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7 </head> <body class="fixed-top-nav "> <header> <nav id="navbar" class="navbar navbar-light navbar-expand-sm fixed-top" role="navigation"> <div class="container"> <button class="navbar-toggler collapsed ml-auto" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNav" aria-controls="navbarNav" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation"> <span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span> <span class="icon-bar top-bar"></span> <span class="icon-bar middle-bar"></span> <span class="icon-bar bottom-bar"></span> </button> <div class="collapse navbar-collapse text-right" id="navbarNav"> <ul class="navbar-nav ml-auto flex-nowrap"> <li class="nav-item active"> <a class="nav-link" href="/">About <span class="sr-only">(current)</span> </a> </li> <li class="nav-item "> <a class="nav-link" href="/publications/">Publications </a> </li> <li class="nav-item "> <a class="nav-link" href="/teaching/">Teaching </a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <progress id="progress" value="0"> <div class="progress-container"> <span class="progress-bar"></span> </div> </progress> </header> <div class="container mt-5" role="main"> <div class="post"> <header class="post-header"> <h1 class="post-title"> <span class="font-weight-bold">Adrian</span> Vladu </h1> <p class="desc">Assistant Professor, <a href="#">Georgetown University</a></p> </header> <article> <div class="profile float-right"> <figure> <picture> <source class="responsive-img-srcset" srcset="/assets/img/pic_bw2-480.webp 480w,/assets/img/pic_bw2-800.webp 800w,/assets/img/pic_bw2-1400.webp 1400w," type="image/webp" sizes="(min-width: 930px) 270.0px, (min-width: 576px) 30vw, 95vw"> <img src="/assets/img/pic_bw2.jpg?9516690032f326584bcf93926d53e118" class="img-fluid z-depth-1 rounded" width="100%" height="auto" alt="pic_bw2.jpg" loading="eager" onerror="this.onerror=null; $('.responsive-img-srcset').remove();"> </source></picture> </figure> <div class="more-info"> 354 Saint Mary's Hall <div class="social-inline"> <div class="contact-icons"> <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#daffececffece3ffede8ffede9ffedeeffec9fffecebffec9effecefffe8eaf4ffe8eaffec99ffecebffede9ffedeeffec9fffecebffec9effecefffe8ea9affe8eaffecedffecefffec9cffede8ffecedffecefffedeeffec9cffededffec9fffe8eaf4ffe8eaffecefffeceeffedef" title="email"><i class="fa-solid fa-envelope"></i></a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5qh5cc0AAAAJ" title="Google Scholar" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><i class="ai ai-google-scholar"></i></a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="clearfix"> <p>I obtained my PhD from <a href="https://math.mit.edu" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">MIT Math</a>, then spent some time as a postdoc at <a href="https://www.bu.edu/cs/" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Boston University</a>, and as a research scientist at <a href="https://www.cnrs.fr/en" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">CNRS</a>.</p> <p>My research focuses on various aspects of convex and non-convex optimization. I enjoy combining tools from continuous optimization, convex geometry, and linear algebra in order to obtain improved algorithms for classical discrete problems. I am also interested in deep learning, particularly in designing theoretically-grounded training methods that scale efficiently with limited computational resources.</p> <p>Recently, I have been focused on developing simple, implementable algorithms with provable guarantees, using strong theory to guide the design of practical methods. I aim to show that general techniques like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interior-point_method" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">interior point methods</a> can be refined with minimal modifications to achieve state-of-the-art results for fundamental problems.</p> <style>.announcement{display:none;padding:50px;font-weight:bold;border-radius:5px}</style> </div> <h2> <a href="/publications/" style="color: inherit">Selected publications</a> </h2> <div class="publications"> <ol class="bibliography"> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">STOC</abbr> </div> <div id="vladu2025breaking" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">Breaking the Barrier of Self-Concordant Barriers: Faster Interior Point Methods for M-Matrices</div> <div class="author"> <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>57th ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing</em>, 2025 </div> <div class="periodical"> </div> <div class="links"> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/2504.20619" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3717823.3718255" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">DOI</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYxDzo8eHRw&amp;list=PL2200vk1q4pnCq8BwJXwnD6SohMwST6aY" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Video</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">STOC</abbr> </div> <div id="vladu2023interior" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">Interior Point Methods with a Gradient Oracle</div> <div class="author"> <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>55th ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing</em>, 2023 </div> <div class="periodical"> </div> <div class="links"> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.04550" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3564246.3585142" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">DOI</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">SODA</abbr> </div> <div id="pesenti2023discrepancy" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">

7Discrepancy Minimization via Regularization</div> <div class="author"> Lucas Pesenti, and <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>2023 Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms</em>, 2023 </div> <div class="periodical"> </div> <div class="links"> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.05509" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1137/1.9781611977554.ch66" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">DOI</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">FOCS</abbr> </div> <div id="axiotis2021faster" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">Faster Sparse Minimum Cost Flow by Electrical Flow Localization</div> <div class="author"> Kyriakos Axiotis, Aleksander Mądry, and <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>IEEE 62nd Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science</em>, 2021 </div> <div class="periodical"> </div> <div class="links"> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/2111.10368" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/FOCS52979.2021.00059" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">DOI</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">FOCS</abbr> </div> <div id="axiotis2020circulation" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">Circulation Control for Faster Minimum Cost Flow in Unit-Capacity Graphs</div> <div class="author"> Kyriakos Axiotis, Aleksander Mądry, and <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>IEEE 61st Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science</em>, 2020 </div> <div class="periodical"> </div> <div class="links"> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/2003.04863" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/FOCS46700.2020.00018" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">DOI</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">ICLR</abbr> </div> <div id="madry2017towards" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">Towards Deep Learning Models Resistant to Adversarial Attacks</div> <div class="author"> Aleksander Mądry, Aleksandar Makelov, Ludwig Schmidt, Dimitris Tsipras, and <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>International Conference on Learning Representations</em>, 2018 </div> <div class="periodical"> <strong>Oral presentation at the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20240901025933/https://www.padl.ws/" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Principled Approaches to Deep Learning workshop</a>, ICML 2017</strong> <br> <a href="https://github.com/MadryLab/mnist_challenge" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">MNIST Challenge</a>, <a href="https://github.com/MadryLab/cifar10_challenge" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">CIFAR10 Challenge</a> </div> <div class="links"> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1706.06083" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://openreview.net/forum?id=rJzIBfZAb" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">OpenReview</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">EC</abbr> </div> <div id="lobel2018multidimensional" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">Multidimensional Binary Search for Contextual Decision-Making</div> <div class="author"> Ilan Lobel, Renato Paes Leme, and <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>ACM Conference on Economics and Computation</em>, 2017 </div> <div class="periodical"> Journal version in <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/opre.2018.1722" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Operations Research</a> </div> <div class="links"> <a class="award btn btn-sm z-depth-1" role="button">

7Invited to the special issue</a> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1611.00829" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3033274.3085100" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">DOI</a> <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/opre.2018.1722" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Journal Version</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">FOCS</abbr> </div> <div id="cohen2017matrix" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">Matrix Scaling and Balancing via Box Constrained Newton’s Method and Interior Point Methods</div> <div class="author"> Michael B Cohen, Aleksander Mądry, Dimitris Tsipras, and <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>IEEE 58th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science</em>, 2017 </div> <div class="periodical"> </div> <div class="links"> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1704.02310" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/FOCS.2017.88" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">DOI</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">STOC</abbr> </div> <div id="cohen2017almost" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">Almost-Linear-Time Algorithms for Markov Chains and New Spectral Primitives for Directed Graphs</div> <div class="author"> Michael B Cohen, Jonathan Kelner, John Peebles, Richard Peng, Anup B Rao, Aaron Sidford, and <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>49th Annual ACM SIGACT Symposium on Theory of Computing</em>, 2017 </div> <div class="periodical"> <strong>Invited to <a href="http://2018.highlightsofalgorithms.org/programme" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Highlights of Algorithms 2018</a></strong> </div> <div class="links"> <a class="award btn btn-sm z-depth-1" role="button">Invited to the special issue</a> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1611.00755" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3055399.3055463" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">DOI</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="row"> <div class="col col-sm-2 abbr"> <abbr class="badge rounded w-100">SODA</abbr> </div> <div id="cohen2017negative" class="col-sm-8"> <div class="title">Negative-Weight Shortest Paths and Unit Capacity Minimum Cost Flow in Õ(m<sup>10/7</sup> log W) Time</div> <div class="author"> Michael B Cohen, Aleksander Mądry, Piotr Sankowski, and <em>Adrian Vladu</em> </div> <div class="periodical"> <em>Twenty-Eighth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms</em>, 2017 </div> <div class="periodical"> <strong>Invited to <a href="http://2017.highlightsofalgorithms.org/program/" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Highlights of Algorithms 2017</a></strong> </div> <div class="links"> <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1605.01717" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">arXiv</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1137/1.9781611974782.48" class="btn btn-sm z-depth-0" role="button" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">DOI</a> </div> </div> </div> </li> </ol> </div> </article> </div> </div> <footer class="fixed-bottom" role="contentinfo"> <div class="container mt-0"> © Copyright 2026 Adrian Vladu. Powered by <a href="https://jekyllrb.com/" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener">Jekyll</a> with <a href="https://github.com/alshedivat/al-folio" rel="external nofollow noopener" target="_blank">al-folio</a>. </div> </footer>

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