[Colloquium] Distinguished Lecture Series: Margaret Wright - April 20, 2011

[Katie Casey]

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Place: Ryerson 251, 1100 E. 58th Street

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Speaker:		Margaret Wright

From:		Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYY

Web page:	http://www.cs.nyu.edu/mhw/

Title: 		Optimization without Derivatives: Consensus and Controversies

Abstract:  	Non-derivative methods for optimization have been widely used with notable success in science and engineering for at least 50 years.  Although their mathematical foundations
were mostly lacking until the late 1980s, research on the theoretical and computational properties of old and new non-derivative techniques has flourished since then, and continues to grow.  A notable feature of this research field is lively disagreement about which methods are ``most effective'', in part because of the wildly varying natures of the problems to which these methods are applied.  This talk will briefly survey the current state of the art, trying along the way to highlight a few interesting open, possibly unresolvable, questions.	

Host: 		Ridg Scott

Refreshments will be served following the talk at 3:30 in Ryerson 255.