Noah Weninger

About me

I am a Ph.D. student studying combinatorics and optimization at the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Ricardo Fukasawa. I recently completed a M.Sc. in computer science at the University of British Columbia, where I was fortunate to be supervised by Dr. Bruce Shepherd. On the side, I make open source software for digitally processing audio and generating algorithmic music and visuals under the alias byte.observer. When not in front of a computer or whiteboard I can usually be found rock climbing, foraging for mushrooms, cycling, snowboarding, hiking or cooking.

My profiles: github | bandcamp | soundcloud | youtube | shadertoy | kattis profile | kattis problems | google scholar

Research interests

• combinatorial optimization
• discrete math
• algorithmic music and sound synthesis
• computational complexity
• proof theory
• combinatorial game theory

Education

• M.Sc. in Computer Science at University of British Columbia. Funded by NSERC CGS-M. (2019-2021)
• B.Sc. Honors in Computing Science at University of Alberta (2014-2019)

Papers

• 2022: A Knapsack Intersection Hierarchy Applied to All-or-Nothing Flow in Trees
  arXiv
  Adam Jozefiak, F. Bruce Shepherd, Noah Weninger
  
  
• 2021: Approximate Extended Formulations for Multidimensional Knapsack and the Unsplittable Flow Problem on Trees (M.Sc. Thesis).
  pub
  Noah Weninger.
  
  
• 2018: Rendering Impulse Responses for Implicit Surfaces.
  pdf code
  Noah Weninger.
  
  
• 2018: Training Deep Convolutional Networks with Unlimited Synthesis of Musical Examples for Multiple Instrument Recognition.
  pdf
  Rameel Sethi, Noah Weninger, Abram Hindle, Vadim Bulitko.
  15th Sound and Music Computing Conference.
  
  
• 2017: Exploring Positional Linear Go.
  pdf pub code
  Noah Weninger and Ryan Hayward.
  15th International Conference on Advances in Computer Games.
  
  
• 2016: ScPy: A SuperCollider Extension for Perfoming Numerical Computation via Embedded Python.
  pdf code
  Noah Weninger and Abram Hindle.

Presentations

• 03/2019: Festival for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (FURCA). Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
  Topic: Training Deep Convolutional Networks with Unlimited Synthesis of Musical Examples for Multiple Instrument Recognition.
  
  
• 10/2018: Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) General Meeting. Albuquerque, New Mexico.
  Topic: Training Deep Convolutional Networks with Unlimited Synthesis of Musical Examples for Multiple Instrument Recognition.
  
  
• 10/2017: Centre for Advanced Studies Conference (CASCON). Markham, Ontario, Canada.
  Topic: work done on OpenJ9 JIT-as-a-Service while interning at IBM.
  
  
• 06/2017: Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI), WALA Hackathon. Barcelona, Spain.
  Topic: static analysis of Swift programs.
  
  
• 07/2017: Advances in Computer Games (ACG). Leiden, The Netherlands.
  Topic: Exploring Positional Linear Go.

Participation

• 01/2021: attended the 2021 ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA21)
• 11/2020: attended the Fundamentals of Computer Science (FOCS) online symposium.
• 10/2019: attended the CRM/DIMACS Workshop on Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
• 09/2019: attended the West Coast Optimization Meeting in Vancouver, Canada.
• 08/2019: attended WADS, the Algorithms and Data Structures Symposium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada as a student volunteer.
• 03/2019: competed in the University of Alberta Programming Contest in Edmonton, Alberta. Got 1st place! (or was it 6th place? ;)
• 10/2018: attended the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) General Meeting in Albequerque, New Mexico, USA.
• 10/2018: competed in the Alberta Collegiate Programming Contest in Edmonton, Alberta. Got 2nd place!
• 11/2017: competed in the Rocky Mountain Regional ACM Programming Contest in Edmonton, Alberta. Got 3rd place!
• 10/2017: attended the Centre for Advanced Studies Conference (CASCON) in Markham, Ontario, Canada.
• 07/2017: attended Advances in Computer Games (ACG) in Leiden, The Netherlands.
• 06/2017: attended Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI) in Barcelona, Spain as a student volunteer.
• 05/2017: competed in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals in Rapid City, USA. Got honorable mention!
• 03/2017: competed in the University of Alberta Programming Contest in Edmonton, Alberta. Got 1st place!
• 11/2016: competed in the Rocky Mountain Regional ACM Programming Contest in Edmonton, Alberta. Got 1st place!
• 10/2016: competed in the Alberta Collegiate Programming Contest in Edmonton, Alberta. Got 3rd place!
• 07/2016: attended Advances in Computer Games (ACG) in Leiden, The Netherlands.
• 05/2014: competed in the Iverson Computing Science Exam in Edmonton, Alberta. Got 1st place!

Competitive programming problems

After competing for many years I was given the opportunity (thanks Zac!) to create original problems for a programming contest. It turns out that I enjoy making problems even more than just solving them! Most of my problems are available on Open Kattis, where anyone can try them out.

• Problems "Zoom," "Successful Zoom," "Solution Pollution," and "Tree Canopy Graphs" from the 2022 CCPC
• Problems "Wonky Pizza," "Beep Code," "Compression," and "Swapping Places" from the 2021 ACPC
• Problems "The Council" and "Which Bits?" from the 2021 CCPC
• Problems "Monochromatic Minesweeper" and "Wrapping Trees" from the 2020 ACPC
• Problems "Product Inspector" and "Lockpick" from the 2019 UAPC