S. Padmapriya (Padmapriya Shakespeare)

About Me

Hi! I’m Padmapriya, a Computer Science and Engineering Ph.D. student at University of California, Santa Cruz. I’m extremely grateful and fortunate to be advised by Dr. Alexandra Kolla.

My journey began as an undergraduate in physics, where an early curiosity about quantum computing sparked my interest in the elegant world of theoretical computer science. Since then, I’ve been captivated by the rich interplay between computer science, mathematics, and physics, constantly driven by a desire to explore the foundational ideas that connect them.

My research interests focus on theoretical computer science, particularly algorithms, computational complexity, and quantum computing.

Research Interests

Algorithms and Complexity theory, Beyond worst-case analysis of algorithms, Parameterized algorithms, Approximation Algorithms, Hardness of Approximation, Quantum Computing and Quantum Information, Boolean function complexity, and Machine learning.

Blog

I also have a blog, Quanta on Computing, where I speak about topics that excite me in theoretical computer science.

News

• [May. 2025] Attended the Approximate Algorithm Summer School at IISc
• [May. 2025] Attended the Geometry, Probability, and Algorithms at ICTS and presented poster.
• [April. 2025] Selected as SPARKS Scholar