{"count":28,"next":"https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/48/events/?format=json&limit=10&offset=10&ordering=is_active","previous":null,"results":[{"id":71623,"title":"Sublinear algorithms for Attention and beyond","slug":"sublinear-algorithms-for-attention-and-beyond","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/sublinear-algorithms-for-attention-and-beyond","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32952/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32952/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32952/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-05","end_date":"2026-06-05","start_time":"10:00:00","end_time":"12:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Ola Svensson
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Michael Kapralov
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Mika Göös
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers\r\n
    \r\n\t
  1. Streaming Attention Approximation via Discrepancy Theory
    2. \r\n\t
  2. Finding Correlations in Subquadratic Time, with Applications to Learning Parities and the Closest Pair Problem
    3. \r\n\t
  3. Fast and Compact Random Mappings with Uniform Guarantees and Applications (by Piotr Indyk (MIT) and Ying Feng (MIT), to appear in STOC 2026) -  web link not yet available.
    4. \r\n
","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-17T12:41:25","last_modification_date":"2026-04-30T14:14:41","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BC 229","url_place_and_room":"","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":[],"speaker":"Boris Prokhorov ","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/120415/","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":71591,"title":"Decision Making under Risk and Uncertainty","slug":"decision-making-under-risk-and-uncertainty","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/decision-making-under-risk-and-uncertainty","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32924/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32924/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32924/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. Emre Telatar
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Michael Gastpar
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Negar Kiyavash
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\nIn real-world decision problems, human needs can differ widely in background, culture, and objectives, making it difficult to design a single universal value function for agents. To design a model dealing with specific tasks, a natural starting point is to specify an appropriate utility (reward) function and optimize it. However, in practice, there are many factors that require attention when making decisions. This work mainly considers two factors: risk and uncertainty, and aims to study decision making through an information-theoretic lens, developing algorithms and interpretations for optimizing risk-sensitive utility functions under uncertainty.
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\n1. 1968 - Mossin - Optimal Multiperiod Portfolio Policies
\r\nhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/2351447
\r\n
\r\n2. 1984 - Cover - An Algorithm for Maximizing Expected Log Investment Return
\r\nhttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1056869
\r\n
\r\n3. 2019 - Bleuler-Lapidoth-Pfister - Gambling and Rényi Divergence
\r\nhttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8849800
\r\n ","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-14T14:29:53","last_modification_date":"2026-04-20T21:12:06","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":"Bo-Yu Yang","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/120375/","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\nLarge language models encode high-level behavioral concepts such as characters, dispositions, and goals as linear directions in their activations. A growing line of work frames these as personas: pretraining builds a library of them, post-training selects one to act as the Assistant, and several safety failures appear mediated by movement along persona-aligned directions. Yet how personas form during training, what it means for a model to represent one, and how they can be further leveraged for safety remain open. This proposal develops the paradigm along three axes: origin, definition, and applications, advancing an emerging area at the intersection of interpretability and AI safety.
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers\r\n","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-17T13:31:08","last_modification_date":"2026-05-29T15:24:32","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":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":71754,"title":"Towards Understanding Large Language Models","slug":"towards-understanding-large-language-models","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/towards-understanding-large-language-models","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33080/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33080/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33080/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-12","end_date":"2026-06-12","start_time":"15:30:00","end_time":"17:30:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Robert West
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Nicolas Flammarion
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Martin Jaggi
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers
\r\ncoming soon","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-29T09:57:35","last_modification_date":"2026-05-08T11:16:06","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":"Mark Rofin","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/120586/","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":71622,"title":"Information Theoretic Methods for Security and Privacy, with Applications to Decentralized Learning","slug":"information-theoretic-methods-for-security-and-p-2","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/information-theoretic-methods-for-security-and-p-2","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32951/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32951/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32951/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. Emre Telatar
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Yanina Shkel
\r\nThesis co-advisor: Prof Rachid Guerraoui
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Patrick Thiran
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers\r\n","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-17T12:29:47","last_modification_date":"2026-04-17T12:29:47","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":"Salim Najib","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/120414/","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"]},{"id":71650,"title":"Approximation Complexity of QMA-hard Optimization Problems","slug":"approximation-complexity-of-qma-hard-optimization","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/approximation-complexity-of-qma-hard-optimization","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32975/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32975/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32975/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-16","end_date":"2026-06-16","start_time":"16:00:00","end_time":"18:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Nicolas Macris
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Thomas Vidick
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Yihui Quek
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\ncoming soon
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers\r\n","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-04-20T21:24:26","last_modification_date":"2026-05-12T13:33:58","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":"Petra Arabadjieva ","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/120447/","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":71932,"title":"Failure-Aware LLM Serving for Agentic Workloads","slug":"failure-aware-llm-serving-for-agentic-workloads","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/failure-aware-llm-serving-for-agentic-workloads","visual_url":null,"visual_large_url":null,"visual_maxsize_url":null,"lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-17","end_date":"2026-06-17","start_time":"09:00:00","end_time":"11:00:00","description":"EDIC candidacy exam
\r\nExam president: Prof. Anastasia Ailamaki
\r\nThesis advisor: Prof. Anne-Marie Kermarrec
\r\nCo-examiner: Prof. Robert West
\r\n
\r\nAbstract
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nSelected papers\r\n","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-05-22T13:11:09","last_modification_date":"2026-05-22T13:12:05","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":"Palak","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/120839/","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"]}]}