Seminar: Optimization: Beyond Heuristics and Dealing with Uncertainty

Dr. Karthekeyan Chandrasekaran (Harvard University)

Monday, February 24, 2014, 10:30AM-12:00PM, EV 3.309

Abstract

Optimization problems are ubiquitous in contemporary engineering. The principal barriers to solving several real-world optimization problems are input uncertainty and large solution space. In this talk, I will address two algorithmic approaches to overcome these difficulties. First, I will give provable guarantees for a well-known heuristic, namely the cutting plane method, to find min-cost perfect matchings. Second, I will present new tools to study probabilistic instances of integer programs.

Bio

Dr. Karthekeyan Chandrasekaran is a Simons Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University. He obtained his B. Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and his Ph.D. in Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization from Georgia Tech. His primary research interests are in optimization, integer programming, probabilistic methods and analysis, and randomized algorithms.