Yahoo! Research at SIGMOD/PODS

Yahoo! Research was well represented at this year’s ACM SIGMOD/PODS conference, held in the bustling city of Beijing, China. The annual conference, which began in 1975, is considered one of the most important regular gatherings in Computer Science.

The SIGMOD conference is typically held in North America; this year marked its Asian debut. Making the trip to the Chinese capital were Raghu Ramakrishnan, Jai Shanmugasundaram, Minos Garofalakis, Eric Vee, Sihem Amer-Yahia, and Utkarsh Srivastava.

SIGMOD/PODS is universally regarded as the leading international forum for database researchers, practitioners, developers, and users. The database research community gathers together to explore cutting-edge ideas and to exchange techniques, tools, and experiences. Many of the most influential papers in the field are presented at the conference.

This year’s conference accepted just 70 papers out of 480 submissions. Papers presented at SIGMOD/PODS are distinguished by a rigorous approach to widely diverse problems in databases, including computational logic, finite model theory, complexity theory, algorithms and data structures, and design and analysis.
Several Yahoo! Research scientists showcased their work at the meeting. Jai Shanmugasundaram presented a paper he co-authored, entitled, "P-ring: An efficient and robust P2P range index structure." He also co-chaired the XIME-P workshop held in conjunction with the main conference.

Sihem Amer-Yahia gave a talk at the conference’s WebDB workshop called "GUESTS: Groups of Users Going Social in Web 2.0 Search." And Minos Garofalakis chaired a session on Approximate Query Processing. Indeed, this year’s SIGMOD/PODS exemplified a renewed interest in approximate query processing and keyword search in databases.

For his part, Raghu Ramakrishnan authored a paper entitled, "Optimizing MPF Queries: Decision Support and Probabilistic Inference." This paper was presented to the conference by Hector Corrada Bravo, one of Ramarkishnan’s former students at the University of Wisconsin.

Ramakrishnan also gave one of the most popular talks at the conference to a standing-room only crowd. The topic: Databases on the Web. Making the most of his time in China, Ramakrishnan then raced off to the APWEB/WAIM conference in the city of Huangshan, where he gave a keynote address on Community Systems.

But it wasn’t all work in China. Apart from attending talks and consulting with colleagues, attendees at this year’s SIGMOD/PODS conference were treated to a majestic banquet at the famed Tingli Hall Restaurant, part of the Summer Palace. Built by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty in 19th century, Tingli Hall was the place for royalty to watch Peking opera, listen to music and hold parties.

Event participants also enjoyed a boat ride on Kunming Lake, traditional Chinese opera, a dazzling acrobatic performance by children, and much more. All and all, it was a magical conference that set the bar high for those to come.