My research interests include: theory of randomized search heuristics, theory of evolutionary computation, parameterized complexity, randomized algorithms, graph theory.

Co-chair of CEC 2017 Special Session: Theoretical Foundations of Bio-inspired Computation as part of the 2017 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, June 5 - 8, 2017, Donostia-San Sebastián , Spain (together with Pietro S. Oliveto). Note: accepted papers of the highest quality will be invited for extension to a Special Issue of the journal Theoretical Computer Science.

Proceedings Chair of ACM GECCO 2016.

I am currently a researcher in the Algorithm Engineering Group at Hasso-Plattner-Institut, Universität Potsdam in Germany. My research is supported by the SAGE Project, which is funded by the European Commission FP7 ICT FET Open Scheme. I have recently moved from the Chair of Theoretical Computer Science I in the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität in Jena, Germany. 

I have held two previous postdoctoral fellowships. Most recently I was at Colorado State University working in the lab of Darrell Whitley. Before that, I was at The University of Adelaide in Adelaide, South Australia working in the lab of Frank Neumann.

Editorial Work

• P. S. Oliveto and A. M. Sutton. Special Issue on Theory of Evolutionary Algorithms 2014, Evolutionary Computation 23:4 (2015). [link]

Journal Articles

• T. Friedrich, T. Kötzing, M. S. Krejca, and A. M. Sutton. The Compact Genetic Algorithm is Efficient under Extreme Gaussian Noise. IEEE Transactions in Evolutionary Computation (in press). [link]
• B. Doerr, F. Neumann, and A. M. Sutton. Time Complexity Analysis of Evolutionary Algorithms on Random Satisfiable k-CNF Formulas. Algorithmica (in press). [link]
• A. M. Sutton. Superpolynomial Lower Bounds for the (1+1) EA on Some Easy Combinatorial Problems, Algorithmica, 75:3 (2016), pp 507-528. [link]
• T. Paixão, G. Badkobeh, N. H. Barton, D. Çörüş, D.-C. Dang, T. Friedrich, P. K. Lehre, D. Sudholt, A. M. Sutton, B. Trubenová. Toward a unifying framework for evolutionary processes, Journal of Theoretical Biology 383 (2015), pp. 28-43. [link]
• A. Q. Nguyen, A. M. Sutton, and F. Neumann. Population size matters: Rigorous runtime results for maximizing the hypervolume indicator, Theoretical Computer Science 561 (2015), pp. 24-36. [link]
• F. Chicano, A. M. Sutton, L. D. Whitley, and E. Alba. Fitness Probability Distribution of Bit-Flip Mutation, Evolutionary Computation 23:2 (2015), pp. 217-248. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, F. Neumann, and S. Nallaperuma. Parameterized Runtime Analyses of Evolutionary Algorithms for the Planar Euclidean Traveling Salesperson Problem, Evolutionary Computation 22:4 (2014), pp. 595--628. [link]
• D. Whitley, A. M. Sutton, G. Ochoa, and F. Chicano. The component model for elementary landscapes and partial neighborhoods, Theoretical Computer Science 545 (2014), pp. 59-75. [link]
• T. Kötzing, A. M. Sutton, F. Neumann, and U.-M. O'Reilly. The Max Problem Revisited: The Importance of Mutation in Genetic Programming, Theoretical Computer Science 545 (2014), pp. 94-107. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, F. Chicano, and L. D. Whitley, Fitness Function Distributions over Generalized Search Neighborhoods in the q-ary Hypercube, Evolutionary Computation 21:4 (2013), pp. 561-590. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, L. D. Whitley, and A. E. Howe, Computing the moments of k-bounded pseudo-Boolean functions over Hamming spheres of arbitrary radius in polynomial time, Theoretical Computer Science 425 (2012), pp. 58-74. [link]

Refereed Conference Proceedings

• T. Friedrich, T. Kötzing, and A. M. Sutton. On the Robustness of Evolving Populations. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN2016), Edinburgh, Scotland, September 2016. [To appear]
• T. Friedrich, T. Kötzing, M. S. Krejca, and A. M. Sutton. Graceful Scaling on Uniform versus Steep-Tailed Noise. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN2016), Edinburgh, Scotland, September 2016. [To appear]
• D.-C. Dang, T. Friedrich, T. Kötzing, M. S. Krejca, P. K. Lehre, P. S. Oliveto, D. Sudholt, and A. M. Sutton. Emergence of Diversity and its Benefits for Crossover in Genetic Algorithms. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN2016), Edinburgh, Scotland, September 2016. [To appear]
• D.-C. Dang, T. Friedrich, T. Kötzing, M. S. Krejca, P. K. Lehre, P. S. Oliveto, D. Sudholt, and A. M. Sutton. Escaping Local Optima with Diversity Mechanisms and Crossover. In Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-16), Denver, CO, USA, July 2016. [To appear]
• T. Friedrich, T. Kötzing, M. S. Krejca, and A. M. Sutton. The Benefit of Recombination in Noisy Evolutionary Search. In Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2015), Nagoya, Japan, December 2015. [link]
• B. Doerr, F. Neumann, and A. M. Sutton. Improved Runtime Bounds for the (1+1) EA on Random 3-CNF Formulas Based on Fitness-Distance Correlation. In Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-15), Madrid, Spain, July 2015. [link]
  [Best Paper Award - Theory Track]
• T. Friedrich, T. Kötzing, M. S. Krejca, and A. M. Sutton. Robustness of ACO against Gaussian Noise, In Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-15), Madrid, Spain, July 2015. [link]
  [Best Paper Award - ACO/SI Track]
• A. M. Sutton. Superpolynomial Lower Bounds for the (1+1) EA on Some Easy Combinatorial Problems, In Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-14), Vancouver, Canada, July 2014. [link]
• F. Chicano, D. Whitley, and A. M. Sutton. Efficient Identification of Improving Moves in a Ball for Pseudo-Boolean Problems, In Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-14), Vancouver, Canada, July 2014. [link]
• A. M. Sutton and F. Neumann. Runtime Analysis of Evolutionary Algorithms on Randomly Constructed High-Density Satisfiable 3-CNF Formulas, In Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN XIII), Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 2014. Published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 8672, (2014) pp. 942-951. [link]
• A. Q. Nguyen, A. M. Sutton, and F. Neumann. Population Size Matters: Rigorous Runtime Results for Maximizing the Hypervolume Indicator, In Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-13), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 2013. [link]
• S. Nallaperuma, A. M. Sutton, and F. Neumann. Fixed-parameter evolutionary algorithms for the Euclidean traveling salesperson problem, In Proceedings of the IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC 2013), Cancún, México, June 2013. [link]
• S. Nallaperuma, A. M. Sutton, and F. Neumann. Parameterized complexity analysis and more effective construction methods for ACO algorithms and the Euclidean traveling salesperson problem, In Proceedings of the IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC 2013), Cancún, México, June 2013. [link]
• A. M. Sutton and F. Neumann. A Parameterized Runtime Analysis of Simple Evolutionary Algorithms for Makespan Scheduling, In Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN XII), Taormina, Italy, September 2012. Published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 7491, (2012) pp. 52-61. [link]
• A. M. Sutton and F. Neumann. A Parameterized Runtime Analysis of Evolutionary Algorithms for the Euclidean Traveling Salesperson Problem, In Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-12), Toronto, ON, Canada, July 2012. [CoRR abs/1207.0578]
• A. M. Sutton, J. Day, and F. Neumann. A Parameterized Runtime Analysis of Evolutionary Algorithms for MAX-2-SAT, In Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-12), Philadelphia, PA, July 2012. [link]
• T. Kötzing, A. M. Sutton, F. Neumann, and U.-M. O'Reilly. The Max Problem Revisited: The Importance of Mutation in Genetic Programming, In Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-12), Philadelphia, PA, July 2012. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, L. D. Whitley, and A. E. Howe. Mutation Rates of the (1+1)-EA on Pseudo-Boolean Functions of Bounded Epistasis, In Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-11), Dublin, Ireland, July 2011. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, L. D. Whitley, and A. E. Howe, Approximating the Distribution of Fitness over Hamming Regions, In Proceedings of the Foundations of Genetic Algorithms (FOGA XI), Schwarzenberg, Austria, January 2011. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, A. E. Howe, and L. D. Whitley, Directed Plateau Search for MAX-k-SAT, In Proceedings of the Third Annual Symposium on Combinatorial Search, Atlanta, GA, July 2010. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, A. E. Howe, and L. D. Whitley, A Theoretical Analysis of the k-Satisfiability Search Space, In Proceedings of SLS 2009, Brussels, Belgium, September 2009. Published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 5752, (2009) pp. 46-60. [link]
  [Second runner-up for Best Paper Award]
• A. M. Sutton, A. E. Howe, and L. D. Whitley, Estimating Bounds on Expected Plateau Size in MAXSAT Problems, In Proceedings of SLS 2009, Brussels, Belgium, September 2009. Published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 5752, (2009) pp. 31-45. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, L. D. Whitley, and A. E. Howe, A Polynomial Time Computation of the Exact Correlation Structure of k-Satisfiability Landscapes, In Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-09), Montreal, Canada, July 2009. [link] [slides]
• L. D. Whitley and A. M. Sutton, Partial Neighborhoods of Elementary Landscapes, In Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-09), Montreal, Canada, July 2009. [link]
• M. Lunacek, D. Whitley, and A. Sutton, The Impact of Global Structure on Search, In Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN-08), Dortmund, Germany, September 2008. [link]
  [Awarded Best Student Paper]
• L. D. Whitley, A. M. Sutton, and A. E. Howe, Understanding Elementary Landscapes, In Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-08), Atlanta, GA. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, A. E. Howe, and L. D. Whitley, Using Adaptive Priority Weighting to Direct Search in Probabilistic Scheduling, In International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS-07), Providence, RI. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, M. Lunacek, and L. D. Whitley, Differential Evolution and Non-separability: Using selective pressure to focus search, Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-07), London, England. [link]
• J. Smith, L. D. Briceno, A. A. Maciejewski, H. J. Siegel, D. Janovy, T. Renner, J. Ladd, A. Sutton, S. Govindasamy, A. Alqudah, R. Dewri, P. Prakash, V. Shestak, Measuring the Robustness of Resource Allocations in a Stochastic Dynamic Environment, International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2007), Long Beach, CA. [link]
• A. M. Sutton, L. D. Whitley, M. Lunacek, and A. Howe, PSO and Multifunnel Landscapes: How cooperation might limit exploration, Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-06), Seattle, WA. [link]
  [Nominated for Best Paper]
• A. M. Sutton, A. Howe, and L. D. Whitley, Spacetrack: Trading-off Quality and Utilization in Oversubscribed Schedules, International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS-06, short paper) English Lake District, UK. [link]

• Nature-Inspired Algorithms - HPI - Summer 2017
• Heuristic Optimization - HPI - Summer 2016
• Heuristic Optimization - HPI - Summer 2015
• CS 301 - Foundations of Computer Science - Colorado State University - Fall 2009

• Parameterized complexity analysis of evolutionary algorithms tutorial at GECCO 2015 (with Frank Neumann). [link]
• Parameterized complexity analysis of evolutionary algorithms tutorial at GECCO 2014 (with Frank Neumann). [link]
• Elementary Landscapes: Theory and Applications tutorial at GECCO 2013 (with Darrell Whitley). [link]
• Elementary Landscapes: Theory and Applications tutorial at GECCO 2012 (with Darrell Whitley). [link]
• Elementary Landscape Analysis for TSP, Graph Coloring, Graph Partitioning, and MAXSAT tutorial at GECCO 2009 (with Darrell Whitley). [link]