The Dutch Seminar on Optimization is an initiative to bring together researchers from the Netherlands and beyond. The objective is to establish a new forum for the Dutch optimization community to come together, to help provide a spotlight for up and coming local talent, and to bring in high quality international speakers.
The topics of the seminar are centered around Optimization in a broad sense, but with a focus on (though not limited to) the theoretical foundations of discrete and continuous optimization. We would like to invite all researchers, especially also PhD students, who are working on related topics to join this event!
You can find general information about the Dutch Seminar on Optimization here.
The seminar will feature two plenary talks and one block of lightning talks. There will be some refreshments during the break, and some drinks at the end are included. Afterwards, there is the possibility to join a dinner at your own expenses.
Registration is free and is not necessary, but for catering purposes, please register here. In case you do not register upfront, please do not hesitate to attend the seminar anyway.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Tim Oosterwijk.
Give a lightning talk
The schedule (see below) features a 30 minute block of lightning talks. In case you are interested to give a lightning talk, please fill in the registration form before May 12. We will then assign slots based on the registered talks.
Optional dinner
After the event, it is possible to join an optional dinner at Market 33 at 18.00. This is at your own expenses. In case you would like to join this dinner, please fill in the registration form such that we can make a reservation. Please register before May 17 to join. There is a limit to the capacity; if we reach this, earlier registrations get priority.
Venue
The workshop will take place in the Main Building (Hoofdgebouw) of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, room HG-12A00. This is at walking distance from the railway and metro station Amsterdam Zuid. Once inside, turn left to take the elevators or stairs of the A-wing to the 12th floor.
Keynote Speakers
Georgina Hall, INSEAD, Paris
Title: Polynomial Optimization Techniques for Machine Learning and Supply Chain Management
In this talk, we consider two optimization problems, one in machine learning and one in supply chain management, that can be formulated as polynomial optimization problems (POPs). The first one involves fitting a polynomial to data, with the twist that this polynomial has constraints on its shape (e.g., it is required to be convex or increasing in one variable). The second one involves choosing the smallest set of firms in a supply chain network to whom to give free traceability technology in the hope of disseminating this technology across the whole network. We show that both problems are NP-hard to solve and use techniques from POPs to provide workarounds to the hardness. To address the first problem, we provide a hierarchy of semidefinite programs and show that polynomial functions that are optimal to any fixed level of our hierarchy form a consistent estimator of the underlying shape-constrained function. For the second problem, we provide a fixed-parameter tractable algorithm in the treewidth of the supply chain network. We show that this treewidth is low in real-world supply chains and leverage the algorithm to conduct large-scale numerical experiments that provide insights into how the supply chain network structure influences diffusion.
Alexandra Lassota, Eindhoven University of Technology
Title: A convoluted situation: fine-grained algorithms and complexity through the lens of min-plus convolution.
In recent years, various approaches to combinatorial problems have entered the fine-grained toolbox. Min-plus convolution is one such problem that plays a central role in this development. I will present an overview of the diverse techniques that have emerged through this problem. This includes conditional lower bounds, P-in-FPT, polyhedral optimization and extension complexity. This talk is based on joint work with Cornelius Brand and Martin Koutecký.
Schedule
Thursday May 23, HG-12A00
| 13.00 | Coffee |
| 13.25 | Opening |
| 13.30 | Keynote talk Georgina Hall |
| 14.30 | Break |
| 15.00 | Lightning talks (you can register a talk during registration) |
| 15.30 | Break |
| 16.00 | Keynote talk Alexandra Lassota |
| 17.00 | Drinks |
| 18.00 | Optional dinner (you can register to join during registration) |
Registration is free and is not necessary, but for catering purposes, please register here. In case you do not register upfront, please do not hesitate to attend the seminar anyway.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Tim Oosterwijk.
