Optimization, Machine Learning and High Performance Computing

Group is directed by: Professor Oliveira and  Professor Stewart

2021 REU Mentors:  Professor Suely Oliveira
with  Geoff Converse ,   Jamil Gafur  and  Tarun Roy

We bring knowledge from Numerical Analysis and Optimization to design and improve Machine Learning algorithms.

We focus on applications with large amounts of data where new optimization or parallel algorithms are essential.

Recent projects include: Machine Learning and Genetics, Neural Networks and Educational data, Theoretical Foundations of Neural Networks, Gerrymandering

          
We study classical optimization methods, stochastic gradient descent, and metaheuristics for machine learning and their parallelization. Above, see simulations of gradient descent and a metaheuristic algorithm (image provided by Jamil Gafur, PhD student in Computer Science).

Current PhD students working on this Group
(with Profs Oliveira or Professor Stewart)

• Ibrahim Emirahmetoglu  - Optimization and HPC for Machine Learning
• Tarun Roy  -  Data Science and Machine Learning
• Jamil Gafur  - Optimization and HPC for Machine Learning
• Cory Edwards-Kromer  - Machine Learning for Genetic Data Problem
• Geoff Converse   - Machine Learning for Educational Data Problems
• Michael Kratochvil - Stochastic optimization problems for energy distribution
  
• Violet Tiema - Extreme Learning Machine approaches to feature selection
  
• Jared Grove - Gerrymandering and Markov chains

Some Recent PhD Students: Jeffrey Hajewski (2020, Salesforce), Thamer Alsulaiman (2019, Oracle),  Cole Stiegler (2018, Target Corp.), Rahil Sharma (2016, Cadence), Mario Barela (2016, BAE Systems),  Benjamin Dill (2016, Westminster College, Utah), more under our webpages

2015-2016 Kyumok Lee, Wyatt Bettis, Yue Bin, Kenong Su

2016-2017 Kenong Su, Jing Chen, Jingrong Li, Benjamin Jacobs

2017-2018 Yash Chauhan, Anthony Pizzimenti, Joseph Constant, Yunyi Li, Sangguan Wang

2018-2019 Mathias Sader, Chunquing Cao, Katherine Wasmer, Vanessa Chen, Kayla Gibson, Laura Weiler.

Summer 2015 Gracé Ndovia, Mitchell Penningroth, Jacob Smith, Mathias Sader, Loius Hasley, T'shilyn Harrington, Brian Schweer

Summer 2016 Rzwan Didhu, Liam Hagan, Daniel Kelly, Dillon Kock, Lucas Zach, Nolan Dewitte, Jiahua Zhang, Anthony Pizzimenti, Austin Russ, Derek Choi, Katherine Chace

Summer 2017 Carlos Zapata, Kelvin Encarnacao, Abigail Williams-Yee, Carles Mascardo, Natasha Brown-Joel,Jacob Howard, Robert Gerritsen, Minhan Lin, Biao Liu

Summer 2018 Kevin Liu, Ethan St John, Gus Johnson, Ethan Trepka, Moly Mcdermott, Steve Garcia, Rachel Hammel, Brandon Koch, Prateek Sudhanshu Raikwar, Jeremy Feguson, Yinguy Zhou, Pranav Sateesh, Andy Hou, Drew Graves