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Randomized-subspace methods reduce the cost of first-order optimization by using only low-dimensional projected-gradient information, a feature that is attractive in forward-mode automatic differentiation and communication-limited settings.…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-05-04 Gaku Omiya , Pierre-Louis Poirion , Akiko Takeda

We propose a framework to use Nesterov's accelerated method for constrained convex optimization problems. Our approach consists of first reformulating the original problem as an unconstrained optimization problem using a continuously…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-03-12 Priyank Srivastava , Jorge Cortes

In this paper, we consider estimating sparse inverse covariance of a Gaussian graphical model whose conditional independence is assumed to be partially known. Similarly as in [5], we formulate it as an $l_1$-norm penalized maximum…

Methodology · Statistics 2009-04-07 Zhaosong Lu

We analyze stochastic algorithms for optimizing nonconvex, nonsmooth finite-sum problems, where the nonconvex part is smooth and the nonsmooth part is convex. Surprisingly, unlike the smooth case, our knowledge of this fundamental problem…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2016-05-24 Sashank J. Reddi , Suvrit Sra , Barnabas Poczos , Alex Smola

We present new algorithms for optimizing non-smooth, non-convex stochastic objectives based on a novel analysis technique. This improves the current best-known complexity for finding a $(\delta,\epsilon)$-stationary point from…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-08-08 Ashok Cutkosky , Harsh Mehta , Francesco Orabona

We consider constrained optimization problems with a nonsmooth objective function in the form of mathematical expectation. The Sample Average Approximation (SAA) is used to estimate the objective function and variable sample size strategy…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-08-09 Natasa Krejic , Natasa Krklec Jerinkic , Tijana Ostojic

We introduce and analyze an algorithm for the minimization of convex functions that are the sum of differentiable terms and proximable terms composed with linear operators. The method builds upon the recently developed smoothed gap…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2017-06-20 Quang Van Nguyen , Olivier Fercoq , Volkan Cevher

In this paper, we propose a unified view of gradient-based algorithms for stochastic convex composite optimization by extending the concept of estimate sequence introduced by Nesterov. More precisely, we interpret a large class of…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2020-09-07 Andrei Kulunchakov , Julien Mairal

In this work, we present a globalized stochastic semismooth Newton method for solving stochastic optimization problems involving smooth nonconvex and nonsmooth convex terms in the objective function. We assume that only noisy gradient and…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-03-12 Andre Milzarek , Xiantao Xiao , Shicong Cen , Zaiwen Wen , Michael Ulbrich

We present a primal-dual algorithmic framework to obtain approximate solutions to a prototypical constrained convex optimization problem, and rigorously characterize how common structural assumptions affect the numerical efficiency. Our…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2015-03-04 Quoc Tran-Dinh , Volkan Cevher

We study the non-smooth optimization problems in machine learning, where both the loss function and the regularizer are non-smooth functions. Previous studies on efficient empirical loss minimization assume either a smooth loss function or…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2013-07-29 Tianbao Yang , Mehrdad Mahdavi , Rong Jin , Shenghuo Zhu

This work considers minimizing a sum of convex functions, each with potentially different structure ranging from nonsmooth to smooth, Lipschitz to non-Lipschitz. Nesterov's universal fast gradient method provides an optimal black-box…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-06-14 Benjamin Grimmer

In nonsmooth optimization, a negative subgradient is not necessarily a descent direction, making the design of convergent descent methods based on zeroth-order and first-order information a challenging task. The well-studied bundle methods…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-05-13 Hanyang Li , Ying Cui

This work aims to solve a stochastic nonconvex nonsmooth composite optimization problem. Previous works on composite optimization problem requires the major part to satisfy Lipschitz smoothness or some relaxed smoothness conditions, which…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-10-07 Ziyi Chen , Peiran Yu , Heng Huang

Gradient-based minimax optimal algorithms have greatly promoted the development of continuous optimization and machine learning. One seminal work due to Yurii Nesterov [Nes83a] established $\tilde{\mathcal{O}}(\sqrt{L/\mu})$ gradient…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-12-07 Yuanshi Liu , Hanzhen Zhao , Yang Xu , Pengyun Yue , Cong Fang

A bilevel hierarchical clustering model is commonly used in designing optimal multicast networks. In this paper, we consider two different formulations of the bilevel hierarchical clustering problem, a discrete optimization problem which…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2017-03-08 Nguyen Mau Nam , Wondi Geremew , Sam Raynolds , Tuyen Tran

The proximal bundle method (PBM) is a powerful and widely used approach for minimizing nonsmooth convex functions. However, for smooth objectives, its best-known convergence rate remains suboptimal, and whether PBM can be accelerated…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-04-28 Feng-Yi Liao , Thomas Madden , Yang Zheng

In this work, we consider convex optimization problems with smooth objective function and nonsmooth functional constraints. We propose a new stochastic gradient algorithm, called Stochastic Halfspace Approximation Method (SHAM), to solve…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-12-04 Nitesh Kumar Singh , Ion Necoara

In this paper, we show how to transform any optimization problem that arises from fitting a machine learning model into one that (1) detects and removes contaminated data from the training set while (2) simultaneously fitting the trimmed…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2017-02-07 Aleksandr Aravkin , Damek Davis

Stochastic composition optimization draws much attention recently and has been successful in many emerging applications of machine learning, statistical analysis, and reinforcement learning. In this paper, we focus on the composition…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-01-01 Zhouyuan Huo , Bin Gu , Ji Liu , Heng Huang