PhD proposal on distributed graph data bases by René Pickhardt.
From the post:
Over the last week we had our off campus meeting with a lot of communication training (very good and fruitful) as well as a special treatment for some PhD students called “massage your diss”. I was one of the lucky students who were able to discuss our research ideas with a post doc and other PhD candidates for more than 6 hours. This lead to the structure, todos and time table of my PhD proposal. This has to be finalized over the next couple days but I already want to share the structure in order to make it more real. You might also want to follow my article on a wish list of distributed graph data base technology.
If you have the time, please read René’s proposal and comment on it.
Although I am no stranger to multi-year research projects, ;-), I must admit to pausing when I read:
Here I will name the at least the related work in the following fields:
- graph processing (Signal Collect, Pregel,…)
- graph theory (especially data structures and algorithms)
- (dynamic/adaptive) graph partitioning
- distributed computing / systems (MPI, Bulk Synchronous Parallel Programming, Map Reduce, P2P, distributed hash tables, distributed file systems…)
- redundancy vs fault tolerance
- network programming (protocols, latency vs bandwidth)
- data bases (ACID, multiple user access, …)
- graph data base query languages (SPARQL, Gremlin, Cypher,…)
- Social Network and graph analysis and modelling.
Unless René is planning on taking the most recent citations in each area, describing related work and establishing how it is related to “distributed graph data bases,” will consume the projected time period for his dissertation work.
Each of the areas listed is a complete field unto itself and has many PhD sized research problems related to “distributed graph data bases.”
Almost all PhD proposals start with breath taking scope but the ones that make a real contribution (and are completed), identify specific problems that admit to finite research programs.
I think René should revise his proposal to focus on some particular aspect of “distributed graph data bases.” I suspect even the history of one aspect of such databases will expand fairly rapidly upon detailed consideration.
The need for a larger, global perspective on “distributed graph data bases” will still be around after René finishes a less encompassing dissertation. I promise.
What is your advice?