Abstract: Optimization, also known as Mathematical Programming, or Operations Research, is a field that aims to model with mathematics, and solve with computers, practical decision problems arising in engineering and business. The field is at the foundation of most modern artificial intelligence technology, with use cases in natural language processing and computer vision, machine learning, data science, and decision-making under uncertainty. The image on the left represents an optimization model, where the variables are constrained in a set (typically with a large number of dimensions), and the optimal point is where a certain reward of interest (represented as an arrow) is maximal.

This talk will provide a guided tour of the basic optimization concepts from a layperson’s perspective, visiting the challenges: which problems are practically solvable? How can one deal with uncertainty on the problem data? I will then illustrate how modern optimization methods can help business and industries grow in the digital age. Real-life examples, including lessons learned, will be drawn from the areas of finance (cash-flow management), logistics and supply chain (product pricing in retail), advertising (budget optimization), customer and employee analytics (survey analytics), and energy management (smart charging of electric vehicles).

About the Speaker: Prior to his current appointment as the Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at VinUniversity, Prof. Laurent El Ghaoui was a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Faculty member of the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He also taught Financial Data Science within the Master of Financial Engineering at UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School. He has published several books and many articles, and his work has been cited more than 55,000 times according to Google Scholar. Prof. El Ghaoui has an extensive industry experience, as a consultant and an entrepreneur.