Professional Appointments:
- Full Professor -- Princeton, ORFE (July 2019 - Present)
- Assistant Professor -- Princeton, ORFE (September 2014 - June 2019)
- Director of the Optimization and Quantitative Decision Science Certificate Program (2019 - Present)
- Visiting Senior Optimization Fellow -- Citadel, GQS (2021 - 2022)
- Visiting Research Scientist -- Google Brain (2020 - 2021)
- Volunteer Assistant Coach -- Princeton Men's Tennis Team (2021)
- Goldstine Fellow -- IBM Watson Research Center (2012 - 2014)
- Postdoctoral Associate -- MIT Robot Locomotion Group (2011 - 2012)
Education:
- Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (minor in Mathematics), MIT, September, 2011.
- S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, 2008.
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, 2006.
- B.S. in Mathematics, University of Maryland, 2006.
Selected Distinctions:
- The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2019)
- Sloan Fellowship in Computer Science (2017)
- Young Researchers Prize of the INFORMS Optimization Society (2018)
- Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) award (2018)
- The Innovation Award of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (2018) - link to ORFE Spotlight
- Phi Beta Kappa Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (2017) - link to Princeton News
Awarded annually to two professors across Princeton University - DARPA Young Faculty Award (2017)
- Google Faculty Research Award (2016)
- NSF CAREER (2016-2021)
- Best SICON Paper Prize (2015)
For one of two most outstanding papers in SIAM J. on Control and Optimization during 2013-2015. - Plenary Speaker, SIAM Conference on Optimization (2021)
- Plenary Speaker, Colombian Conference on Applied and Industrial Mathematics (2022)
- Princeton University's Howard B. Wentz, Jr. Junior Faculty Award (2016) for excellence in research and teaching.
- Excellence in Teaching of Operations Research Award of the Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineers (2017)
- Teaching Award of the Princeton Engineering Council (three-time recipient, Fall 2014, Fall 2018, and Fall 2019)
For ORF 363/COS323, "Computing and Optimization" - AFOSR YIP (2014-2017)
Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program Award (AF career award) - INFORMS Computing Society Prize (2012)
For best series of papers at the interface of Operations Research and Computer Science - IBM Watson Herman Goldstine Fellowship in Mathematical Sciences (2012,2013)
Awarded annually to at most two candidates in all areas of mathematical and computer sciences.
Only one fellowship awarded in 2012. - Best Paper Award (2013)
30th IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) - NSF Junior Oberwolfach Fellowship (2015)
- NSF Junior Oberwolfach Fellowship (2014)
- AMS-Simons Travel Award (2012-2014)
- Best Student-Paper Award Finalist, 47th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (2008)
- Young Engineer Prize, 1st Place Award, Washington Society of Engineers (2006)
- Best undergraduate technical paper, 1st Prize, District of Columbia Council of Eng. (2006)
Current Research Interests:
- Optimization: Algebraic methods in optimization, semidefinite programming, polynomial optimization.
- Computational aspects of dynamics and control: Optimization-based Lyapunov theory for verification of dynamical systems.
- Control-oriented learning: Learning dynamical systems from trajectory observations subject to side information.
- Algorithms and complexity: Computational complexity in numerical optimization, convex relaxations in combinatorial optimization.
- I am also interested in applications of these tools to semialgebraic problems in systems theory, machine learning, portfolio management, robotics, and mathematical economics.
A popular-science description of some research papers:
- Complexity of finding local minima [Quanta Magazine article]
- More tractable alternatives to sum of squares optimization [Quanta Magazine article]
- Complexity theory in numerical optimization [MIT news]
- Algebraic aspects of convexity [LIDS spotlight]
- Lyapunov theory [LIDS spotlight]
- Some of my PhD work [LIDS magazine]
Curriculum Vitae:
[pdf] (outdated)