Related papers: A unified surrogate-based scheme for black-box and…
Majorization-minimization algorithms consist of iteratively minimizing a majorizing surrogate of an objective function. Because of its simplicity and its wide applicability, this principle has been very popular in statistics and in signal…
Model merging techniques aim to integrate the abilities of multiple models into a single model. Most model merging techniques have hyperparameters, and their setting affects the performance of the merged model. Because several existing…
Optimizing expensive black-box objectives over mixed search spaces is a common challenge across the natural sciences. Bayesian optimization (BO) offers sample-efficient strategies through probabilistic surrogate models and acquisition…
Probabilistic smoothing is a standard tool for global optimization, but existing methods rely on Gaussian kernels and specific transforms, often resulting in strong hyperparameter sensitivity and limited robustness. We propose a general…
In this paper, we consider black-box multiobjective optimization problems in which all objective functions are not given analytically. In multiobjective optimization, it is important to produce a set of uniformly distributed discrete…
When investigators seek to estimate causal effects, they often assume that selection into treatment is based only on observed covariates. Under this identification strategy, analysts must adjust for observed confounders. While basic…
Model-based sequential approaches to discrete "black-box" optimization, including Bayesian optimization techniques, often access the same points multiple times for a given objective function in interest, resulting in many steps to find the…
We present an algorithm for a class of statistical inference problems. The main idea is to reformulate the inference problem as an optimization procedure, based on the generation of surrogate (auxiliary) functions. This approach is…
Genetic algorithms constitute a family of black-box optimization algorithms, which take inspiration from the principles of biological evolution. While they provide a general-purpose tool for optimization, their particular instantiations can…
Optimization plays an important role in chemical engineering, impacting cost-effectiveness, resource utilization, product quality, and process sustainability metrics. This chapter broadly focuses on data-driven optimization, particularly,…
Many challenges in science and engineering, such as drug discovery and communication network design, involve optimizing complex and expensive black-box functions across vast search spaces. Thus, it is essential to leverage existing data to…
Black-box optimization is ubiquitous in machine learning, operations research and engineering simulation. Black-box optimization algorithms typically do not assume structural information about the objective function and thus must make use…
We introduce the concept of decision-focused surrogate modeling for solving computationally challenging nonlinear optimization problems in real-time settings. The proposed data-driven framework seeks to learn a simpler, e.g. convex,…
We present mlrMBO, a flexible and comprehensive R toolbox for model-based optimization (MBO), also known as Bayesian optimization, which addresses the problem of expensive black-box optimization by approximating the given objective function…
Performance complementarity of solvers available to tackle black-box optimization problems gives rise to the important task of algorithm selection (AS). Automated AS approaches can help replace tedious and labor-intensive manual selection,…
Surrogate model-based optimization has been increasingly used in the field of engineering design. It involves creating a surrogate model with objective functions or constraints based on the data obtained from simulations or real-world…
Stochastic majorization-minimization (SMM) is a class of stochastic optimization algorithms that proceed by sampling new data points and minimizing a recursive average of surrogate functions of an objective function. The surrogates are…
Bayesian optimization has emerged as a prominent methodology for optimizing expensive black-box functions by leveraging Gaussian process surrogates, which focus on capturing the global characteristics of the objective function. However, in…
We introduce a variational quantum algorithm to solve unconstrained black box binary optimization problems, i.e., problems in which the objective function is given as black box. This is in contrast to the typical setting of quantum…
Although a large number of optimization algorithms have been proposed for black box optimization problems, the no free lunch theorems inform us that no algorithm can beat others on all types of problems. Different types of optimization…