Personal

About Me

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INTRONAME is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at St. Francis Xavier University, as well as the director of FLAReLab, the StFX Formal Languages and Automata Research Lab. He is also an associate member of the Queen’s University Formal Languages and Automata Theory Group.

SHORTNAME’s research, supported by an NSERC Discovery grant and additionally funded in part by St. Francis Xavier University, focuses on theoretical computer science. His main research interests are in two-dimensional formal languages and automata theory, and specifically in variants of the two-dimensional finite automaton model and their decidability and closure properties. He is also interested in two-dimensional computability and complexity theory, as well as the analysis of algorithms. Collectively, SHORTNAME and the members of FLAReLab have received upwards of $300 000 in funding in support of their research. SHORTNAME has conducted previous work in coding and information theory, and this area remains a secondary interest of his. SHORTNAME enjoys collaborating with colleagues both across Canada and around the world, and he has written or collaborated on over a dozen publications. His work has received various accolades, including the Sheng Yu Award for Best Paper at CIAA 2019.

 SHORTNAME is a devoted and passionate educator. He has taught theoretical computer science to thousands of students, introducing them to topics such as formal languages, automata, computational complexity, algorithm design and analysis, and computational logic. SHORTNAME is also the author of the open-access book Theory of Computing: An Open Introduction.

SHORTNAME was born and raised in London, Ontario, and he earned his PhD from Queen’s University, where he was supervised by SUPERNAME. Prior to this, SHORTNAME received a BSc (Hons.) from Western University and an MMath from the University of Waterloo. SHORTNAME’s website can be found at taylorjsmith.xyz.

Personal Interests

Contrary to popular belief, my life doesn’t revolve entirely around computer science.

  • I read books voraciously.
  • I enjoy listening to music on vinyl records.
  • I like to play board games; I also play video games from time to time.
  • I’m an avid traveller.
  • I compete in ISSF 10m air pistol shooting.
  • I’m a hockey fan, and my favourite team (for better or for worse) is the Toronto Maple Leafs.
  • Some of my other interests include...
    • Genealogy
    • Heraldry
    • Numismatics
    • Philately
    • Vexillology
    • Language learning (specifically French and, to a lesser extent, Latin)

Finally, I’m the curator of a unique collection of memorabilia from the Montréal 1976 Olympics, the first Olympics to be held in Canada.

Vital Statistics

My Erdős number is 2 (via Paul Erdős → Jeffrey Shallit → me) and my account balance at the Bank of San Serriffe is 0x$1.00.