Samar Rahmouni

Formal Verification & Reinforcement Learning
The future is neurosymbolic —-

Education

2023 - Now

Master en Rercherche Informatique; Ecole Polytechnique, Paris

Projet M1 on Graphical Algebra and its applications to Category Theory, implementation in Agda
- Advised by Samuel Mimram
Stage M1 with Partout on an implementation of proof search for Pomset and BV logic
- Advised by Lutz Straßburger

2018-2022

B.S., Computer Science; Carnegie Mellon University

Honors Thesis: Domain Informed Oracle for Reinforcement Learning
- Advised by Giselle Reis, Gianni Di Caro and Eduardo Feo Flushing
Concentration in Programming Languages

Experience

Stagiaire M1
- @ Partout - INRIA Saclay

Implemented proof search for Pomset and BV logic, as part of the effort to have a useful tool for researchers. In the process of both verifying the correctness of the prover and choosing heuristics to optimize the search.

Course Assistant for Constructive Logic (15-317) and Artificial Inteligence (15-281)
- @ CMU Qatar

Provided 1-1 tutoring to provide students with weekly helped, made autograders for the programming sections of the homeworks, wrote guidelines and reviewed midterms and assignments.

Teaching Assistant for Software Foundations of Security and Privacy (15-316)
- @ CMU Pittsburgh and Qatar

Proctored examinations, met weekly with the teaching staff to better adapt grading and wordings. In Qatar, I wrote the homework solutions for future iterations of the course.

Undergraduate Research Assistant
- @ CMU Qatar Funded by Giselle Reis.

Implemented a theorem prover for classical and constructive logic where the underlying types are objects. The prover was later automated for classical by making use of G3CP invertible rules. The project has an easy-to-use graphical interface to be used by students learning about logic.

Java Instructor
- @ CMU Africa

Taugh Computer Science teachers basics of Java, by designing 2-week curriculum. Met with President Paul Kagame to discuss the future of education in Rwanda. The project was done by closely working with CMU Pittsburgh and CMU Africa.

Research Experience

Proof Search in Pomset and BV logic (in progress) Advised by Lutz Straßburger

Implementation was done in Ocaml while making use of the ‘Logical’ tool for the proof search of BV, specifically.
Proof search in Pomset was implemented as the search of cycles on graphs: restricted to balanced formulas
The implementation in Pomset was used as a benchmark for testing the proof search on BV
(www.)

Proof Assistant for Categories encoded in an Equational Graphical Language Advised by Samuel Mimram

Link between equational and graphical structures.
Transforming the categorical definition of a terminal object to an equational definition using the work done by Albert Burroni.
Defined the relevant type system and its rules for terms, contexts and equalities

Domain Informed Oracle for Reinforcement Learning (dio): Advised by Giselle Reis, Gianni Di Caro and Eduardo Feo Flushing

Implemented a domain-informed module in ProgLog to guide the reward shaping of a Reinforcement Learning (RL) module
Independently gathered related work to better identify the problem of reward shaping in RL and investigate possible solutions
Adapted a deep-learning architecture to include a logic module, the model was formalized accordingly
www.

Behavioral Modulation of a Reinforcement Learning Controller using Artificial Emotions Advised by Gianni Di Caro - Funded by QSIURP (Qatar Student Initiated Undergraduate Research Program) 2021

Formalized and Implemented a survival game scenario based on predators and preys.
Action is determined by behavior and decision in the environment.
Experimenting on outcomes of behavioral modulations and its learned effects on decisions.

Proof Search and Certificates for Evidential Transactions Vivek Nigam, Giselle Reis, Samar Rahmouni and Harald Ruess, CADE28

Provided a logical framework for distributed evidential transactions
Compiled relevant related work
Proved cut-elimination for the logic (interesting proof found in annex of the paper)
(www.)

Academics

I love meeting people. You might have seen me at:

OurCS conference in CMU Pittsburgh in 2018
CADE28 in 2021
POPL21 - Student scholarship and mentor/mentee program
SPLASH21 - Student scholarship
Differential Lambda Calculus @ CIRM Marseille 2024

Random things about me

I speak French, Arabic and English fluently. I have conversational skills in German and Spanish and currently, learning Italian.

I founded the Dungeons and Dragons Club in 2019 in CMU Qatar and was advised by Michael Trick, also a very avid DnD player!

I volunteered in Greece at a syrian refugee camp and filmed a documentary. I also was part of years-long effort to improve ICT education in Rwanda, it culminated in a meeting with his Presidency Paul Kagame, on how we could make a meaningful change.

I won second place in the Qatar Mathematics Championship in 2018.

I have a collection of funky socks with at least 50 pairs from different countries.

Contact me @ < samar dot rahmouni at outlook dot com> • 24 years old living in Paris, France