{"count":203,"next":"https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/events/?format=json&limit=10&offset=20&ordering=-description","previous":"https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/events/?format=json&limit=10&ordering=-description","results":[{"id":71930,"title":"Generative models for black-box optimization of complex objectives","slug":"generative-models-for-black-box-optimization-of-co","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/generative-models-for-black-box-optimization-of-co","visual_url":null,"visual_large_url":null,"visual_maxsize_url":null,"lang":"en","start_date":"2026-07-09","end_date":"2026-07-09","start_time":"10:00:00","end_time":"12:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Nicolas Flammarion
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Pascal Fua
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Alexander Mathis
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\nMany high-impact problems in science and engineering reduce to optimizing a complex objective, where each evaluation is costly and often unreliable: physical experiments fail, simulators diverge, and stochastic systems return noisy feedback. Classical black-box optimizers struggle in this regime, where evaluation budgets are tight and the feasible region is hard to characterize a priori. Our work investigates how the statistical expressivity of modern generative samplers can be leveraged in black-box optimization. We propose that these samplers enable efficient navigation of feasible sets and optimization of geometrically complex objectives under limited, unreliable observations. 
\r\n
\r\nTwo complementary lines of work have already been studied. The main one, SPARROW, demonstrated that a sampler-driven optimizer can substantially reduce the number of function calls needed to maximize complex and unreliable objectives. A parallel line established that samplers can be steered to satisfy hard constraints without sacrificing the statistical diversity of the generated samples. Because SPARROW imposes minimal assumptions on the underlying sampler, these constrained samplers can drive it directly, opening a path to constrained black-box optimization.
\r\n
\r\nBuilding on these results, two directions are planned. The first is theoretical: a deeper mathematical study of sampler-driven optimization, drawing on the broader literature on sample-efficient black-box optimization, in order to derive stronger guarantees and more efficient algorithms. The second is applied: applying the methods to concrete domains and exploiting the structure those domains expose to sharpen performance beyond what a pure black-box treatment can achieve.
\r\n
\r\nThe applications of low-budget black-box optimization are diverse, including engineering design (e.g. aerodynamic shape optimization, mechanical components), scientific discovery (e.g. protein and molecule design under synthesizability and stability constraints), and the safety and security of opaque ML systems (e.g. query-efficient adversarial probing, red-teaming of black-box models).
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\n ","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-05-22T12:53:32","last_modification_date":"2026-05-22T13:09:04","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 333","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BC%20333","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Edouard Dufour","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120837/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json"]},{"id":71917,"title":"Securing Next Generation Cellular Networks","slug":"securing-next-generation-cellular-networks","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/securing-next-generation-cellular-networks","visual_url":null,"visual_large_url":null,"visual_maxsize_url":null,"lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-09","end_date":"2026-06-09","start_time":"10:30:00","end_time":"12:30:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Nate Foster
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Mathias Payer
\r\nCo-thesis advisor: Prof. Haitham Al Hassanieh
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Thomas Bourgeat
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\nThis thesis studies cellular security from a state-aware, system-level perspective spanning user equipment, access networks, core networks, and higher-layer voice and messaging services. These systems form a distributed, heterogeneous infrastructure whose security depends on complex and largely opaque implementations across the stack. Cellular infrastructure underpins everyday communication, emergency response, transport, and industrial systems, yet existing research often focuses on isolated components or stateless message handling, leaving state-dependent vulnerabilities and cross-component interactions insufficiently explored. 
\r\n
\r\nThis thesis aims to develop methods to infer and explore protocol state in closed and partially observable implementations, combining active automata learning, dynamic analysis, and targeted testing. It begins with baseband firmware and core-network components, then extends across key trust boundaries such as the Radio Interface Layer, non-cellular interworking, and voice and messaging infrastructure. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities arising from logical flaws, memory-safety issues, and inconsistencies in how state and trust are handled across components.
\r\n
\r\nBuilding on these insights, the thesis derives lightweight hardening for deployed systems, including boundary mediation and flow-based policy validation. By improving how cellular systems are tested and defended, the project strengthens critical infrastructure and Swiss expertise in 5G security.
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\n[1]: https://www.ndss-symposium.org/ndss-paper/auto-draft-200/
\r\n[2]:https://www.ndss-symposium.org/ndss-paper/basespec-comparative-analysis-of-baseband-software-and-cellular-specifications-for-l3-protocols/
\r\n[3]:https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity25/presentation/dong-yilu
\r\n ","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-05-21T13:32:02","last_modification_date":"2026-05-22T10:07:52","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 133","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BC%20133","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Eduard Vlad","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl,ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120822/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json"]},{"id":71838,"title":"Composable Performance Interfaces with Controlled Resolution","slug":"composable-performance-interfaces-with-controlled","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/composable-performance-interfaces-with-controlled","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33158/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33158/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33158/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-26","end_date":"2026-06-26","start_time":"11:15:00","end_time":"13:15:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Nate Foster
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. George Candea
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Rachid Guerraoui
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\ncoming soon","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-05-08T16:49:17","last_modification_date":"2026-05-08T16:49:17","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"INN 326","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==INN%20326","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Alexandre Piveteau","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120704/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json"]},{"id":71753,"title":"Metric Sparsification of Inhomogeneous Random Graphs","slug":"metric-sparsification-of-inhomogeneous-random-grap","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/metric-sparsification-of-inhomogeneous-random-grap","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33079/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33079/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33079/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-24","end_date":"2026-06-24","start_time":"14:00:00","end_time":"16:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Michael Gastpar
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Patrick Thiran
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Olivier Lévêque
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\nWhy the Metric Backbone Preserves Community Structure 
\r\nFirst Passage Percolation on Inhomogeneous Random Graphs 
\r\nA Survey of Random Processes with Reinforcement
\r\n ","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-29T09:48:23","last_modification_date":"2026-05-01T14:49:53","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 129","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BC%20129","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Raphaël Fua","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120585/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json"]},{"id":71933,"title":"Controlling and Guiding Generative Models for Three-Dimensional Shape Optimization","slug":"controlling-and-guiding-generative-models-for-thre","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/controlling-and-guiding-generative-models-for-thre","visual_url":null,"visual_large_url":null,"visual_maxsize_url":null,"lang":"en","start_date":"2026-07-07","end_date":"2026-07-07","start_time":"11:00:00","end_time":"13:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Martin Rajman
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Pascal Fua
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Mark Pauly
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\nOptimizing 3D shapes within the latent spaces of deep generative models is fundamental to computer assisted engineering, yet remains prone to a critical failure mode we term manifold drift: the tendency of gradient-based optimization to move latent vectors away from the manifold of valid shapes. This problem is exacerbated in state-of-the-art 3D shape generative models that operate in increasingly high-dimensional latent spaces where valid shapes occupy a vanishingly small fraction of the full space. Existing mitigation strategies, including latent regularization and flow-matching approaches, either sacrifice expressiveness, demand a difficult trade-off between objective guidance and generative fidelity that remains prone to manifold drift, or are computationally infeasible to scale to modern, large-capacity 3D shape models. We introduce a novel optimizer-corrector framework that alternates between gradient steps for objective minimization and guided flow matching to drive the latent state back to the valid shape manifold. By decoupling objective minimization from flow-based correction, optimizing freely and correcting strictly, this alternating design avoids inherent trade-offs, preserving geometric validity without sacrificing expressiveness while remaining computationally feasible on modern 3D shape models. We demonstrate its effectiveness across generative priors of varying complexity, from simple vector latent spaces to large-scale architectures across a variety of downstream optimization tasks, including aerodynamic drag reduction and object compliance optimization.
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\n ","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-05-22T13:14:54","last_modification_date":"2026-05-22T13:14:54","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 333","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BC%20333","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Emilien Seiler","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120840/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json"]},{"id":71755,"title":"Controllable Generative Models via Test-Time Adaptation","slug":"controllable-generative-models-via-test-time-adapt","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/controllable-generative-models-via-test-time-adapt","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33081/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33081/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33081/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-07-07","end_date":"2026-07-07","start_time":"09:30:00","end_time":"11:30:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Martin Rajman
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Pascal Fua
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Jean-Philippe Thiran
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\ncoming soon","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-29T10:00:51","last_modification_date":"2026-05-08T11:17:00","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 329","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BC%20329","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Hantao Zhang","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120587/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json"]},{"id":71750,"title":"Efficiency Datalog Engine for Formal Research","slug":"efficiency-datalog-engine-for-formal-research","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/efficiency-datalog-engine-for-formal-research","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33076/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33076/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33076/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-17","end_date":"2026-06-17","start_time":"10:00:00","end_time":"12:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Martin Odersky
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Christoph Koch
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Viktor Kuncak
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\nDatalog engines are starting to show their potential in a wide range of data-intensive applications. This thesis will investigate techniques for developing a fast Datalog engines, specifically focusing on datalog program rewriting and cost-based optimization for recursive queries. Furthermore, I will explore how Datalog can be specialized for specific tasks, such as static program analysis.
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\ncoming soon","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-29T09:25:41","last_modification_date":"2026-04-29T09:25:41","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 233","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BC%20233","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Christian Fattebert","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120582/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json"]},{"id":71877,"title":"Aligning Models Throughout Training","slug":"aligning-models-throughout-training","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/aligning-models-throughout-training","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33199/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33199/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33199/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-18","end_date":"2026-06-18","start_time":"13:00:00","end_time":"15:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Martin Jaggi
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Robert West
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Nicolas Flammarion
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\ncoming soon","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-05-13T12:37:39","last_modification_date":"2026-05-13T12:37:39","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 333","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BC%20333","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Raghav Singhal","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120764/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json"]},{"id":71626,"title":"Persona Formation in LLMs: Pretraining Origins, Alignment Persistence, and Safety Implications","slug":"persona-formation-in-llms-pretraining-origins-alig","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/persona-formation-in-llms-pretraining-origins-alig","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32954/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32954/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32954/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-08","end_date":"2026-06-08","start_time":"10:00:00","end_time":"12:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Martin Jaggi
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Bob West
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Antoine Bosselut
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers\r\n","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-17T13:31:08","last_modification_date":"2026-04-20T11:56:35","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 333","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BC%20333","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Viktor Moskvoretskii","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120418/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json"]},{"id":71746,"title":"Control Policy and Shape Co-Design","slug":"control-policy-and-shape-co-design","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/control-policy-and-shape-co-design","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33072/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33072/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33072/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-15","end_date":"2026-06-15","start_time":"10:00:00","end_time":"12:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Mark Pauly
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Pascal Fua
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Colin Jones
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers\r\n","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-29T09:08:43","last_modification_date":"2026-05-01T14:30:04","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 329","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BC%20329","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Daniele Affinita","organizer":"","contact":"edic@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"EDIC candidacy exam","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120577/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/27/?format=json"]}]}