Alexander Ioannidis

Past

I graduated in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University and earned an M.Phil in Computational Biology and Diploma in Greek from the University of Cambridge. I earned my Ph.D. in Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University, along with an M.S. in Mgmt. Science and Engineering (Optimization). Prior to this I worked on superconducting computing logic and quantum computing at Northrop Grumman.

Present

I teach machine learning algorithms and data science in the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering (ICME), Stanford University, and I am a research fellow in the Dept. of Biomedical Data Science (BDS), Stanford School of Medicine, where my work focuses on applying computational methods to problems in genomics and population genetics, particularly looking at underrepresented populations in Polynesia, Oceania, and Latin America.

I also do work at the intersection of history and population genetics, including work with native communities. As the grandson of Cappadocian refugees expelled from their native land, I try to engage with the complex sentiments of displaced indigenous peoples in this work. Pain over disruption of community heritage and dispossession from traditional sites often remains raw. If engagement with descendant communities is lacking, research into our past can often feel like a continuation, even a legitimation, of dispossession. Combined alongside a dialogue with native communities, however, genetics can play a small role in helping to reclaim ancestral stories and dispersed community connections. I hope our work plays a constructive role in that process.

As written by the poet Rumi in the language of the Cappadocians (Rûm),

پیمی تیِ پَاثیِسْ پیمی تی خاسِس

“Tell me what happened to you,

tell me what you have lost.”

[Rumi; Konya ms 67; translit. πε με τι έπαθες, πε με τι έχασες]