Vice President
Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB)
Professor for
Optimization and Machine Learning
Mathematics and EECS (courtesy)
Technische Universität Berlin

Research Lab. My group is interested in Artificial Intelligence, Optimization, and Machine Learning. We develop new methodologies (e.g., new optimization and learning algorithms), work on combining learning and decision-making, as well as design AI Systems for real-world deployment in various application contexts. [more about research and projects]
(Informal) TL;DR. We use computers to learn from data and make better decisions.
Prospective Students. If you are interested in working in our group or writing your MS/BS thesis please only use the email applications-aisst@zib.de.
Recent Papers.
- Woodstock, Z., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Splitting the Conditional Gradient Algorithm. Preprint. [arXiv]
- Pokutta, S. (2023). The Frank-Wolfe algorithm: a short introduction. Preprint. [arXiv]
- Designolle, S., Vértesi, T., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Symmetric multipartite Bell inequalities via Frank-Wolfe algorithms. Preprint. [arXiv]
- Designolle, S., Iommazzo, G., Besançon, M., Knebel, S., Gelß, P., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Improved local models and new Bell inequalities via Frank-Wolfe algorithms. Physical Reviews Research. [PDF] [arXiv] [slides]
- Thuerck, D., Sofranac, B., Pfetsch, M., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Learning Cuts via Enumeration Oracles. To Appear in Proceedings of NeurIPS. [arXiv]
- Wirth, E., Peña, J., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Accelerated Affine-Invariant Convergence Rates of the Frank-Wolfe Algorithm with Open-Loop Step-Sizes. Preprint. [arXiv]
- Zimmer, M., Spiegel, C., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Sparse Model Soups: A Recipe for Improved Pruning via Model Averaging. Preprint. [arXiv]
- Deza, A., Onn, S., Pokutta, S., and Pournin, L. (2023). Kissing polytopes. Preprint. [arXiv]
- Stengl, M., Gelß, P., Klus, S., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Existence and Uniqueness of Solutions of the Koopman–von Neumann Equation on Bounded Domains. Preprint. [arXiv]
- Martinez-Rubio, D., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Accelerated Riemannian Optimization: Handling Constraints to Bound Geometric Penalties. Proceedings of COLT. [arXiv] [poster]
- Martinez-Rubio, D., Roux, C., Criscitiello, C., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Accelerated Methods for Riemannian Min-Max Optimization Ensuring Bounded Geometric Penalties. To Appear in NeurIPS OPT 2023 Workshop. [arXiv]
- Martinez-Rubio, D., Wirth, E., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Accelerated and Sparse Algorithms for Approximate Personalized PageRank and Beyond. Proceedings of COLT. [arXiv] [slides] [poster]
- Aigner, K., Bärmann, A., Braun, K., Liers, F., Pokutta, S., Schneider, O., Sharma, K., and Tschuppik, S. (2023). Data-driven Distributionally Robust Optimization over Time. To Appear in INFORMS Journal on Optimization. [arXiv]
- Kreimeier, T., Pokutta, S., Walther, A., and Woodstock, Z. (2023). On a Frank-Wolfe Approach for Abs-smooth Functions. Preprint. [arXiv]
- Wirth, E., Kera, H., and Pokutta, S. (2023). Approximate Vanishing Ideal Computations at Scale. Proceedings of ICLR. [arXiv] [slides] [poster]
- Braun, G., Pokutta, S., and Weismantel, R. (2022). Alternating Linear Minimization: Revisiting von Neumann’s alternating projections. Preprint. [arXiv] [slides] [video]
- Braun, G., Carderera, A., Combettes, C. W., Hassani, H., Karbasi, A., Mokthari, A., and Pokutta, S. (2022). Conditional Gradient Methods. Preprint. [arXiv]
Select Recent Talks and Teaching.
- 11/2023: (technical) “Conditional Gradients in Machine Learning”. Keynote at Workshop on Geometry and Machine Learning (Leipzig, Germany). [slides]
- 09/2023: (technical) “The approximate Carathéodory problem and an application to quantum mechanics”. Plenary at 7th Workshop on Future Algorithms and Applications (Berlin, Germany).
- 08/2023: (technical) “Alternating Linear Minimization: Revisiting von Neumann’s alternating projections”. Talk at ICIAM 2023 (Tokyo, Japan). [slides]
- 08/2023: (technical) “Improved local models and new Bell inequalities via Frank-Wolfe algorithms”. Talk at Conference on Discrete Optimization and Machine Learning (Tokyo, Japan). [slides]
- 07/2023: (technical) “Alternating Linear Minimization: Revisiting von Neumann’s alternating projections”. Talk at Jon-Shmuel Halfway to Twelfty (Paris, France). [slides]
- WS/2023: Discrete Optimization and Machine Learning (seminar)
Recent Blog Posts.
- 08/2023: Accelerated and Sparse Algorithms for Approximate Personalized PageRank and Beyond
- 08/2023: Sparse Model Soups: A Recipe for Improved Pruning via Model Averaging
- 07/2023: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Retraining
- 07/2023: Alternating Linear Minimization
- 05/2023: Improved local models and new Bell inequalities via Frank-Wolfe algorithms
News.
- 05/2023: Received Gödel Prize together with Samuel Fiorini, Serge Massar, Hans Raj Tiwary, Ronald de Wolf, and Thomas Rothvoss.
- 05/2023: We are organizing the fifth conference on “Discrete Optimization and Machine Learning” in Aug 2023 at GRIPS in Tokyo.
- 02/2023: We are organizing a Thematic Einstein Semester on “Mathematical Optimization for Machine Learning” within the Math+ Cluster of Excellence. The semester consists of various activities throughout the semester with three workshops, a conference, and a summer school as some of the highlights. We are looking forward to seeing you in Berlin!
- 11/2022: We finished our monograph on Frank-Wolfe methods a.k.a. Conditional Gradients. [arxiv] [webpage] [blog]
- 06/2022: Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC) Test of Time award (10 years) for “Linear vs. Semidefinite Extended Formulations: Exponential Separation and Strong Lower Bounds”, S. Fiorini, S. Massar, S. Pokutta, H.R. Tiwary, R. de Wolf from 2012.