Bo Sun

I work at the intersection of theory and systems, focusing on developing algorithms with provable guarantees for online decision-making problems in networked systems, such as energy systems (electric vehicle networks and smart grids) and computing systems (cloud computing and mobile edge computing). I am recently interested in the following topics:
• Online competitive algorithms that provide robust online decisions with worst-case guarantees

• Online knapsack problems (SIGMETRICS23)
• Online conversion problems (SIGMETRICS21)

• Learning-augmented algorithms that leverage predictions from AI/ML tools in algorithm design

• Consistency-robustness analysis (e-Energy24 and NeurIPS21)
• Distributionally robust competitive analysis (ICML24)

• Algorithmic fairness that encodes fairness in online algorithms and mechanism design

• Time fairness (WINE24 and ICLR24)
• Group fairness (SIGMETRICS25)

I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa. Prior to this, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Waterloo with Prof. Raouf Boutaba and at The Chinese University of Hong Kong with Prof. John C.S. Lui. I completed my Ph.D. at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where I worked with Prof. Danny H.K. Tsang. I have also held visiting positions at several institutions, including Columbia Univerisity, where I worked with Prof. David Yao and Prof. Ward Whitt, and the California Institute of Technology, where I worked with Prof. Steven Low and Prof. Adam Wierman.

Openings: I am looking for self-motivated Master’s and Ph.D. students for Fall 2026, to work on online decision-making algorithms and their applications to networked systems. Please drop me an email with your CV and research interests (in one paragraph) if you are interested.

M. Daneshvaramoli, H. Karisani, A. Lechowicz, B. Sun, C. Musco, and M. Hajiesmaili, “Online Fractional Knapsack With Predictions,” ICML, 2025. [PDF]

F. Zargari, H. Jazi, B. Sun, and X. Tan, “Online Allocation with Multi-Class Arrivals: Group Fairness vs Individual Welfare,” ACM SIGMETRICS, 2025. [PDF]

A. Lechowicz, N. Christianson, B. Sun, N. Bashir, M. Hajiesmaili, A. Wierman, and P. Shenoy, “Learning-Augmented Competitive Algorithms for Spatiotemporal Online Allocation with Deadline Constraints,” ACM SIGMETRICS, 2025. [PDF]

H. Jazi, B. Sun, X. Tan, and R. Boutaba, “Improved Algorithms for Online k-Selection with Diseconomies of Scale,” WWW, 2025. [PDF]

B. Sun, H. Jazi, X. Tan, and R. Boutaba, “Static Pricing for Online Selection Problem and its Variants,” WINE, 2024. [PDF]

B. Sun, J. Huang, N. Christianson, M. Hajiesmaili, A. Wierman, and R. Boutaba, “Online Algorithms with Uncertainty-Quantified Predictions,” ICML, 2024. [PDF]

N. Christianson, B. Sun, A. Wierman, and S. Low, “Risk-Sensitive Online Algorithms,” COLT, 2024. [PDF]

R. Lee, B. Sun, M. Hajiesmaili, and J.C.S. Lui, “Online Search with Predictions: Pareto-optimal Algorithm and its Applications in Energy Markets,” ACM e-Energy, 2024. [PDF]

B. Sun, L. Yang, M. Hajiesmaili, A. Wierman, J.C.S. Lui, D. Towsley, and D.H.K. Tsang, “The Online Knapsack Problem with Departures,” ACM SIGMETRICS, 2023. [PDF]

B. Sun, R. Lee, M. Hajiesmaili, A. Wierman, and D.H.K. Tsang, “Pareto-Optimal Learning-Augmented Algorithms for Online Conversion Problems,” NeurIPS, 2021. [PDF]

B. Sun, A. Zeynali, T. Li, M. Hajiesmaili, A. Wierman, and D.H.K. Tsang, “Competitive Algorithms for the Online Multiple Knapsack Problem with Application to Electric Vehicle Charging,” ACM SIGMETRICS, 2021. [PDF]

• CSI2110: Data Structures and Algorithms, Fall 2025

• CS456/656: Computer Networks, Fall 2024

• Program Co-Chair

• Workshop on Learning-augmented Algorithms: Theory and Applications at ACM SIGMETRICS, 2024, 2025.

• Technical Program Committee Member

• ACM SIGMETRICS 2026
• IEEE GLOBECOM 2019 - 2025
• IEEE ICC 2024
• IEEE ICNC 2023 - 2025
• IEEE SmartGridComm 2022, 2024, 2025