Abstract: In modern database systems, it is common to define, on stored data, auxiliary data structures called views. The view mechanism provides opportunities for view materialization, whereby a database system precomputes and stores the data satisfying the view definition. We look at view design - the process of automatically coming up with new view definitions - and its application to increasing the efficiency of answering database queries. View design is important for query optimization, data warehouse design, and information integration. We also discuss the broader idea of self-organizing databases, which is based on view redesign and rematerialization over time, in response to changing demands on database performance.

Short Bio: Rada Y. Chirkova is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. She received her Ph.D. (2002) in Computer Science at Stanford University, and M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Applied Mathematics from Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. Rada Chirkova\'s current research interests are in database performance, with a focus on improving query-processing efficiency.