Related papers: Accelerating Single-Point Zeroth-Order Optimizatio…

Safe derivative-free optimization under unknown constraints is a fundamental challenge in modern learning and control. Existing zeroth-order (ZO) methods typically still assume access to a first-order oracle of the constraint functions or…

Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) is an active field of research with an ever increasing number of contributions. Numerous methods have been proposed for the solution of RBDO, a complex problem that combines optimization and…

Gradient descent and backpropagation have enabled neural networks to achieve remarkable results in many real-world applications. Despite ongoing success, training a neural network with gradient descent can be a slow and strenuous affair. We…

Federated learning is a distributed learning framework that allows a set of clients to collaboratively train a model under the orchestration of a central server, without sharing raw data samples. Although in many practical scenarios the…

In this paper we analyze a zeroth-order proximal stochastic gradient method suitable for the minimization of weakly convex stochastic optimization problems. We consider nonsmooth and nonlinear stochastic composite problems, for which…

We introduce a surrogate-based black-box optimization method, termed Polynomial-model-based optimization (PMBO). The algorithm alternates polynomial approximation with Bayesian optimization steps, using Gaussian processes to model the error…

Brain-inspired neuromorphic computing with spiking neural networks (SNNs) is a promising energy-efficient computational approach. However, successfully training SNNs in a more biologically plausible and neuromorphic-hardware-friendly way is…

The problem of maximizing precision at the top of a ranked list, often dubbed Precision@k (prec@k), finds relevance in myriad learning applications such as ranking, multi-label classification, and learning with severe label imbalance.…

We study distributed multiagent optimization over (directed, time-varying) graphs. We consider the minimization of $F+G$ subject to convex constraints, where $F$ is the smooth strongly convex sum of the agent's losses and $G$ is a nonsmooth…

One of the major bottlenecks for deploying popular first-order differentially private (DP) machine learning algorithms (e.g., DP-SGD) lies in their high computation and memory cost, despite the existence of optimized implementations.…

In this paper, we focus on solving an important class of nonconvex optimization problems which includes many problems for example signal processing over a networked multi-agent system and distributed learning over networks. Motivated by…

Proximal gradient algorithms (PGA), while foundational for inverse problems like image reconstruction, often yield unstable convergence and suboptimal solutions by violating the critical non-negativity constraint. We identify the gradient…

In this paper we analyze boosting algorithms in linear regression from a new perspective: that of modern first-order methods in convex optimization. We show that classic boosting algorithms in linear regression, namely the incremental…

We revisit the one-point feedback zeroth-order (ZO) optimization problem, a classical setting in derivative-free optimization where only a single noisy function evaluation is available per query. Compared to their two-point counterparts,…

Hyperparameter optimization (HPO) is a central pillar in the automation of machine learning solutions and is mainly performed via Bayesian optimization, where a parametric surrogate is learned to approximate the black box response function…

First-order methods for stochastic optimization have undeniable relevance, in part due to their pivotal role in machine learning. Variance reduction for these algorithms has become an important research topic. In contrast to common…

Variance reduction techniques are designed to decrease the sampling variance, thereby accelerating convergence rates of first-order (FO) and zeroth-order (ZO) optimization methods. However, in composite optimization problems, ZO methods…

In this study, we consider an optimization problem with uncertainty dependent on decision variables, which has recently attracted attention due to its importance in machine learning and pricing applications. In this problem, the gradient of…

Zeroth-order optimization is an important research topic in machine learning. In recent years, it has become a key tool in black-box adversarial attack to neural network based image classifiers. However, existing zeroth-order optimization…

Zeroth-order (ZO) optimization, learning from finite differences of function evaluations without backpropagation, has recently regained attention in deep learning due to its memory efficiency and applicability to gray- or black-box…