My main interests have been in the intersection of three technical fields: optimization, dynamical systems and control, and machine learning. One of my recent focuses is on data-driven robust optimization using tools such as probability theory, functional analysis, principled learning and kernel methods. I believe mathematical optimization, with modern stochastic and nonlinear programming, could play an interesting role in many cutting-edge applications such as large-scale machine learning, robust machine learning/reinforcement learning as well as in stochastic control.
Papers
Kernel Distributionally Robust Optimization. Jia-Jie Zhu, Wittawat Jitkrittum, Moritz Diehl, Bernhard Schölkopf, 2020. Preprint. paper code
Worst-Case Risk Quantification under Distributional Ambiguity using Kernel Mean Embedding in Moment Problem. Jia-Jie Zhu, Wittawat Jitkrittum, Moritz Diehl, Bernhard Schölkopf, 2020. To appear in the 59th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC)), 2020. paper
Projection Algorithms for Non-Convex Minimization with Application to Sparse Principal Component Analysis. J.J. Zhu, D. Phan, W. Hager, 2015. Journal of Global Optimization, 65(4):657–676, 2016. paper code
A Kernel Mean Embedding Approach to Reducing Conservativeness in Stochastic Programming and Control. Zhu, Jia-Jie, Moritz Diehl and Bernhard Schölkopf. 2nd Annual Conference on Learning for Dynamics and Control (L4DC). In Proceedings of Machine Learning Research vol 120:1–9, 2020. paper slides
A New Distribution-Free Concept for Representing, Comparing, and Propagating Uncertainty in Dynamical Systems with Kernel Probabilistic Programming. Zhu, Jia-Jie, Krikamol Muandet, Moritz Diehl, and Bernhard Schölkopf. 21st IFAC World Congress. To appear in IFAC-PapersOnLine proceedings, 2020. paper slides
Fast Non-Parametric Learning to Accelerate Mixed-Integer Programming for Online Hybrid Model Predictive Control. Zhu, Jia-Jie, and Martius, Georg. 21st IFAC World Congress. To appear in IFAC-PapersOnLine proceedings, 2020. paper slides
Robust Humanoid Locomotion Using Trajectory Optimization and Sample-Efficient Learning. Yeganegi, Mohammad Hasan, Majid Khadiv, S Ali A Moosavian, Jia-Jie Zhu, Andrea Del Prete, and Ludovic Righetti. IEEE Humanoids, 2019. paper
Generative Adversarial Active Learning. J.J. Zhu, J. Bento, 2017. NIPS 2017 Workshop on Teaching Machines, Robots, and Humans. paper
Control What You Can: Intrinsically Motivated Task-Planning Agent. Blaes, Sebastian, Marin Vlastelica Pogančić, JJ Zhu, and Georg Martius. In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 32, pages 12541– 12552. Curran Associates, Inc., 2019. paper
Deep Reinforcement Learning for Resource-Aware Control. D. Baumann, J.J. Zhu, G. Martius, S. Trimpe, 2018. IEEE CDC 2018. paper code
A Metric for Sets of Trajectories that is Practical and Mathematically Consistent. J. Bento, J.J. Zhu, 2016. paper
A Decentralized Multi-Block Algorithm for Demand-Side Primary Frequency Control Using Local Frequency Measurements. J. Brooks, W. Hager, J.J. Zhu, 2015. paper