Calendar
Posted February 26, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm Lockett Hall-Keisler Lounge
Harbir Antil, George Mason University
Malena Espanol, Arizona State University
A Lunch with SCALA Speakers
A lunch and informal discussion providing an opportunity to ask questions before SCALA.
Posted September 3, 2025
Last modified January 14, 2026
Scientific Computing Around Louisiana (SCALA) 2026
http://www.cct.lsu.edu/SCALA2026
Posted February 26, 2026
Combinatorics Seminar Questions or comments?
2:30 pm Lockett 233 (Simulcast via Zoom)
Zi-Xia Song, University of Central Florida
Dominating Hadwiger's Conjecture
A dominating $K_t$ minor in a graph $G$ is a sequence $(T_1,\cdots,T_t)$ of pairwise disjoint non-empty connected subgraphs of $G$, such that for $1 \leq i < j \leq t$, every vertex in $T_j$ has a neighbor in $T_i$. Replacing "every vertex in $T_j$" by "some vertex in $T_j$" retrieves the standard definition of a $K_t$ minor. The strengthened notion was introduced in 2024 by Illingworth and Wood, who asked whether every graph with chromatic number $t$ contains a dominating $K_t$ minor. This is a substantial strengthening of the celebrated Hadwiger's Conjecture, which asserts that every graph with chromatic number $t$ contains a $K_t$ minor. Sergey Norin referred to this question as the "Dominating Hadwiger's Conjecture" and believes it is likely false. In this talk, we present our recent work on the Dominating Hadwiger's Conjecture and discuss the key ideas of our results. Joint work with Michael Scully and Thomas Tibbetts.
Posted January 12, 2026
Applied Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm Lockett Hall 232
Daniel Massatt, New Jersey Institute of Technology
TBA
Event contact: Stephen Shipman
Posted November 15, 2025
Last modified January 21, 2026
Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Lockett 233 or click here to attend on Zoom
Kiran Kedlaya, University of California San Diego
TBA
Event contact: Gene Kopp
Posted January 15, 2026
Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Lockett Hall 233
Sayani Mukherjee, Louisiana State University
TBD
TBD
Posted March 5, 2026
Informal Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm – 3:30 pm Lockett 233
Long Teng, LSU
Doubling Inequalities for Schr\"odinger operators with power growth potentials
TBD
Posted December 1, 2025
Last modified March 5, 2026
Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?
9:30 am – 10:20 am Zoom (click here to join)
Khai Nguyen, North Carolina State University
On the Structure of Viscosity Solutions to Hamilton–Jacobi Equations
This talk presents regularity results for viscosity solutions to a class of Hamilton-Jacobi equations arising from optimal exit-time problems in nonlinear control systems under a weak controllability condition. A representation formula for proximal supergradients, based on transported normals, is derived, with applications to optimality conditions, the propagation of singularities, and the Hausdorff measure of the singular set.
Posted January 11, 2026
Applied Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Lockett 223
Zhiyuan Geng, Purdue University
TBA
Posted March 3, 2026
3:30 pm Lockett 232The HRT Conjecture for a Symmetric (3,2) Configuration
The Heil-Ramanathan-Topiwala (HRT) conjecture is an open problem in time-frequency analysis. It asserts that any finite combination of time-frequency shifts of a non-zero function in $L^2(\mathbb{R})$ is linearly independent. Despite its simplicity, the conjecture remains unproven in full generality, with only specific cases resolved. In this talk, I will discuss the HRT conjecture for a specific symmetric configuration of five points in the time-frequency plane, known as the (3,2) configuration. We prove that for this specific setting, the Gabor system is linearly independent whenever the parameters satisfy certain rationality conditions (specifically, when one parameter is irrational and the other is rational). This result partially resolves the remaining open cases for such configurations. I will outline the proof methods, which involve an interplay of harmonic analysis and ergodic theory. This is joint work with Kasso A. Okoudjou.
Event contact: Rui Han
Posted January 15, 2026
Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Lockett Hall 233
Saumya Jain, Louisiana State University
TBD
TBD
Posted January 15, 2026
Colloquium Questions or comments?
3:30 pm Lockett 232
Kumar Murty, University of Toronto
TBA
Posted January 5, 2026
Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?
9:30 am – 10:20 am Zoom (click here to join)
Jonathan How, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
AIAA and IEEE Fellow
TBA
Posted January 2, 2026
Last modified January 8, 2026
Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?
10:30 am – 11:20 am Joint Computational Mathematics and Control and Optimization Seminar to Be Held In Person at Location TBA and on Zoom (click here to join)
Jia-Jie Zhu, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm
TBA
Posted January 15, 2026
Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Lockett Hall 233
Krishnendu Kar, Louisiana State University
TBD
TBD
Posted March 1, 2026
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Lockett 232
Simon Bortz, University of Alabama
TBA
Posted January 15, 2026
Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Lockett Hall 233
Nilangshu Bhattacharyya, Louisiana State University
TBD
TBD
Posted February 5, 2026
Last modified February 6, 2026
Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?
9:30 am – 10:20 am Zoom (click here to join)
Wonjun Lee, Ohio State University
Linear Separability in Contrastive Learning via Neural Training Dynamics
The SimCLR method for contrastive learning of invariant visual representations has become extensively used in supervised, semi-supervised, and unsupervised settings, due to its ability to uncover patterns and structures in image data that are not directly present in the pixel representations. However, this success is still not well understood; neither the loss function nor invariance alone explains it. In this talk, I present a mathematical analysis that clarifies how the geometry of the learned latent distribution arises from SimCLR. Despite the nonconvex SimCLR loss and the presence of many undesirable local minimizers, I show that the training dynamics driven by gradient flow tend toward favorable representations. In particular, early training induces clustering in feature space. Under a structural assumption on the neural network, our main theorem proves that the learned features become linearly separable with respect to the ground-truth labels. To support the theoretical insights, I present numerical results that align with the theoretical predictions.
Posted February 9, 2026
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm Keisler LoungeIndustry Speaker
Posted January 15, 2026
Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Lockett Hall 233
Anurakti Gupta, Louisiana State University
TBD
TBD
Posted December 27, 2025
Last modified February 25, 2026
Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?
9:30 am – 10:20 am Zoom (click here to join)
Aris Daniilidis, Technische Universität Wien
Variational Stability of Alternating Projections
The alternate projection method is a classical approach to deal with the convex feasibility problem. We shall first show that given two nonempty closed convex sets $A$ and $B$, the consecutive projections $x_{n+1} = PB(PA(x_n))$, $n \ge 1$ produce a self-contacted sequence, providing in particular an alternative way to establish convergence in the finite dimensional case [2]. In infinite dimensions, a regularity condition is required to ensure convergence of the above sequence $\{x_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ [4]. In [3], it was established that a regularity condition from [1] also ensures the variational stability of the above method. In this talk, we shall complete this result and show that variational stability is actually equivalent to the aforementioned regularity assumption. REFERENCES: [1] H. Bauschke, J. Borwein, On the convergence of von Neumann’s alternating projection algorithm for two sets, Set-Valued Anal. 1 (1993), 185–212. [2] A. Bohm, A. Daniilidis, Ubiquitous algorithms in convex optimization generate self-contracted sequences, J. Convex Anal. 29 (2022) 119–128. [3] C. De Bernardi, E. Miglierina, A variational approach to the alternating projections method, J. Global Optim. 81 (2021), 323-350. [4] H. Hundal, An alternating projection that does not converge in norm, Nonlinear Anal. 57 (2004), 35–61.
Posted January 15, 2026
Last modified January 22, 2026
Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Lockett Hall 233
Fabian Espinoza de Osambela, Louisiana State University
TBD
TBD
Posted January 2, 2026
Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?
9:30 am – 10:20 am Zoom (click here to join)
Behçet Açıkmeşe, University of Washington
AIAA and IEEE Fellow
Optimization-Based Design and Control for Next-Generation Aerospace Systems
Next-generation aerospace systems (e.g., asteroid-mining robots, spacecraft swarms, hypersonic vehicles, and urban air mobility) demand autonomy that transcends current limits. These missions require spacecraft to operate safely, efficiently, and decisively in unpredictable environments, where every decision must balance performance, resource constraints, and risk. The core challenge lies in solving complex optimal control problems in real time, while (i) exploiting full system capabilities without violating safety limits, (ii) certifying algorithmic reliability for critical guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems, and (iii) co-designing hardware and software subsystems for optimal end-to-end performance. Our solution is optimization-based autonomy. By transforming GNC challenges into structured optimization problems, we achieve provably robust, computationally tractable solutions. This approach has already revolutionized aerospace, e.g., reusable rockets land autonomously via real-time trajectory planning, drones navigate dynamic obstacles, and spacecraft perform precision docking, all powered by algorithms that solve optimization problems with complex physics-based equations and inequalities in milliseconds. Emerging frontiers (such on-orbit satellite servicing, multi-vehicle asteroid exploration, large-scale orbital spacecraft swarms, and global hypersonic transport) push these methods further. Yet barriers remain, e.g., handling non-convex constraints, ensuring solver resilience, large-scale optimization for decision making and co-design, and bridging the gap between theory and flight-ready systems. This talk explores how real-time optimization is rewriting the rules of autonomy, and how researchers can turn these innovations into practice, propelling aerospace engineering into an era where aerospace systems think, adapt, and perform at the edge of the possible.
Posted January 15, 2026
Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Lockett Hall 233
Huong Vo, Louisiana State University
TBD
TBD
Posted January 24, 2026
Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?
10:30 am – 11:20 am Note the Special Seminar Time. Zoom (click here to join)
Michael Friedlander, University of British Columbia
SIAM Fellow
Seeing Structure Through Duality
Duality is traditionally introduced as a source of bounds and shadow prices. In this talk I emphasize a second role: revealing structure that enables scalable computation. Starting from LP complementary slackness, I describe a generalization called polar alignment that identifies which "atoms" compose optimal solutions in structured inverse problems. The discussion passes through von Neumann's minimax theorem, Kantorovich's resolving multipliers, and Dantzig's simplex method to arrive at sublinear programs, where an adversary selects worst-case costs from a set. The resulting framework unifies sparse recovery, low-rank matrix completion, and signal demixing. Throughout, dual variables serve as certificates that decode compositional structure.
Posted January 5, 2026
Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?
9:30 am – 10:20 am Zoom (click here to join)
Necmiye Ozay, University of Michigan
IEEE Fellow, and ONR Young Investigator, NASA Early Career Faculty, and NSF CAREER Awardee
TBA