Picture of Me

CV (Nov 2023) - LinkedIn


Hi there! My name is Mike. Thank you for visiting my website.

I am a passionate researcher, developer, and teacher. My teaching includes courses in Theory of Computation, Data Structures & Algorithms, and Software Engineering at Swarthmore College.

I am always happy to make new connections and explore possible collaborations. Please feel welcome to contact me anytime.

Email address: mwehar1@swarthmore.edu




Personal Projects


bullet point   AlgoArt.org - Website, Git Repo

A digital platform that brings together artists and technologists.

See also: Bridges Short Film Festival (2023), Swarthmore College Exhibition (2023)


bullet point   Word of The Hour - Website

A side project to help language learners expand their vocabulary.


bullet point   Treegle Dictionary - Website

An online dictionary that arranges definitions in a tree format.

See more trees @ MetaTree


See More Projects: My Blog Articles, Main Line Social Group, WSRN Status Page, Crosswords, Endangered Languages, AI Projects, Replacement Game, Zomballs Game Demo


Also, see older projects - Sharing Religion, Password Memorization, Time Lapse Painting: Pittsburgh



Papers

Completed Papers and Posters:


bullet point   Effective guessing has unlikely consequences (with A. Salamon)

Download (TOCS 2023), Download (Arxiv)


bullet point   Algorithmically Generated Artwork (with A. Zhang, M. Newman-Toker, and J. Mancini)

Talk (Conf42: JS 2022), Best Faculty Poster (CCSC:EA 2022), Honorable Mention (IFoRE 2022)


bullet point   Analyzing Group and Individual Contributions within Group Programming: RepoRabbit Web Application (with M. Quiroz)

Poster (ITiCSE 2022), Short Paper, Website


bullet point   An Online Dictionary for Dialects of North Frisian (with T. Hüttenrauch)

Download (EURALI Workshop @LREC2022), ACL Anthology, Website (in German)


bullet point   Superlinear Lower Bounds Based on ETH (with A. Salamon)

Download (STACS 2022), Download (Arxiv), Slides


bullet point   On the Fine Grained Complexity of Finite Automata Non-emptiness of Intersection (with M. Oliveira)

Download (DLT 2020), Slides from DLT2021


bullet point   Complexity of Searching for 2 by 2 Submatrices in Boolean Matrices (with D. Prusa)

Download (DLT 2020), Slides from DLT2021


bullet point   Two-dimensional Pattern Matching against Basic Picture Languages (with F. Mráz and D. Prusa)

Download (TCS 2021), Download (CIAA 2019), Four Corners Problem, Non-Orthogonal Vectors


bullet point   Intersection Non-Emptiness and Hardness within Polynomial Time (with M. Oliveira)

Download (DLT 2018), Slides, Slides were updated September 2019 to fix bug


bullet point   On the Complexity of Intersection Non-Emptiness Problems

Abstract, Doctoral Dissertation, Dissertation Slides, Additional Discussion & Typos

Additional links: Gödel's Lost Letter, Parameterized Complexity News, Slides (MCAFL 2019)

See also: Wikipedia Article, List of Related Publications


bullet point   Shortest Paths in One-Counter Systems (with D. Chistikov, W. Czerwinski, P. Hofman, and M. Pilipczuk)

Download (LMCS 2019), Download (FoSSaCS 2016), Shortest Strings Accepted by PDA's


bullet point   On the Complexity of Intersecting Regular, Context-free, and Tree Languages (with J. Swernofsky)

Download (ICALP 2015), Slides


bullet point   Hardness Results for Intersection Non-Emptiness

Download (ICALP 2014), Slides


bullet point   Intersection Emptiness for Finite Automata

Honors Thesis, Gödel's Lost Letter

* The results were significantly refined and improved in the ICALP 2014 paper.


Paused Papers:


bullet point   Finite Automata Intersection Non-Emptiness: Parameterized Complexity Revisited (with H. Fernau and S. Hoffmann)

Download Draft (Aug 2021)


bullet point   Human and Computer Cooperative Artistic Creation

U.S. Provisional Patent Appl. (Nov. 2017), Example Image, Video, Blog Post


bullet point   Tight Lower Bounds for Classical Problems Relative to a Random Oracle (with A. Hughes)


bullet point   Intersection Non-Emptiness for Tree Shaped Finite Automata

Download Draft (Feb. 2016), included in thesis, related talks at UB, RIT, Waterloo, IBM, and CTW'15


bullet point   Fixed Parameter Inductive Inference

Research with Manuel Blum (Summer 2013), Download Draft, Additional Discussion


bullet point   Gödel's Theorem Fails for Pi_1 Axiomatizations

Nested Proof Predicates, Download Draft



Mentorship


I am passionate about Mentorship and I enjoy helping students to build software solutions to real problems. My expertise lies in developing minimal viable products, tracking progress, and launching beta testing for user feedback.

Are you thinking about starting a project? Here are my slides and blog article on how to get started!

Are you interested in working with me or having me as a mentor for your project? Please contact me via email and see past projects that I have been a mentor for below.

Swarthmore College, Extended Projects


bullet point   Algorithmically Generated Artwork - Alyssa, Kevin, Maya, Xinxin

A collaborative project to design and implement algorithms that generate visual designs.


bullet point   RepoRabbit (Beta) - Maria

A web app that analyzes Git repos and visualizes teammate contributions to promote better collaboration.


Swarthmore College, Fall 2023


bullet point   The Password Project - Bella, Ethan, Izzy, Roger

A web app for learning about, comparing, and testing university account password rules and policies.


bullet point   Dorm Organizer and Roommate Matcher (DORM) - Carter, Francisco, Kiara, Nicolas, Victor

A web app that helps college students find compatible roommates.


bullet point   Rate My Swat Dorm - Cooper, Ere, Helen, Omar, Summit

A web app for comparing and reviewing Swarthmore College dorm buildings.


bullet point   Tuneify - George, Jimmy, Krystal, Nina, Rachel

A web app that integrates with the Spotify API to enable users to create a digital music notebook for recording reviews of the music that they listen to.


bullet point   Matchbox Mojo - Abdul, Ana, Erica, Ipek

A web-based 2D recreation of Swarthmore College's fitness facility called the Matchbox. This web app allows users to explore the Matchbox and watch instructional videos on how to properly use fitness equipment.


bullet point   TradeSaga - Jerry, Jhovani, Matt, Zane

A web-based platform for organizing and running stock trading simulation games where users compete against each other similar to fantasy football.


bullet point   Swat Maps - Mehtap, Michael, Rain, Tina

A web app that provides a virtual map of Swarthmore College campus along with images and floor plans to help students, faculty, and staff to find buildings and classrooms on campus.


bullet point   Swatlingo - Allison, Ark, T, Yana

An online chat website for language learners where users can chat with each other or with a language instruction bot that provides assistance and help for learners.


Swarthmore College, Fall 2022


bullet point   Relief & Refuel - Amelia, Kimberly, Nora, Rebecca

An iOS app that helps users to find and update restroom and water filling locations on an interactive map.


bullet point   Garnet Monsters - Eduardo, Elliot, Elliott, Sophia

A python-based game where players navigate through a two-dimensional world learning about endangered animals.


bullet point   Dash Hours - Annie, Gyan, Viktoriia, Vladimir

An Alexa Skill that offers an accessible way to look up when campus buildings are open.


bullet point   Mango - Alexa, Ibrahem, Trisha, Zakir

A web app that allows multiple users to play a bingo-like quiz game together in real-time.


bullet point   Swat Moves - Alex, Brooke, Orhun, William

A web app that generates walking, running, and biking paths that match a user's workout needs.


bullet point   Swarthmore Marketplace - Alison, Amy, Andy, Diego

A web app that allows Swarthmore community members to view and post items that are being sold or given away.


bullet point   AVL Trees - Anarsaikhan, Kevin, Lizbeth, Ryan

A web app that interactively teaches students about a specific kind of data structure called an AVL Tree.


bullet point   MyStudyBuddy - Alyssa, Wasay, Yael

A Chrome extension that allows a user to select a virtual study buddy that can be used to set reminders and block websites.


bullet point   Swatify - Anna, Jahzeel, Orlando, Yatin

A web app that integrates with Spotify accounts to display listening data for individuals and aggregated data for all of Swarthmore.


Swarthmore College, Fall 2021


bullet point   Music Analysis - Ankur, Aron, Michael, Rachel

A web app that analyzes MusicXML files to generate visualizations of music.


bullet point   Calendar Populator - Arina, Kevin, Shane, Theron

A web app that parses a course syllabus and adds important dates to your Google Calendar.


bullet point   Rainr - Alfi, Alina, Kaidan, Max

A web app that analyzes topographical data of Delaware County and displays areas that are at high risk of flooding.


bullet point   GarnetVille - Angela, Cisco, Elizabeth, Sierra

An online virtual Swarthmore College campus where students can walk around and chat in real time.


bullet point   Matchbox Goals - Martina, Matthew, Nathaniel

A web app for tracking your weight training progress with recommended lifting workouts of increasing difficulty.


bullet point   Intentional Browsing - Alex, Etame, Hari, Theodore

A browser extension that automatically manages your web browser for more intentional browsing.


bullet point   Arboretum Invaders - Geoffrey, Paige, Ricky

An online two-player game where players cooperatively try to save a garden from invasive species.


bullet point   Travial - E. K., George, George, Nader

A web app for travelers that automatically generates a schedule of activities for a better travel experience.


bullet point   PlantPet - Alex, Catherine, Dohyun

An educational game where players take care of a virtual plant.


Swarthmore College, Spring 2021


bullet point   AniTime - Andi, Richard, Sally, Sam

A discord bot that helps friends find common anime recommendations.


bullet point   Stash - Alice, Jacquelyn, Lamia, Leia

A multiplatform mobile app for sharing content and links within private groups.


bullet point   SwaTutor - Lucas, Matthew, Peter, Zeus

A web app for Swarthmore students to request academic tutors and for administrators to manage tutors.


bullet point   Swarthmore Course Advice Page - Chris, Gillie, Sumi, Yanwen

A web app for Swarthmore students to read and write reviews on courses and instructors.


bullet point   Pocket Realtor - Dylan, Emma, Miryam

A web-based interactive map for searching economic, social, and housing data by zip code.


bullet point   Unishare - Elvis, Kelvin, Samuel

An iOS app for listing items that are free or for sale within different college communities.


bullet point   Mask It Or Casket - Ben, Christian, Hyeyun, Mari

A web-based educational game where users set policies to reduce the spread of disease.


Swarthmore College, Summer 2020


bullet point   Automatic Crossword Puzzle Construction - Otis

A web app that automatically constructs crossword puzzle grids.


bullet point   Four Corners Problems and 2D Pattern Matching - Ari

Implementing efficient algorithms that solve specific cases of the four corners problem.


bullet point   Machine Assisted Speed Reading and Training - Chris

A web app to help users increase their reading speed.


Swarthmore College, Spring 2020


bullet point   ChessIQ+ - Jonathan, Navdeep (additional contributions by Amaechi)

A web app that provides feedback to chess players on moves in an intuitive manner.


bullet point   Edge - Austin, Ford, Jack, Scott

An iOS app that tracks gambling gains and losses related to recently legalized sports betting.


bullet point   Grass Growth - Anya, Cassandra, Rich, Vitor

A web-based toolkit for generating an interactive map that tracks polling locations and volunteer sign-ups.


bullet point   LifeTrackr - Jill, Katherine, Mirabai, Ray

A web app for tracking aspects of your life (such as mood) each day and graphing your monthly averages to better understand how your life changes over time.


bullet point   MicroSwat - Brendan, Gabe, Tristan

A Java-based music player that plays human readable music composition files.


bullet point   PersonalFi - Akshay, Bill, Helen, Jason

A web-based game that lets users play out customizable scenarios related to budgeting, credit, and finance. This game is for enjoyment and self-directed learning. It is not intended to be investment advice.


bullet point   Project School - Christine, David, Luca

A react native app for schools to create pages that share important information and critical announcements to students and the local community.


bullet point   Project X - Angela, Bilal, Julian, Saul

An iOS app for viewing upcoming events at Swarthmore College.


bullet point   Raysin - Katie, Kevin, Rose

A command-line tool for speeding up, slowing down, splicing, trimming, and reversing audio by directly manipulating audio wave byte data.


bullet point   SafeChat - Abigail, Jasmine, Mackenzie, Mikey

A web app that sends encrypted messages to designated mailboxes using public-key cryptography.


bullet point   Tap Stop - Kenny, Nicholas, Raymond, Yichuan

An Android app that tracks your mobile screen time and offers points for correctly predicting your usage.


Temple University, Extended Projects


bullet point   Literary Character Extraction - David

A python-based application that automatically extracts character names from public domain books.


bullet point   Patterns in Financial Data - Zach

Converting historical stock market data to a simplified format and applying known techniques from data analysis to identify basic patterns.


Temple University, Spring 2019


bullet point   CSharp Music Library - Ariela, Ben, Jason

A Java-based music library and user interface for creating playable music compositions.


bullet point   HackGile - Gerard, Nicolas, Thomas

A web-based application for agile development and project management.


bullet point   Goalie - Busola, Hieu, Luca

An Android app for creating and tracking personal goals.


bullet point   Morse Brode - Duncan, Kyle, Matthew

A web-based interactive tool for helping users learn Morse Code.


bullet point   Party Of Three - Awa, Kwamina, Mykhailo

A web-based application for playing checkers online.


bullet point   SpaceKermit - Muhsin, Tommy

An application that interfaces with Kerbal Space Program to automatically control and land rockets.


bullet point   TechEase - Andrew, Lee

A Windows-based application that helps non-technical users to navigate their personal computer.


bullet point   Web Cred - Dylan, Jonathan, Nhat

A website for easily accessing analytics and credibility rankings for any public url on the internet.


Temple University, Fall 2018


bullet point   Avalon Translator - Kyle, Troy

A Java-based application that emails the translation of digital handwritten notes to a specified address.


bullet point   Bodega Boys - Isaiah, Malik, Stephen

A website that ranks culturally trending music.


bullet point   Codify - Kaitlin, Parisa

An iOS app for recording your daily activities and analyzing how you spend your time.


bullet point   CranJamz - Alex, Jeremy, Liz

A web-based interactive lesson plan for teaching users how to read and play piano music.


bullet point   Encrypted Chatroom - Jesse, Tyler

A communications platform that puts privacy and security in the hands of the end-user.


bullet point   I.Z.N.'s Flash Cards - Ivy, Nan, Zhuoan

An android app for creating and practicing a secure set of flash cards.


bullet point   Quiz Game Maker - Brendan, Joshee, Shane

An android app for creating and saving your own quiz-based games.


bullet point   RideCompare - Anas, Dan, Dennis

An iOS app that helps the user compare Lyft and Uber prices.


University of Pittsburgh, Spring 2017


bullet point   Clique-in - Andrew, Hannah

A pitch deck and business plan for a decentralized social network.


University at Buffalo, Fall 2016


bullet point   Achievelife - Dan, Fan, James, Jesse, Jonathan, Miaomiao, Yuzhe

A mobile app meant to gamify your life where you level up by completing real life achievements.


bullet point   Biubiubiu - Jia Qi, Leon, Runda, Xiaofei

A typing game written in Java.


bullet point   Course Evaluation - Aaron, Linn, Min, Seti, Timothy

A collaboration with the Center for Educational Innovation to give University at Buffalo students access to course evaluation data for select courses.


bullet point   Memory1 - Andrew, Ben, Jake, Julius, Kang, Ryan

A website for training human memorization of key-value pair maps from letters to numbers.


bullet point   Memory2 - Alex, Joel, Rony

A rock-paper-scissors meets pokemon styled memorization game made in Unity.


bullet point   Memory3 - Amy, Moe, Nick, Youngki

An android app for training human memorization of key-value pair maps from letters to numbers.


bullet point   PKB - Alex, Jacob, Piyush

A web app that uses your voice to develop webpages.


bullet point   Team PageMe - Adi, Ali, Jason, Mitchell, Sai, Shokoor

Bringing back the pager as an android app.


bullet point   Visual Construction - Amrit, Apar, Bin, Bryon, Der Shen, Jing, Jon, Kai, Robert, Sadek, Vince

Used AR technologies to aid in the proper construction of designs. This project started from communication with LP Ciminelli, a Buffalo based company.