Contextual Stochastic Programs with Expected-Value Constraints

Expected-value-constrained programming (ECP) formulations are a broad class of stochastic programming problems including integrated chance constraints, risk models, and stochastic dominance formulations. Given the wide availability of data, it is common in applications to have independent contextual information associated with the target or dependent random variables of the problem. We show how to incorporate such … Read more

Distributionally Robust Optimization with Decision-Dependent Polyhedral Ambiguity

We consider a two-stage stochastic program with continuous recourse, where the distribution of the random parameters depends on the decisions. Assuming a finite sample space, we study a distributionally robust approach to this problem, where the decision-dependent distributional ambiguity is modeled with a polyhedral ambiguity set. We consider cases where the recourse function and the … Read more

BattOpt: Optimal Facility Planning for Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling

The electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain will face challenges in sourcing scarce and expensive minerals required for manufacturing and in disposing of hazardous retired batteries. Integrating recycling technology into the supply chain has the potential to alleviate these issues; however, players in the battery market must design investment plans for recycling facilities. In this … Read more

Incorporating Service Reliability in Multi-depot Vehicle Scheduling: A Chance-Constrained Approach

The multi-depot vehicle scheduling problem (MDVSP) is a critical planning challenge for transit agencies. We introduce a novel approach to MDVSP by incorporating service reliability through chance-constrained programming (CCP), targeting the pivotal issue of travel time uncertainty and its impact on transit service quality. Our model guarantees service reliability measured by on-time performance (OTP), a … Read more

Benders decomposition with scaled cuts for multistage stochastic mixed-integer programs

We consider Benders decomposition algorithms for multistage stochastic mixed-integer programs (SMIPs) with general mixed-integer decision variables at every node in the scenario tree. We derive a hierarchy of convex polyhedral lower bounds for the value functions and expected cost to-go functions in multistage SMIPs using affine parametric cutting planes in extended spaces for the feasible … Read more

MUSE-BB: A Decomposition Algorithm for Nonconvex Two-Stage Problems using Strong Multisection Branching

We present MUSE-BB, a branch-and-bound (B&B) based decomposition algorithm for the deterministic global solution of nonconvex two-stage stochastic programming problems. In contrast to three recent decomposition algorithms, which solve this type of problem in a projected form by nesting an inner B&B in an outer B&B on the first-stage variables, we branch on all variables … Read more

k-Submodular Interdiction Problems under Distributional Risk-Receptiveness and Robustness: Application to Machine Learning

We study submodular optimization in adversarial context, applicable to machine learning problems such as feature selection using data susceptible to uncertainties and attacks. We focus on Stackelberg games between an attacker (or interdictor) and a defender where the attacker aims to minimize the defender’s objective of maximizing a $k$-submodular function. We allow uncertainties arising from … Read more

Exploiting Overlap Information in Chance-constrained Program with Random Right-hand Side

We consider the chance-constrained program (CCP) with random right-hand side under a finite discrete distribution. It is known that the standard mixed integer linear programming (MILP) reformulation of the CCP is generally difficult to solve by general-purpose solvers as the branch-and-cut search trees are enormously large, partly due to the weak linear programming relaxation. In … Read more

Optimization without Retraction on the Random Generalized Stiefel Manifold

Optimization over the set of matrices \(X\) that satisfy \(X^\top B X = I_p\), referred to as the generalized Stiefel manifold, appears in many applications involving sampled covariance matrices such as the canonical correlation analysis (CCA), independent component analysis (ICA), and the generalized eigenvalue problem (GEVP). Solving these problems is typically done by iterative methods … Read more

A Geometric Unification of Distributionally Robust Covariance Estimators: Shrinking the Spectrum by Inflating the Ambiguity Set

The state-of-the-art methods for estimating high-dimensional covariance matrices all shrink the eigenvalues of the sample covariance matrix towards a data-insensitive shrinkage target. The underlying shrinkage transformation is either chosen heuristically – without compelling theoretical justification – or optimally in view of restrictive distributional assumptions. In this paper, we propose a principled approach to construct covariance … Read more