Publications related to Complex Dynamics in Simple Neural Networks: Understanding Gradient Flow in Phase Retrieval

Relaxing the Additivity Constraints in Decentralized No-Regret High-Dimensional Bayesian Optimization

Bayesian Optimization (BO) is typically used to optimize an unknown function f that is noisy and costly to evaluate, by exploiting an acquisition function that must be maximized at each optimization step. Even if provably asymptotically optimal BO algorith ...

2024

Optimization Algorithms for Decentralized, Distributed and Collaborative Machine Learning

Anastasiia Koloskova

Distributed learning is the key for enabling training of modern large-scale machine learning models, through parallelising the learning process. Collaborative learning is essential for learning from privacy-sensitive data that is distributed across various ...

EPFL2024

Scalable constrained optimization

Maria-Luiza Vladarean

Modern optimization is tasked with handling applications of increasingly large scale, chiefly due to the massive amounts of widely available data and the ever-growing reach of Machine Learning. Consequently, this area of research is under steady pressure t ...

EPFL2024

Topics in statistical physics of high-dimensional machine learning

Hugo Chao Cui

In the past few years, Machine Learning (ML) techniques have ushered in a paradigm shift, allowing the harnessing of ever more abundant sources of data to automate complex tasks. The technical workhorse behind these important breakthroughs arguably lies in ...

EPFL2024

BENIGN LANDSCAPES OF LOW-DIMENSIONAL RELAXATIONS FOR ORTHOGONAL SYNCHRONIZATION ON GENERAL GRAPHS

Nicolas Boumal

Orthogonal group synchronization is the problem of estimating n elements Z(1),& mldr;,Z(n) from the rxr orthogonal group given some relative measurements R-ij approximate to Z(i)Z(j)(-1). The least-squares formulation is nonconvex. To avoid its local minim ...

Siam Publications2024

Mesh-based topology, shape and sizing optimization of ribbed plates

In this paper, we present a new parameterization and optimization procedure for minimizing the weight of ribbed plates. The primary goal is to reduce embodied CO2 in concrete floors as part of the effort to diminish the carbon footprint of the construction ...

Springer2024

Deep Learning Theory Through the Lens of Diagonal Linear Networks

Scott William Pesme

In this PhD manuscript, we explore optimisation phenomena which occur in complex neural networks through the lens of

2

-layer diagonal linear networks. This rudimentary architecture, which consists of a two layer feedforward linear network with a diagonal ...

EPFL2024

The effect of smooth parametrizations on nonconvex optimization landscapes

Nicolas Boumal

We develop new tools to study landscapes in nonconvex optimization. Given one optimization problem, we pair it with another by smoothly parametrizing the domain. This is either for practical purposes (e.g., to use smooth optimization algorithms with good g ...

Springer Heidelberg2024

Universal and adaptive methods for robust stochastic optimization

Ali Kavis

Within the context of contemporary machine learning problems, efficiency of optimization process depends on the properties of the model and the nature of the data available, which poses a significant problem as the complexity of either increases ad infinit ...

EPFL2023

Stochastic adaptive resampling for the estimation of discrete choice models

Michel Bierlaire, Nicola Marco Ortelli, Matthieu Marie Cochon de Lapparent

In the field of choice modeling, the availability of ever-larger datasets has the potential to significantly expand our understanding of human behavior, but this prospect is limited by the poor scalability of discrete choice models (DCMs): as sample sizes ...

2023

Augmented Lagrangian Methods for Provable and Scalable Machine Learning

Mehmet Fatih Sahin

Non-convex constrained optimization problems have become a powerful framework for modeling a wide range of machine learning problems, with applications in k-means clustering, large- scale semidefinite programs (SDPs), and various other tasks. As the perfor ...

EPFL2023

The statistical complexity of early-stopped mirror descent

Varun Kanade, Tomas Vaskevicius

Recently there has been a surge of interest in understanding implicit regularization properties of iterative gradient-based optimization algorithms. In this paper, we study the statistical guarantees on the excess risk achieved by early-stopped unconstrain ...

Oxford Univ Press2023

Learning and optimization of anticipatory feedback controllers for robot manipulation

Hakan Girgin

Programming intelligent robots requires robust controllers that can achieve desired tasks while adapting to the changes in the task and the environment. In this thesis, we address the challenges in designing such adaptive and anticipatory feedback controll ...

EPFL2023

End-to-End Learning for Stochastic Optimization: A Bayesian Perspective

Daniel Kuhn, Yves Rychener, Tobias Sutter

We develop a principled approach to end-to-end learning in stochastic optimization. First, we show that the standard end-to-end learning algorithm admits a Bayesian interpretation and trains a posterior Bayes action map. Building on the insights of this an ...

2023

Reinforcement Learning for Joint Design and Control of Battery-PV Systems

Christophe Ballif, Nicolas Würsch, Laure-Emmanuelle Perret Aebi, Marine Dominique Cauz

The decentralisation and unpredictability of new renewable energy sources require rethinking our energy system. Data-driven approaches, such as reinforcement learning (RL), have emerged as new control strategies for operating these systems, but they have n ...

2023

Implicit Distance Functions: Learning and Applications in Robotics

Mikhail Koptev

In this thesis, we address the complex issue of collision avoidance in the joint space of robots. Avoiding collisions with both the robot's own body parts and obstacles in the environment is a critical constraint in motion planning and is crucial for ensur ...

EPFL2023

Training Efficient Controllers via Analytic Policy Gradient

Dario Floreano, Davide Scaramuzza, Valentin Wüest

Control design for robotic systems is complex and often requires solving an optimization to follow a trajectory accurately. Online optimization approaches like Model Predictive Control (MPC) have been shown to achieve great tracking performance, but requir ...

New York2023

Stochastic-robust planning optimization method based on tracking-economy extreme scenario tradeoff for CCHP multi-energy system

François Maréchal, Yuxuan Li

The load tracking performance of combined cooling, heating, and power multi-energy system (CCHP-MES) greatly depends on the equipment capacity configuration. And the frequent fluctuations in the source-load uncertainty puts higher demands on the load track ...

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2023

Safe Zeroth-Order Convex Optimization Using Quadratic Local Approximations

Baiwei Guo, Giancarlo Ferrari Trecate, Yuning Jiang, Maryam Kamgarpour

We address black-box convex optimization problems, where the objective and constraint functions are not explicitly known but can be sampled within the feasible set. The challenge is thus to generate a sequence of feasible points converging towards an optim ...

IEEE2023

A combined genetic algorithm and active learning approach to build and test surrogate models in Process Systems Engineering

François Maréchal, Julia Granacher

In Process Systems Engineering, computationally-demanding models are frequent and plentiful. Handling such complexity in an optimization framework in a fast and reliable way is essential, not only for generating meaningful solutions but also for providing ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023