*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************
Abstract:
Statistical inference in high-dimensional probabilistic models (i.e., with many variables) is one of the central problems of statistical machine learning and stochastic decision making. To date, only a handful of distinct methods have been developed, most notably (MCMC) sampling, decomposition, and variational methods. In this talk, I will introduce a fundamentally new approach based on random projections and combinatorial optimization. Our approach provides provable guarantees on accuracy, and outperforms traditional methods in a range of domains, in particular those involving combinations of probabilistic and causal dependencies (such as those coming from physical laws) among the variables. This allows for a tighter integration between inductive and deductive reasoning, and offers a range of new modeling opportunities. As an example, I will discuss applications in the emerging field of Computational Sustainability.
Bio:
Stefano Ermon is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he is affiliated with the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He completed his PhD in computer science at Cornell in 2015. His research interests include techniques for scalable and accurate inference in graphical models, statistical modeling of data, large-scale combinatorial optimization, and robust decision making under uncertainty, and is motivated by a range of applications, in particular ones in the emerging field of computational sustainability. Stefano has (co-)authored over 20 publications, and has won several awards, including two Best Student Paper Awards, one Runner-Up Prize, and a McMullen Fellowship.
