Women in Science Profiles
Dr. Simona Korenjak Cerne
I finished my BSc degree in November 1988 with the thesis Generalized Matrix Inverses. My advisor was Prof. Edvard Kramar, at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Ljubljana, course of study Applied Mathematics. The first year after graduation I started working at Computing Centre Zasavje in Trbovlje. I also decided to continue my study at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana, the postgraduate program Computer and Information Science. After I had moved to Ljubljana, I started working for the company Slovenijales in the automatic data processing department as a programmer-organizer. At expert courses I gained some experience in automatic data processing. I finished my MSc degree in 1995 with the thesis Hierarchical Clustering Methods. My advisor was Prof. Vladimir Batagelj. In 1992 I got a position as a young researcher and until the year 2000 I was working at the Institute for Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics in Ljubljana. Since February 2000 I am employed at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Department of Statistics. I finished my PhD in 2003 with the thesis Methods For Clustering Large Datasets Of Mixed Units. My advisor was Prof. Ivan Bratko, and the co-advisor Prof. Vladimir Batagelj.
My research work was at first primarily focused on clustering. With technological development storing data has become much less complicated and the question is how to extract useful information from this huge amount of data. This is why I concentrated on the problem of clustering large dataset. A special challenge in classifying and analyzing data still comes from the inclusion of non-uniform descriptions of objects and during my PhD studies I focused primarily on examining these problems. I am also interested in other approaches to data analysis such as network analysis in which not only data and descriptions of objects are used, but also their relations. Many problems emerging in network analysis are close to those in clustering which enables to combine the results in both fields. At the Faculty of Economics I work as an Assistant Professor for Statistics. Different statistical approaches open new dimensions in solving problems of data processing. My research work is mostly carried out in co-operation, particularly with Prof. Vladimir Batagelj, and younger colleagues from this field. I try to present the findings of my research work at conferences in Slovenia and abroad whenever that is possible and as far as my other obligations allow it. In this way I also get acquainted with recent findings of my colleagues in the above mentioned and related research fields.
In spite of many obligations with lecturing and research work, I’m trying to spend as much time as possible with my husband and both my children who were and remain my greatest joy.