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Events

  • Jun
    1

    CS Colloquium: Zhaoran Wang "Computational and Statistical Efficiency of Policy Optimization"

    Department of Computer Science

    12:00 PM Zoom, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    Livestream:
    https://northwestern.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=7a07cf41-b0cc-4b80-8291-abc9015d4ccb

    Title:
    Computational and Statistical Efficiency of Policy Optimization

    Abstract
    Coupled with powerful function approximators such as neural networks, policy optimization plays a key role in the tremendous empirical successes of deep reinforcement learning. In sharp contrast, the theoretical understandings of policy optimization remain rather limited from both the computational and statistical perspectives. From the perspective of computational efficiency, it remains unclear whether policy optimization converges to the globally optimal policy in a finite number of iterations, even given infinite data. From the perspective of statistical efficiency, it remains unclear how to attain the globally optimal policy with a finite regret or sample complexity.

    To address the computational question, I will show that, under suitable conditions, natural policy gradient/proximal policy optimization/trust-region policy optimization (NPG/PPO/TRPO) converges to the globally optimal policy at a sublinear rate, even when it is coupled with neural networks. To address the statistical question, I will present an optimistic variant of NPG/PPO/TRPO, namely OPPO, which incorporates exploration in a principled manner and attains a \sqrt{T}-regret.

    (Joint work with Qi Cai, Chi Jin, Jason Lee, Boyi Liu, Zhuoran Yang)

    Biography
    Zhaoran Wang is an assistant professor at Northwestern IEMS, working at the interface of machine learning, statistics, and optimization. He is the recipient of the AISTATS (Artificial Intelligence and Statistics Conference) notable paper award, ASA (American Statistical Association) best student paper in statistical learning and data mining, INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) best student paper finalist in data mining, and the Microsoft fellowship.

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    TIME Monday, June 1, 2020 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

    LOCATION Zoom, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Pam Villalovoz    pmv@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science

  • Apr
    24

    CS Seminar: AI Powered Movement Analysis, Big Rehabilitation Data and a Path to Precision Rehabilitation (R. James Cotton)

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    12:00 PM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

    LOCATION 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

  • Apr
    25

    TGI Bagel Thursday

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    9:00 AM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    LOCATION 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

  • Apr
    29

    CS Seminar: Data-Efficient Graph Learning (Kaize Ding)

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    12:00 PM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, April 29, 2024 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

    LOCATION 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

  • May
    1

    CS Seminar: Tong Zhang

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    12:00 PM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

    LOCATION 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

  • May
    3

    CS Seminar: Shafi Goldwasser

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    12:00 PM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Friday, May 3, 2024 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

    LOCATION 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

  • May
    8

    Extending Care: A Conversation about Conservation and Futurity

    Block Museum of Art

    6:00 PM Block Museum of Art, Mary and Leigh

    EVENT DETAILSmore info

    TIME Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

    LOCATION Block Museum of Art, Mary and Leigh    map it

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    CONTACT Block Museum of Art    block-museum@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Block Museum of Art

  • May
    30

    TGI Bagel Thursday

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    9:00 AM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    LOCATION 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

  • May
    30

    End of Year Awards

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    3:00 PM TBA, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

    LOCATION TBA, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

  • Jun
    10

    Northwestern Engineering PhD Hooding and Master's Degree Recognition Ceremony

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    9:00 AM Welsh-Ryan Arena

    EVENT DETAILSmore info

    TIME Monday, June 10, 2024 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    LOCATION Welsh-Ryan Arena   

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    CONTACT Amy Pokrass    amy.pokrass@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Jun
    10

    Northwestern Engineering Undergraduate Convocation

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    2:00 PM Welsh-Ryan Arena

    EVENT DETAILSmore info

    TIME Monday, June 10, 2024 at 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

    LOCATION Welsh-Ryan Arena   

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    CONTACT Amy Pokrass    amy.pokrass@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science