Muhammad Sheraz

General Project Information

Name: Muhammad Sheraz

Project Mentor: Arpita Biswas

Email: msheraz@umich.edu

Office Location: CoRE, Room 442

University: Rutgers University

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Arpita Biswas for her guidance and support throughout this project. I'd also like to thank the Rutgers Math Department and the NSF for funding my participation in DIMACS.

About Me

I am an undergraduate at University of Michigan studying Computer Science. I particularly enjoy Discrete Mathematics and Cryptography, which helped me to think broadly, logically, and comparatively. I was so into cryptography that after one of the lectures I talked to my professor about whether we could use this concept to secure some data and he said, "yeah, this would be a good idea." I am also interested in learning more about the applications of mathematics in computer science and engineering.

Math is honestly the main thing I've got going on, but outside of that, I really enjoy spending time with my family. I usually go running in the summer.

Project Description

This project explores how to share limited items fairly in real time without knowing what arrives next. We study online fair allocation where items come one by one, decisions are instant and irreversible, and different users have different needs.

PACE (Pacing According to Current Estimated Utility) is a simple plug-and-play algorithm that requires no training, adapts instantly, and naturally helps left-out users catch up by adjusting bidding multipliers.

I will implement and test the PACE algorithm for online fair allocation under different input models (stationary, periodic, and real-world data), and extend it to handle flexible user caps, preference shifts, and large-scale simulations with thousands of users.

Weekly Log

Week 1: 5/27-5/30

I moved into the DIMACS apartments and met my roommates. I also had my first meeting with my mentor. I was given some papers to read and started thinking about research directions for our project.

Week 2: 6/2-6/6

I presented to my fellow DIMACS participants about my project. I presented to my research group members about the paper I read. I also settled on a concrete direction to study for my project and started thinking about some basic questions. I published my website and read some papers related to the project.

Week 3: 6/9-6/13

I have attended the weekly meetings and discussed the progress of my project. I have also attended the seminar series and started reading more papers on online fair allocation.

Week 4: 6/16-6/20

I have been working on implementing the PACE algorithm for online fair allocation. I have read some more papers related to the topic. I have attended the weekly meetings and discussed the progress of my project, and also attended the seminar series.

Week 5: 6/23-6/27

I have been working on different aspects of the project, including implementing the PACE algorithm and reading related literature. I have attended the weekly meetings and discussed the progress of my project, and also attended the seminar series.

Week 6: 6/30-7/4

I have been working on different aspects of the project, including implementing the PACE algorithm, finding interesting results, and reading related literature. I have attended the weekly meetings to discuss the progress of my project, and I have also attended the seminar series.