Strong Formulations and Algorithms for Regularized A-Optimal Design

We study the Regularized A-Optimal Design (RAOD) problem, which selects a subset of \(k\) experiments to minimize the inverse of the Fisher information matrix, regularized with a scaled identity matrix. RAOD has broad applications in Bayesian experimental design, sensor placement, and cold-start recommendation. We prove its NP-hardness via a reduction from the independent set problem. … Read more

Rank-one convexification for convex quadratic optimization with step function penalties

We investigate convexification in convex quadratic optimization with step function penalties. Such problems can be cast as mixed-integer quadratic optimization problems, where binary variables are used to encode the non-convex step function. First, we derive the convex hull for the epigraph of a quadratic function defined by a rank-one matrix. Using this rank-one convexification, we … Read more

Pareto Leap: An Algorithm for Biobjective Mixed-Integer Programming

Many real-life optimization problems need to make decisions with discrete variables and multiple, conflicting objectives. Due to this need, the ability to solve such problems is an important and active area of research. We present a new algorithm, called Pareto Leap, for identifying the (weak) Pareto slices of biobjective mixed-integer programs (BOMIPs), even when Pareto … Read more

Integer Control Approximations for Graphon Dynamical Systems

Graphons generalize graphs and define a limit object of a converging graph sequence. The notion of graphons allows for a generic representation of coupled network dynamical systems. We are interested in approximating integer controls for graphon dynamical systems. To this end, we apply a decomposition approach comprised of a relaxation and a reconstruction step. We … Read more

Operationalizing Experimental Design: Data Collection for Remote Ocean Monitoring

Problem definition: To collect data on ocean plastic pollution and build more accurate predictive models, we need to manually take high-resolution pictures of the sea surface via floating or flying drones. Operating these vehicles, like many data collection problems in agriculture or environmental science, challenges the traditional optimal experimental design (OED) formulation from statistics by … Read more

Lagrangian Duality for Mixed-Integer Semidefinite Programming: Theory and Algorithms

This paper presents the Lagrangian duality theory for mixed-integer semidefinite programming (MISDP). We derive the Lagrangian dual problem and prove that the resulting Lagrangian dual bound dominates the bound obtained from the continuous relaxation of the MISDP problem. We present a hierarchy of Lagrangian dual bounds by exploiting the theory of integer positive semidefinite matrices … Read more

Proximity results in convex mixed-integer programming

We study proximity (resp. integrality gap), that is, the distance (resp. difference) between the optimal solutions (resp. optimal values) of convex integer programs (IP) and the optimal solutions (resp. optimal values) of their continuous relaxations. We show that these values can be upper bounded in terms of the recession cone of the feasible region of … Read more

Mixed-Integer Bilevel Optimization with Nonconvex Quadratic Lower-Level Problems: Complexity and a Solution Method

We study bilevel problems with a convex quadratic mixed-integer upper-level, integer linking variables, and a nonconvex quadratic, purely continuous lower-level problem. We prove $\Sigma_p^2$-hardness of this class of problems, derive an iterative lower- and upper-bounding scheme, and show its finiteness and correctness in the sense that it computes globally optimal points or proves infeasibility of … Read more

A Branch-and-Price-and-Cut Algorithm for Discrete Network Design Problems Under Traffic Equilibrium

This study addresses discrete network design problems under traffic equilibrium conditions or DNDPs. Given a network and a budget, DNDPs aim to model all-or-nothing decisions such as link addition to minimize network congestion effects. Congestion is measured using traffic equilibrium theory where link travel times are modeled as convex flow-dependent functions and where users make … Read more

Sparse Principal Component Analysis with Non-Oblivious Adversarial Perturbations

Sparse Principal Component Analysis (sparse PCA) is a fundamental dimension-reduction tool that enhances interpretability in various high-dimensional settings. An important variant of sparse PCA studies the scenario when samples are adversarially perturbed. Notably, most existing statistical studies on this variant focus on recovering the ground truth and verifying the robustness of classical algorithms when the … Read more