Summary
- Sep 2017 -- present: VP Research and Query Optimizer Lead at relationalAI.
- June 2015 -- Aug 2017: Computer Scientist at LogicBlox.
- 2001-2017: (Assistant → Associate → Full) Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo.
- Education:
- Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering,
- M.S. in Mathematics,
-- both from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 2001. - B.S. 1995, Computer Engineering, Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology, Vietnam.
- Some awards:
- Best paper awards : COCOON 2008, ICDT 2019, PODS 2012, 2016, 2022
- Test of Time (10-years) awards : for papers at PODS 2012, PODS 2015, PODS 2016
Professional Information
Recent TPC memberships:
- TPC member: ICDT 2022, PODS 2018--2020, 2026, 2028
- TPC Chair: PODS 2023
- Co-organizer: Logic and Algorithms, Simons Program 2023
Put dots and
@ in between a permutation of the the following words:
ai
hung
relational
ngo
Curriculum Vitae, often not up to date
Current research interests: query optimization, declarative computation.
Selected talks
- [slides] "In Theory In Practice", PODS 2024 Special Event: Unlocking the Secrets: Bridging Theory and Practice.
- Three tutorials at the "Logic and Algorithms in Database Theory and AI" Boot Camp:
- An Information Theoretic Approach to Estimating Query Size Bounds, Dagstuhl Seminar on Algorithmic Aspects of Information Theory, 2022; Online Seminar on Algorithmic Aspects of Information Theory, 2023.
- [ video ] "On an Information Theoretic Approach to Cardinality Estimation", Keynote Talk at ICDT 2022, Sky Computing Database Seminar, UC Berkeley, Oct 2022.
- "Answering (Functional Aggregate) Queries via Tensor Decomposition", Northeastern Data Lab Seminar, Summer-Fall 2020.
- "Relational optimization", Emerging challenges in databases and AI research. Keynote talk.
- [ video ] "Machine Learning on Relational Data: a Different Take", John Postel Distinguished Lecture Series, Computer Science Department, UCLA, Nov 06th, 2018.
- [ video ] [slides in pptx] "Worst-case optimal join algorithms: techniques, results, and open problems"", Gems of PODS talk at PODS 2018, keynote at AMW 2018, lunch seminar at UC Berkeley, GraphDB group at LinkedIn.
- [slides] " Shannon-type inequalities, submodular width, and disjunctive datalog", keynote at HIGHLIGHTS 2017: Highlights of Logic, Games, & Automata.
- [slides] "Functional Aggregate Queries are FAQs", seminar talk at Univ. of Wisconsin, UCSD, Oxford Univ., Univ. of Washington, Stanford.
Selected or Recent Papers
- Vasileios Nakos, Hung Q. Ngo, Andreas Panayi "Listing Even Cycles Faster than the Submodular-Width Barrier", PODS 2027, [ArXiV version]
- Simon Frisk, Hangdong Zhao, Hung Ngo, Kirk Pruhs, Benjamin Moseley, Sungjin Im, Paraschos Koutris "Optimal Convergence of Iterative Methods for Datalogo", PODS 2027, [ArXiV version]
- Mahmoud Abo Khamis, Hung Q. Ngo, Dan Suciu "Query Optimization and Evaluation via Information Theory: A Tutorial", PODS 2026 companion article to the tutorial [ArXiV version]
- Mahmoud Abo Khamis, Hung Q. Ngo, Dan Suciu "PANDAExpress: a Simpler and Faster PANDA Algorithm", PODS 2026, [ArXiV version]
- Sungjin Im, Ben Moseley, Hung Q. Ngo, Kirk Pruhs, "Efficient Algorithms for Cardinality Estimation and Conjunctive Query Evaluation With Simple Degree Constraints,", PODS 2025. [ArXiV version]
- Mahmoud Abo Khamis, Hung Q. Ngo, Dan Suciu "PANDA: Query Evaluation in Submodular Width", TheoretiCS 4 (2025) [ArXiV version]
- Hung Q. Ngo, "On an Information Theoretic Approach to Cardinality Estimation", companion article to the keynote talk at ICDT 2022. [ pdf ]
- Best paper award Mahmoud Abo Khamis, Hung Q. Ngo, Reinhard Pichler, Dan Suciu, and Yisu Remy Wang. "Convergence of Datalog over (Pre-) Semirings", PODS 2022. [ArXiV version]
- Best paper award Ahmet Kara, Hung Ngo, Milos Nikolic, Dan Olteanu, and Haozhe Zhang. "Counting Triangles under Updates in Worst-Case Optimal Time", ICDT 2019. [ArXiV version] [Journal (ArXiV) version]
- Hung Q. Ngo, "Worst-case Optimal Join Algorithms: Techniques, Results, and Open Problems", PODS 2018. Invited [ArXiV version]
- Mahmoud Abo Khamis, Hung Q. Ngo, Dan Suciu, "What do Shannon-type inequalities, submodular width, and disjunctive datalog have to do with one another?", PODS 2017. [ArXiV version] [Short slides] [Longer slides] Invited to Journal of the ACM
- Best paper award Mahmoud Abo Khamis, Hung Q. Ngo, Atri Rudra, "FAQ: Questions Asked Frequently", PODS 2016. [ArXiV version] [Talk slides]
Some Quotes
"Sometimes it happens that a man's circle of horizon becomes smaller and smaller, and as the radius approaches zero it concentrates on one point. And then that becomes his point of view."
David Hilbert
"Hỏi rằng người ở quê đâu
Thưa rằng tôi ở rất lâu quê nhà"
Bùi Giáng
"Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly Mathematics."
A Mathematician's Apology (London 1941).
Godfrey Harold Hardy
"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done."
Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950). (The paper)
Alan Turing