As of Fall 2007

I am a fourth-year PhD student in computer science at Northeastern University.

My current research focus is on using disk-based algorithms for the search and enumeration of very large implicit graphs. My first application of these methods showed that any configuration of Rubik's cube can be solved in 26 or fewer moves.

The details are published as:

D. Kunkle and G. Cooperman, "Twenty-Six Moves Suffice for Rubik's Cube", Proc. of International Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation (ISSAC '07), ACM Press, 2007, 235--242. [pdf].

Northeastern University published a press release for this work (May 31, 2007).

This prompted a number of news stories, including:

• Ars Technica, How many moves does it take to solve a Rubik's Cube? (June 3, 2007)
• Wired Blog Network, Rubik's Cube Solved in 26 Moves (June 4, 2007)
• The Boston Globe, The search for 'God's Number' in a Rubik's Cube (June 25, 2007)
• The Budapest Times, Crack any Rubik's cube in 26 moves (July 1, 2007)
• Dr. Dobb's, More multicore. Just can't get enough of it. (July 2, 2007)
• The Record, Curiosity, cunning help tame cube (August 02, 2007)
• Science News, Cracking the Cube (August 11, 2007)
• The Wall Street Journal, The Numbers Behind Rubik's Cube (August 15, 2007)
• Discover Magazine, The Rubik's Cube Solution that Could Improve Your Life (August 15, 2007)
• BBC News, Super solution for Rubik's cube (August 16, 2007)
• The Telegraph, Rubik's Cube can be solved in 26 moves (August 17, 2007)
• The Age, Computer claims cubic order 26 moves away (August 18, 2007)