In this issue, you will find an article about Professor Alan Willsky, and Research Scientist Suvrit Sra. Articles about graduate students Swati Gupta and Hamza Fawzi, postdoctoral researcher Luca Carlone, alumi Noah Stein and new staff member Roxana Hernandez. Each of these articles showcases the accomplishments of an extraordinary individual shaped in part by their experiences at LIDS.

In the past year, LIDS also welcomed two new faculty members Caroline Uhler, and Guy Bresler, and hosted a symposium honoring Alan Willsky titled Statistical Inference under the Willskyan Lens as well as the annual LIDS Student Conference.

A Message from the Director

On behalf of the entire LIDS community, I would like to welcome you to the Fall 2016 issue of LIDS|All. Within these pages, you will find articles profiling...

Seeing Connections Across Boundaries

One afternoon, Alan Willsky realized something that would come to be an essential part of how he approached research.

Filtering Out the Noise: Using Math to Crack the Cocktail Party Problem

Noah Stein’s first love has always been mathematics. From his grade school days in Connecticut to his time at Cornell University, where he got a bachelor’s degree in Electrical...

A High-Altitude Perspective

LIDS, and MIT in general, are dynamic places that encourage such diverse activity, he says. “One of the things I like about MIT is that it's a very high-energy place, and that suits my temperament. I don’t have to be embarrassed to be a math geek here!”

Looking at All the Angles

For instance, what do competing search engines, governments trying to catch smugglers, and the battles in Game of Thrones have in common?

How Robust Algorithms can Change the World

Originally from Italy, Luca was first introduced to robotics as an undergraduate at the Polytechnic University of Turin.

Diagnosing the Problem

Hamza, whose advisor is Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Professor Pablo Parrilo, thinks a great deal about what's called convex optimization.

Soundbites: Roxana Hernandez

At LIDS I assist the director, Asu Ozdaglar, and oversee events within the lab. My favorite part about working here is...

LIDS Welcomes Caroline Uhler

Caroline Uhler joined LIDS as an assistant professor. Her research focuses on mathematical statistics, in particular on graphical models and the use of...

LIDS Welcomes Guy Bresler

Guy Bresler is the Bonnie and Marty (1964) Tenenbaum Career Development Professor. His research investigates the relationship between combinatorial structure and computational...

Symposium Honoring Alan Willsky

In March 2016 over 100 friends, colleagues, students, and collaborators attended Statistical Inference under the Willskyan Lens, a symposium celebrating the exceptional career of Alan Willsky.

2016 LIDS Student Conference

The annual LIDS student conference is a student organized, student run conference that provides an opportunity for graduate students to present their research to peers as well as to the community at large.