My research is in theoretical computer science, at the intersection of algorithms, combinatorics, and optimization. I am most interested in approximation algorithms and hardness of approximation for stochastic matching and welfare maximization problems, and in their applications to resource allocation in online platforms and markets.
Undergraduate honors thesis, Stanford University, 2026
A variant of stochastic matching in which agents receive batches of items: hardness-of-approximation results via new reductions, together with randomized approximation algorithms beating the classical 1 - 1/e ratio.
Published in Involve, a Journal of Mathematics (accepted), 2025
New bounds and constructions in a graph-theoretic model of DNA nanostructure self-assembly, including a vertex-cover construction that fully resolves the unswappable case.
Recommended citation: Lisa Baek, Ethan Bove, Michael Cho, Xingyi Zhang, Leyda Almodóvar, Amanda Harsy, Cory Johnson, and Jessica Sorrells. "Optimal Constructions for DNA Self-Assembly of k-Regular Graphs." Involve, a Journal of Mathematics (accepted). arXiv:2502.03716 [math.CO].
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Published in Discrete Applied Mathematics, 2023
An exact counting algorithm for heapable permutations, improving on the previously best-known factorial-time algorithm.
Recommended citation: B. Chen, M. Cho, M. Tutuncu-Macias, and T. Tzolov. "Efficient methods of calculating the number of heapable permutations." Discrete Applied Mathematics 331 (2023), pp. 126–137.