<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><br class=""><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; 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widows: 2;"><span class="" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></div></div></div></div></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-de668218-7fff-220a-42c4-c3d01efd7aaf" class="" style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><div class="" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"></div></span><span class="" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div></div></div><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><b class="" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><font size="4" class="">Ashia Wilson</font></b><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><div class="" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><font size="4" class=""><i class="">Microsoft Research, New England</i></font></div><div class="" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class="" style="font-size: 14px;"><i class=""><p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><o:p class=""></o:p></p></i></span><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class="" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span class=""><b class=""><font class="" size="4">Wednesday, March 4 at 3:30 pm<br class="">Crerar 390</font></b><br class=""></span></div></div><div class=""><div class="" style="text-align: center;"><font size="4" class=""><font class=""><span class=""><b class="" style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33);"><br class=""></b></span></font></font></div><div class=""><font size="4" class=""><font class=""><span class=""><b class="" style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33);">Title: </b></span></font></font><font size="4" class=""><b class="">Variational Perspectives on Machine Learning: </b></font><b class=""><font size="4" class="">Algorithms, Inference, and Fairness</font></b></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33);"><b class=""><font class="" style="font-size: 15px;"><br class=""></font></b></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33);"><b class=""><font class="" size="4">Abstract:</font></b></div><div class=""><font class=""><span class=""><div class="" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class=""><font class="" size="4"><span class=""><span id="docs-internal-guid-bf351367-7fff-5067-8c8e-0130cc54a81c" class=""><div class="" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span class=""><span class=""><span class=""><span class=""><span class=""><span class=""><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Machine learning plays a key role in shaping the decisions made by a growing number of institutions. This talk will share variational perspectives on aspects of inference, algorithms and fairness. On the topic of algorithms, I will present a variational framework on a classical family of convex optimization algorithm called accelerated gradient algorithms and demonstrate how it leads to simpler, faster gradient-based algorithms and generalizations of existing acceleration frameworks. On the topic of inference, I will present a variational framework for developing computationally efficient approximations of cross-validation and show how it provides fast and reliable estimates of out-of-sample performance for many machine learning models. On the topic of fairness, I will present a variational model for reasoning about the long-term impacts of using machine learning models to allocate scarce resources and opportunities to people, such as employment and educational decisions. </span><br class=""><br class=""></span></span></span></span></span></span></div></span></span><b class="" style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33);">Bio:</b></font></div></div></span></font></div><div class=""><div class="" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#222222" size="4" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><i class="">Ashia Wilson is a postdoctoral researcher in the Machine Learning Group at Microsoft Research, New England. She received undergraduate degrees in Applied Mathematics and Philosophy from Harvard University in 2011. She received her doctorate in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2018 advised by Benjamin Recht and Michael I. Jordan. Her research interests are in providing rigorous guarantees for algorithmic performance, and in developing frameworks for studying issues of fairness and governance in machine learning.</i></span></font></div><div class="" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#222222" class=""><font size="4" class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></font><i class=""><b class=""><font size="4" class="">Host: Rebecca Willett</font></b></i></font></div><div class="" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#222222" class=""><i class=""><b class=""><font size="4" class=""><br class=""></font></b></i></font></div><div class="" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#222222" class=""><i class=""><b class=""><font size="4" class="">PDF:</font></b></i></font></div><div class="" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#222222" class=""><i class=""><b class=""><font size="4" class=""></font></b></i></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>