lemmas in Communication Complexity [ pdf ] Pachara Sawettamalya, Huacheng Yu FOCS 2026 (to appear) On the Communication Complexity of Maximum Matching and Negative-Weight Shortest Paths [ pdf ] Yu Cheng, Tianle Jiang, Pachara Sawettamalya , Huacheng Yu ESA 2026 (to appear) A (Very) Nearly Optimal Sketch for k-Edge Connectivity Certificates [ pdf ] Pachara Sawettamalya , Huacheng Yu SOSA 2026 Minimum s-t Cuts with Fewer Cut Queries [ pdf ] [ talk@Brown ] Yonggang Jiang, Danupon Nanongkai , Pachara Sawettamalya SODA 2026 Strong XOR Lemma for Information Complexity [ pdf ] [ video ] Pachara Sawettamalya, Huacheng Yu STOC 2025 Near-Optimal Relative Error Streaming Quantile Estimation via Elastic Compactors [ pdf ] Elena Gribelyuk, Pachara Sawettamalya, Hongxun Wu, Huacheng Yu SODA 2025 Simple & Optimal Quantile Sketch: Combining Greenwald-Khanna with Khanna-Greenwald [ pdf ] Elena Gribelyuk, Pachara Sawettamalya, Hongxun Wu, Huacheng Yu PODS 2024 Fast Algorithms for Bounded-Range LIS Approximation [ pdf ] Pachara Sawettamalya Master Thesis 2022
Teaching At Princeton, I have been a TA for the following courses. COS 423 : Theory of Algorithms (Spring '26) COS 445 : Economics and Computation (Spring '24) COS 521 : Advanced Algorithms Design (Fall '23) At MIT, I was a TA/course staff for 6.045 ( Computability and Complexity Theory); 6.046 (Design and Analysis of Algorithms); 18.061 (Linear Algebra and Optimizations) ; 18.600 (Probability and Random Variables); 18.404 (Theory of Computation); 18.200 (Principles of Discrete and Applied Mathematics); 18.S097 (Proof Writing Workshop) ; 15.455x : ( Advanced Mathematics for Finance). On several occasions, I guest-lectured at Thailand's IMO p reparat ory camp.
Talks / Presentations Materials available upon request if not presented here. Minimum s-t Cuts with Fewer Cut Queries SODA 2026 , Brown Theory Seminar , WoLA 2025 (contributed talk) Strong XOR Lemma for Information Complexity [ poster ] Parallel Repetition in Communication and Information [ slides ] Waterloo A&C Seminar (2026) , MPI -INF Lunch Talk (2025) Simple & Optimal Quantile Sketch: Combining Greenwald-Khanna with Khanna-Greenwald Informal talks: Princeton TCS Student Seminar: Information-to-Communication Compression Schemes, AGM Sketch for Spanning Forest, Bipartite Matching in Communication Models [ notes ] , Matrix Multiplication and Seidel's Algorithm for APSP [ notes ] Bipartite Ramanujan Graphs of All Degree , Modern Coding Theory and Expanders Reading Group @ IAS (2023) [ slides ] Fast Algorithms for Bounded-Range LIS Approximation , MIT SuperUROP Showcase (2021)
Professional Activities Co-organizer for Princeton Theory Lunch (AY 25-26) Reviewer for flagship TCS conferences/journals 2026: SICOMP, FOCS, SODA , ICALP, ESA, RANDOM, PODS 2025: FOCS 2024: FOCS
Miscellaneous I was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. My name is pronounced Pa-cha-ra Sa-vet-ta-marn. Beyond academics, I enjoy playing poker, soccer and downhill skiing. Recently, I have also picked up recreational running. Here are some photos of my huge cat Pepper .