About me
I am currently a PostDoc at the Faculty of Mathematics at University of Vienna, working with Prof. Emmanuel Schertzer. I am a member of the Biomathematics Group, and a member of the research network Discrete random structures: enumeration and scaling limits.
Previously I was a PostDoc at the Institue of Discrete Mathematics and Geometry at TU Wien with Prof. Benedikt Stufler, working on limits of random networks.
I completed my PhD under the supervision of Cecilia Holmgren and Svante Janson at Uppsala University, my doctoral thesis is titled Decorating trees grown in urns.
My masters studies were completed at the University of Manitoba under the supervision of David. S. Guderson, my masters thesis is titled On partition regular systems.
My research interests lie primarly in probability, with a particular focus on random trees and and random tree-like networks. I also work in biomathematics with a focus on population genetics, and in combinatorics with a focus on graph theory.
colin(dot)desmarais(at)univie.ac.at
Faculty of Mathematics
University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria
Google Scholar
Research
Preprints- Moments of Pólya urns balanced in expectation, arXiv:2603.17804, (submitted).
- K-branching random walk with noisy selection: large population limits and phase transitions, with Emmanuel Schertzer and Zsofia Talyigas, arXiv:2509.26254, (submitted).
- Depths in random recursive metric spaces, Journal of Applied Probability 61 (2024), 1448-1462.
- Broadcasting-induced colorings of preferential attachment trees, with Cecilia Holmgren and Stephan Wagner, Random Structures and Algorithms 63 (2023), 363-405.
- Depths in hooking networks, with Hosam Mahmoud, Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences 36 (2022), 941-949.
- Normal Limit Laws for Vertex Degrees in Randomly Grown Hooking Networks and Bipolar Networks, with Cecilia Holmgren, Electronic Journal of Combinatorics 27 (2020), P2.45.
- Testing bi-orderability of knot groups, with Adam Clay and Patrick Naylor, Canadian Mathematical Bulletin 59 (2016), 472-482.
- The root cluster after percolation on preferential attachment trees, with Cecilia Holmgren and Stephan Wagner, in Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Applications (EUROCOMB’23), 343-348, MUNI Journals, 2023.
- Distributed training and scalability for the particle clustering method UCluster, with Olga Sunneborn Gudnadottir, Daniel Gedon, Karl Bengtsson Bernander, Raazesh Sainudiin, and Rebeca Gonzalez Suarez, in EPJ Web of Conferences (CHEP 2021) 251 article 02054, EDP Sciences, 2021.
- Degree distributions of generalized hooking networks, with Cecilia Holmgren, in 2019 Proceedings of the Sixteenth Workshop on Analytic Algorithms and Combinatorics (ANALCO) 103-110, SIAM, 2019.
The following are posters of my research from my bachelors and masters.
- Constructions of hypergraphs free of certain 3-uniform 3-partite hypergraphs, with David. S. Gunderson, 2016.
- Testing bi-orderability of knot groups, with Adam Clay and Patrick Naylor, undergraduate summer research project 2014.
- Negacyclic weighing matrices, with Robert Craigen and Patrick Naylor, undergraduate summer research project 2013.
- Non-bi-orderability of knot groups from Dehn's presentation, with Adam Clay, part of undergraduate research project 2015.
Teaching
TU Wien
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Winter Semester 2025
- Analysis for Computer Science I 104.634 (TA)
- Discrete Mathematics for Computer Scientists 104.272 (Masters level) (TA)
University of Vienna
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Summer Semester 2024
- Linear Algebra II 250083 (TA)
- Analysis I 250011 (TA)
Uppsala University
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Spring Semester 2022
- Combinatorics 1MA020 (Lecturer)
- Several Variable Calculus 1MA017 (TA)
- Transform Methods 1MA034 (TA)
- Combinatorics 1MA020 (Lecturer)
- Linear Algebra II 1MA024 (TA)
- Combinatorics 1MA020 (Lecturer)
- Linear Algebra II 1MA024 (TA)
- Linear Algebra and Geometry I 1MA025 (TA)
- Transform Methods 1MA034 (TA)
- Several Variable Calculus 1MA016 (TA)
University of Manitoba
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Winter Semester 2017
- Elements of Discrete Mathematics MATH 1240 (TA)
- Techniques of Classical and Linear Algebra MATH 1210 (TA)
- Elements of Discrete Mathematics MATH 1240 (TA)
- Techniques of Classical and Linear Algebra MATH 1210 (TA)
- Elements of Discrete Mathematics MATH 1240 (TA)
- Elements of Discrete Mathematics MATH 1240 (TA)
- Graph Theory I MATH 2070 (TA)
- Elements of Discrete Mathematics MATH 1240 (TA)
- Techniques of Classical and Linear Algebra MATH 1210 (TA)