When
Thursday, February 13, 2025 - 2:00 p.m. (MST)
Afrooz Jalilzadeh
Assistant Professor of Systems and Industrial Engineering
University of Arizona
"Recent Advances in Nash Equilibrium Games and Variational Inequalities"
ENGR 301 | Zoom
Abstract: Nash equilibrium games and variational inequalities (VIs) serve as fundamental tools for modeling decision-making in competitive environments across diverse applications, including economics, machine learning, network optimization, and power systems. This talk will begin by introducing the fundamental concepts of Nash equilibrium and variational inequalities, highlighting their significance and real-world applications. We will then explore recent algorithmic advances designed to solve these problems efficiently, focusing on first-order methods and variance reduction techniques for tackling large-scale problems. Finally, we will discuss open challenges and potential future research directions.
Bio: Afrooz Jalilzadeh is an assistant professor in the Systems and Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Arizona and a member of the Applied Mathematics and Statistics & Data Science GIDPs. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Tehran and a PhD in industrial engineering and operations research from Penn State. Her research focuses on developing and analyzing stochastic approximation methods to address stochastic optimization and variational inequality problems, with applications in machine learning and game theory. Her work has been supported by NSF and Arizona TRIF. She has also received multiple teaching awards, including the Gerald J. Swanson Prize for Teaching Excellence.