Dr Chris Jefferson
Director of Postgraduate Research
Reader - School of Computer Science
Email: caj21@st-andrews.ac.uk
Office: JC0.24
Phone: +44 (0)1334 463272
Dr. Jefferson is a researcher at the School of Computer Science at the University of St. Andrews. His main research interests are:
- Constraint Programming
- Constraint Programming is the research topic that takes the majority of my time. He is one of the primary developers of the Minion constraint solver, and has published papers on a variety of areas relating to both solving, and using constraint solvers. If you have any issues with Minion, or just have any general questions about constraint programming, feel free to ask him.
- Computational Group Theory
- One of his current major applications of constraint programming is computational group theory. This is a new research area for him and he is interested in any search problems in mathematics. He will shortly be releasing a new constraint solver specialised for group theory problems.
- Automated Game Generation
- Another application of constraint programming he is interested in is automated game generation.
- Software Engineering
- While he has done relatively little research in software engineering, he does a lot of programming. He is on the C++ standards committee, and has written various pieces of software, including an iPhone game. He is continuing to do research into combining computer games and CP.
Recent Publications
- Akgün, Ö, Enright, J, Jefferson, C, McCreesh, C, Prosser, P & Zschaler, S 2021, Finding subgraphs with side constraints. in PJ Stuckey (ed.), Integration of Constraint Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations Research - 18th International Conference, CPAIOR 2021, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 12735 LNCS, Springer, Cham, pp. 348-364, 18th International Conference on the Integration of Constraint Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations Research, CPAIOR 2021, Virtual, Online, 5/07/21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78230-6_22
- The GAP Group, Behrends, R, Breuer, T, Horn, M, Hulpke, A, Jefferson, CA, Konovalov, A, Linton, SA, Lübeck, F, Mitchell, JD, Pfeiffer, MJ, Siccha, S & Torpey, MC, GAP – Groups, Algorithms, and Programming, Version 4.11.1, 2021, Software. <https://www.gap-system.org/Releases/4.11.1.html>
- Barakat, M, Behrends, R, Jefferson, C, Kühne, L & Leuner, M 2021, 'On the generation of rank 3 simple matroids with an application to Terao's freeness conjecture', SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 1201-1223. https://doi.org/10.1137/19M1296744
- Jefferson, C, Pfeiffer, M, Wilson, WA & Waldecker, R 2021, 'Permutation group algorithms based on directed graphs', Journal of Algebra, vol. 585, pp. 723-758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalgebra.2021.06.015
- Huczynska, S, Jefferson, C & Nepšinská, S 2021, 'Strong external difference families in abelian and non-abelian groups', Cryptography and Communications , vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 331–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12095-021-00473-3
- Espasa Arxer, J, Gent, IP, Hoffmann, R, Jefferson, C, McIlree, MJ & Lynch, AM 2021, Towards generic explanations for pen and paper puzzles with MUSes. in K Martin, N Wiratunga & A Wijekoon (eds), Proceedings of the SICSA eXplainable Artifical Intelligence Workshop 2021. CEUR Workshop Proceedings, vol. 2894, pp. 56-63, SICSA eXplainable Artifical Intelligence Workshop, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, 1/06/21. <http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2894/>
- Akgün, Ö, Frisch, AM, Gent, IP, Jefferson, C, Miguel, I, Nightingale, P & Salamon, AZ 2021, Towards reformulating Essence specifications for robustness. in ModRef 2021 - The 20th workshop on Constraint Modelling and Reformulation (ModRef). The 20th workshop on Constraint Modelling and Reformulation (ModRef), 25/10/21. <https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.00821>