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Submodular function minimization is a fundamental optimization problem that arises in several applications in machine learning and computer vision. The problem is known to be solvable in polynomial time, but general purpose algorithms have…
In this paper we analyze the randomized block-coordinate descent (RBCD) methods proposed in [8,11] for minimizing the sum of a smooth convex function and a block-separable convex function. In particular, we extend Nesterov's technique…
We address the problem of minimizing a convex smooth function $f(x)$ over a compact polyhedral set $D$ given a stochastic zeroth-order constraint feedback model. This problem arises in safety-critical machine learning applications, such as…
Cyclic coordinate descent is a classic optimization method that has witnessed a resurgence of interest in machine learning. Reasons for this include its simplicity, speed and stability, as well as its competitive performance on $\ell_1$…
The Frank-Wolfe method solves smooth constrained convex optimization problems at a generic sublinear rate of $\mathcal{O}(1/T)$, and it (or its variants) enjoys accelerated convergence rates for two fundamental classes of constraints:…
Nonsmooth composite optimization with orthogonality constraints has a wide range of applications in statistical learning and data science. However, this problem is challenging due to its nonsmooth objective and computationally expensive…
This paper deals with convex nonsmooth optimization problems. We introduce a general smooth approximation framework for the original function and apply random (accelerated) coordinate descent methods for minimizing the corresponding smooth…
Sampling from a log-concave distribution function is one core problem that has wide applications in Bayesian statistics and machine learning. While most gradient free methods have slow convergence rate, the Langevin Monte Carlo (LMC) that…
We investigate variants of the Frank-Wolfe (FW) algorithm for smoothing and strongly convex optimization over polyhedral sets, with the goal of designing algorithms that achieve linear convergence while minimizing per-iteration complexity…
We study the Frank-Wolfe algorithm for constrained optimization problems with relatively smooth objectives. Building upon our previous work, we propose a fully adaptive variant of the Frank-Wolfe method that dynamically adjusts the step…
We propose a unifying framework for the automated computer-assisted worst-case analysis of cyclic block coordinate algorithms in the unconstrained smooth convex optimization setup. We compute exact worst-case bounds for the cyclic…
In this paper, we propose first-order feasible methods for difference-of-convex (DC) programs with smooth inequality and simple geometric constraints. Our strategy for maintaining feasibility of the iterates is based on a "retraction" idea…
We consider the problem of minimizing a smooth and convex function over the $n$-dimensional spectrahedron -- the set of real symmetric $n\times n$ positive semidefinite matrices with unit trace, which underlies numerous applications in…
Conditional Gradient algorithms (aka Frank-Wolfe algorithms) form a classical set of methods for constrained smooth convex minimization due to their simplicity, the absence of projection steps, and competitive numerical performance. While…
Difference-of-Convex (DC) minimization, referring to the problem of minimizing the difference of two convex functions, has been found rich applications in statistical learning and studied extensively for decades. However, existing methods…
We propose a rank-$k$ variant of the classical Frank-Wolfe algorithm to solve convex optimization over a trace-norm ball. Our algorithm replaces the top singular-vector computation ($1$-SVD) in Frank-Wolfe with a top-$k$ singular-vector…
Decentralized optimization algorithms have received much attention due to the recent advances in network information processing. However, conventional decentralized algorithms based on projected gradient descent are incapable of handling…
We study the problem of minimizing a $m$-weakly convex and possibly nonsmooth function. Weak convexity provides a broad framework that subsumes convex, smooth, and many composite nonconvex functions. In this work, we propose a…
This paper considers the problems of unconstrained minimization of large scale smooth convex functions having block-coordinate-wise Lipschitz continuous gradients. The block coordinate descent (BCD) method are among the first optimization…
Coordinate descent algorithms solve optimization problems by successively performing approximate minimization along coordinate directions or coordinate hyperplanes. They have been used in applications for many years, and their popularity…