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• Apr

  23

  Massive Speedups for Policy Simulation in Inventory Management Applications

  Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (IEMS)

  11:00 AM ITW 1.350, Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center

  EVENT DETAILS

  Abstract: Policy simulation — i.e. producing a single state trajectory of a dynamical system controlled by some state dependent policy — is often the core computational bottleneck in modern Reinforcement Learning algorithms. The multiple, inherently serial, policy evaluations that must be performed in one such simulation constitute the bulk of this bottleneck. As a concrete example, simulating a fulfillment optimization policy on a month's worth of demand at a moderately large retailer is a task that can take several hours.

  We present a class of iterative algorithms we dub Picard Iteration. Our scheme carefully allocates policy evaluation tasks across independent (GPU) threads. Within each iteration a single thread only evaluates the policy on its assigned tasks while assuming a certain ‘cached’ evaluation for other tasks. This cache is updated at the end of the iteration. A single iteration is ideally suited for the type of parallelism offered by a GPU (essentially the batched application of a neural network) yielding 1000x+ speedups. Unfortunately, for general problems the number of iterations required for convergence will scale with the horizon of the simulation.

  We prove and demonstrate empirically, that the structure afforded by inventory management problems allows Picard iteration to converge in a small number of iterations independent of the horizon. As one practical consequence, we demonstrate a 500x speedup in policy simulation for large-scale fulfillment optimization problems. Our scheme offers a blueprint for similar speedups in related policy simulation and sequential inference tasks.

  Joint work with Joren Gijsbrechts, Aryan Khojandi, Tianyi Peng and Andy Zheng.

  Bio: Vivek is interested in the development of new methodologies and applications for large scale dynamic optimization. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2007 and is the Patrick J. McGovern (1959) Professor at MIT. Vivek is a recipient of an INFORMS MSOM Student Paper Prize (2006), an INFORMS JFIG paper prize (2009, 2011), the NSF CAREER award (2011), MIT Sloan’s Outstanding Teacher award (2013), the INFORMS Simulation Society Best Publication Award (2014), the INFORMS Pricing and Revenue Management Best Publication Award (2015), the INFORMS MSOM Best Publication award in Management Science (2016), the MSOM Young Scholar Prize and the MIT-wide Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2020). His practice based work has won the Wagner prize (2022) and has been judged a finalist for the Pierskalla Award (2011), the Gary L. Lilien ISMS-MSI Marketing Practice Prize (2016) and the Wagner Prize (2018). Vivek’s doctoral advisees have on various occasions won the Nicholson, MSOM, APS and RMP student paper prizes. Outside of academia, Vivek was co-founder/CTO at Celect (2014-19; acquired by Nike) and was a corresponding author of the Nature Communications paper underlying the technology at Seer (IPO in 2020). He serves on several technology startup advisory boards and has worked in various capacities in quantitive finance and private equity.

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  TIME Tuesday, April 23, 2024 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

  LOCATION ITW 1.350, Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center    map it

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  CONTACT Kendall Minta    kendall.minta@gmail.com EMAIL

  CALENDAR Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (IEMS)

• May

  2

  Thought Leader Dialogue: AI and the Future of Work

  Center for Human-Computer Interaction + Design (HCI+D)

  4:00 PM

  EVENT DETAILSmore info

  

  With the explosion of AI platforms, what is the future of work? Will we need “humans in the loop”? Although these platforms are still in the early stages, implications are broadly significant. In this dialogue, we bring together researchers with distinct perspectives to discuss approaches for designing a desirable future of work for everyone. Tackling questions related to ethics, governance, and competition, this dialog will highlight the role of thoughtful design in achieving the vision of a desirable future of work for everyone.

  Register Now

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  TIME Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM

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  CONTACT Madison Deyo    Madison.Deyo@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR Center for Human-Computer Interaction + Design (HCI+D)

• 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

  The Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts is a collaboration between the Art Institute of Chicago and materials science-related departments at Northwestern University to pursue objects-based and objects-inspired scientific research. Materials research benefits ongoing work in conservation, archaeology, art history, and curatorial scholarship.

  Learn how the Center uses materials research to care for art objects in sustainable, innovative ways with Maria Kokkori, Senior Scientist in the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts. She will be in conversation with Corey Byrnes, Northwestern Associate Professor of Chinese Culture and co-founder/co-director of the Environmental Humanities Workshop in Kaplan Humanities Center.

  This event is presented by the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science in conjunction with exhibition Actions for the Earth: Art, Care & Ecology.

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  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

• 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

  McCormick School of Engineering PhD Hooding and Master’s Degree Recognition Ceremony

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  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

  McCormick School of Engineering Undergraduate Convocation

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  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

• Aug

  14

  Undergraduate Quantum Summer School

  McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  All Day Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center

  EVENT DETAILSmore info

  Innovation in Quantum Pedagogy, Application, and its Relation to Culture (IQ-PARC), funded by the Department of Defense — National Defense Education Program, is extending an invitation to underrepresented students nationwide (including military-connected students) to participate in a summer school focused on quantum technologies, to be held at Northwestern University. Join us for presentations by faculty and industry partners introducing quantum technologies, cutting-edge research areas, and related job opportunities particularly in the areas of national security.

  This effort aims to foster an inclusive environment that encourages participation from all corners of the academic community. Successful applicants will receive up to $1,000 USD to cover travel and lodging expenses in Evanston, IL.

  Priority application deadline: May 15, 2024.

  Decisions will be sent by June 15, 2024.

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  TIME Wednesday, August 14, 2024

  LOCATION Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center    map it

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  CONTACT Dongyang Li    lidongyang@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

• Aug

  15

  Undergraduate Quantum Summer School

  McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  All Day Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center

  EVENT DETAILSmore info

  Innovation in Quantum Pedagogy, Application, and its Relation to Culture (IQ-PARC), funded by the Department of Defense — National Defense Education Program, is extending an invitation to underrepresented students nationwide (including military-connected students) to participate in a summer school focused on quantum technologies, to be held at Northwestern University. Join us for presentations by faculty and industry partners introducing quantum technologies, cutting-edge research areas, and related job opportunities particularly in the areas of national security.

  This effort aims to foster an inclusive environment that encourages participation from all corners of the academic community. Successful applicants will receive up to $1,000 USD to cover travel and lodging expenses in Evanston, IL.

  Priority application deadline: May 15, 2024.

  Decisions will be sent by June 15, 2024.

  Register Now

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  TIME Thursday, August 15, 2024

  LOCATION Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center    map it

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  CONTACT Dongyang Li    lidongyang@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science