University of California at Berkeley
Dept of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences

EE298-4
Optimization Seminar

Spring Semester, 2001


Practical information

Volume: 1.5 units

Lectures: 939 Evans, Tuesdays 2-3:30

Instructors:Laurent El Ghaoui and Bernd Sturmfels

Course description

This is a new interdisciplinary seminar aimed at mathematically oriented graduate students and researchers. We wish to explore connections between optimization (in particular, convex optimization, linear and semidefinite programming) and computational algebraic geometry (the study of polynomial equations). Potential applications cut across all areas of Engineering. This seminar offers lectures and projects involving experiments with algorithms. Students can register for 1.5 units.

(Tentative) Schedule:

  1. January 16: L. El Ghaoui, Introduction to Semidefinite Programming
  2. Jan. 23: B. Sturmfels, Convex optimization and Real Algebraic Geometry
  3. Jan 30: B. Sturmfels, Introduction to Resultants
  4. Feb. 6: S. Boyd (Stanford University), Convex Matrix Optimization Problems, with Applications in Control, Signal Processing, and Circuit Design
  5. Feb. 13: P. Parrilo (Caltech), Matrix copositivity
  6. Feb. 20: Alper Atamturk, (UCB), Integer programming and Gomory inequalities in network design
  7. Feb. 27: D. Bertsimas (MIT), Moment problems and their applications
  8. March 6: L. El Ghaoui, Robust optimization and quality of SDP relaxations
  9. March 13: P. Parrilo (Caltech), B. Sturmfels, Global optimization of polynomial functions and experimental results
  10. March 20: L. Vandenberghe (UCLA), interior-point methods for convex problems involving finite autocorrelation sequences
  11. March 27: M. Overton (NYU), Optimizing Matrix Stability
  12. April 4: Alberto Grünbaum and Laura Matusevich (UCB), A polynomial system arising in tomography
  13. April 10: D. Williamson (IBM), Some applications of semidefinite programming to combinatorial optimization
  14. April 17: A. B. Kurzhanski (UCB), Dynamic optimization for reachability-related problems
  15. April 24: F. Rendl (Univ. Klagenfurt), LP and SDP approaches to the graph partitioning problem
  16. May 1: Karin Gatermann (ZIB, Berlin), Deformed toric varieties, cones, and polynomial systems in chemistry
  17. May 8: Student presentations (15-20 mins each):
    1. Ankur Varma and Alex Woo, "Optimization with Confidence Levels"
    2. Arnab Nilim and Brian Rotbach, "Dynamic routing of aircraft under uncertainty" (Powerpoint)
    3. Peter Seiler and Amit Khetan, "Application of Sum-of-Squares Functions in Control Theory" (Powerpoint)

    Related sites:

  18. Semidefinite Programming (Christoph Helmberg)
  19. Pablo Parrilo's home page