Thiago Serra
@thserra.bsky.social
Assistant professor at University of Iowa, formerly at Bucknell University, mathematical optimizer with an #orms PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, curious about scaling up constraint learning, proud father of two
Pinned
Thiago Serra
@thserra.bsky.social
· May 6
Optimization over Trained (and Sparse) Neural Networks: A Surrogate within a Surrogate
We can approximate a constraint or an objective function that is uncertain or nonlinear with a neural network that we embed in the optimization model. This approach, which is known as constraint learn...
arxiv.org
We have a new paper out, with some exciting results on how to solve optimization models embedding neural networks!
📝 Optimization over Trained (and Sparse) Neural Networks: A Surrogate within a Surrogate
🔗 arxiv.org/abs/2505.01985
🎤 Talk in Montreal tomorrow: www.crmath.ca/en/activitie...
1/N
📝 Optimization over Trained (and Sparse) Neural Networks: A Surrogate within a Surrogate
🔗 arxiv.org/abs/2505.01985
🎤 Talk in Montreal tomorrow: www.crmath.ca/en/activitie...
1/N
Kicking off 2026, here is a new list of summer schools on artificial intelligence, data science, machine learning, and operations research:
thiagoserra.com/2026/01/04/s...
thiagoserra.com/2026/01/04/s...
Summer 2026 schools on artificial intelligence, data science, machine learning, and operations research
The purpose of organizing this list is to help graduate students find a summer school to gain skills related to operations research. Why? Because students are often unaware of those, whereas facult…
thiagoserra.com
January 4, 2026 at 10:20 AM
Kicking off 2026, here is a new list of summer schools on artificial intelligence, data science, machine learning, and operations research:
thiagoserra.com/2026/01/04/s...
thiagoserra.com/2026/01/04/s...
I am happy to share a new version of the Surrogate Within A Surrogate paper. This paper shows that we can find better solutions for an optimization problem involving a dense neural network by pruning it. We made an extra effort to clarify our contributions and to expand our experimental evaluation.
Optimization over Trained (and Sparse) Neural Networks: A Surrogate within a Surrogate
In constraint learning, we use a neural network as a surrogate for part of the constraints or of the objective function of an optimization model. However, the tractability of the resulting model is he...
arxiv.org
January 2, 2026 at 12:38 AM
I am happy to share a new version of the Surrogate Within A Surrogate paper. This paper shows that we can find better solutions for an optimization problem involving a dense neural network by pruning it. We made an extra effort to clarify our contributions and to expand our experimental evaluation.
Make a Bond movie academic:
Facets are Forever
Facets are Forever
December 27, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Make a Bond movie academic:
Facets are Forever
Facets are Forever
Reposted by Thiago Serra
Facets are Forever? 💎 📝
December 27, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Facets are Forever? 💎 📝
Make a Bond movie academic:
(Sean Connery is unfunded)
You Only Travel Twice
(Sean Connery is unfunded)
You Only Travel Twice
December 27, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Make a Bond movie academic:
(Sean Connery is unfunded)
You Only Travel Twice
(Sean Connery is unfunded)
You Only Travel Twice
December 27, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Reposted by Thiago Serra
Make a Bond movie academic:
"The World is Not Enough: A PhD dissertation on the avarice of billionaires and the socio economic divide causing a fracture in democratic processes”
"The World is Not Enough: A PhD dissertation on the avarice of billionaires and the socio economic divide causing a fracture in democratic processes”
Make a Bond movie academic:
"You only live Twice as long as your Ancestors thanks to advances in medical technology."
"You only live Twice as long as your Ancestors thanks to advances in medical technology."
Make a Bond movie academic
The Man with More of a Comment than a Question
The Man with More of a Comment than a Question
December 26, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Make a Bond movie academic:
"The World is Not Enough: A PhD dissertation on the avarice of billionaires and the socio economic divide causing a fracture in democratic processes”
"The World is Not Enough: A PhD dissertation on the avarice of billionaires and the socio economic divide causing a fracture in democratic processes”
Looking for an auspicious PhD? Try it the Iowa way!
We have a top-notch department with active research at the intersection of many important fundamental and emerging subjects. There is still time—the application deadline is three weeks away! More information here: tippie.uiowa.edu/phd/phd-busi...
We have a top-notch department with active research at the intersection of many important fundamental and emerging subjects. There is still time—the application deadline is three weeks away! More information here: tippie.uiowa.edu/phd/phd-busi...
December 23, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Looking for an auspicious PhD? Try it the Iowa way!
We have a top-notch department with active research at the intersection of many important fundamental and emerging subjects. There is still time—the application deadline is three weeks away! More information here: tippie.uiowa.edu/phd/phd-busi...
We have a top-notch department with active research at the intersection of many important fundamental and emerging subjects. There is still time—the application deadline is three weeks away! More information here: tippie.uiowa.edu/phd/phd-busi...
Happy to have contributed to Anna Mitchell’s cover story at The Daily Iowan about data centers in Iowa.
You can read it here: dailyiowan.com/2025/12/09/c...
You can read it here: dailyiowan.com/2025/12/09/c...
December 12, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Happy to have contributed to Anna Mitchell’s cover story at The Daily Iowan about data centers in Iowa.
You can read it here: dailyiowan.com/2025/12/09/c...
You can read it here: dailyiowan.com/2025/12/09/c...
Today I am celebrating the symbolic thousandth citation on Google Scholar.
December 6, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Today I am celebrating the symbolic thousandth citation on Google Scholar.
Next week, I will be participating on a panel hosted by @gurobioptimization.bsky.social about training the next generation of mathematical optimizers.
You can join the conversation here: www.brighttalk.com/webcast/1918...
You can join the conversation here: www.brighttalk.com/webcast/1918...
December 4, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Next week, I will be participating on a panel hosted by @gurobioptimization.bsky.social about training the next generation of mathematical optimizers.
You can join the conversation here: www.brighttalk.com/webcast/1918...
You can join the conversation here: www.brighttalk.com/webcast/1918...
Reposted by Thiago Serra
I’m excited to share the materials from my Stanford seminar course, “AI for Algorithmic Reasoning and Optimization”: vitercik.github.io/ai4algs_25/. It covered formal algorithmic frameworks for analyzing LLM reasoning, GNNs for combinatorial/mathematical optimization, and theoretical guarantees.
December 2, 2025 at 9:55 PM
I’m excited to share the materials from my Stanford seminar course, “AI for Algorithmic Reasoning and Optimization”: vitercik.github.io/ai4algs_25/. It covered formal algorithmic frameworks for analyzing LLM reasoning, GNNs for combinatorial/mathematical optimization, and theoretical guarantees.
Reposted by Thiago Serra
It's been an absolute pleasure working with Ellen, Madeleine, and their amazing PhD students for the past year on making optimization more accessible with generative AI!
I am on the job market this year - check out my website (conlaw.github.io) for more details on what I've been up to.
I am on the job market this year - check out my website (conlaw.github.io) for more details on what I've been up to.
November 16, 2025 at 9:04 PM
It's been an absolute pleasure working with Ellen, Madeleine, and their amazing PhD students for the past year on making optimization more accessible with generative AI!
I am on the job market this year - check out my website (conlaw.github.io) for more details on what I've been up to.
I am on the job market this year - check out my website (conlaw.github.io) for more details on what I've been up to.
Reposted by Thiago Serra
Please keep an eye out for Connor Lawless (@lawlessopt.bsky.social) on the faculty job market! Connor is a Stanford Human-Centered AI Postdoc, co-hosted by myself and Madeleine Udell. His research combines ML, computational optimization, and HCI, with the goal of building human-centered AI systems.
November 16, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Please keep an eye out for Connor Lawless (@lawlessopt.bsky.social) on the faculty job market! Connor is a Stanford Human-Centered AI Postdoc, co-hosted by myself and Madeleine Udell. His research combines ML, computational optimization, and HCI, with the goal of building human-centered AI systems.
Reposted by Thiago Serra
The 2025 ICS Student Paper Award winner is Hao Hao (CMU) for the paper "Robust Paths: Geometry and Computation," co-authored with Peter Zhang.
November 1, 2025 at 10:37 PM
The 2025 ICS Student Paper Award winner is Hao Hao (CMU) for the paper "Robust Paths: Geometry and Computation," co-authored with Peter Zhang.
Reposted by Thiago Serra
The 2025 ICS Harvey J Greenberg Research Award was presented to Braden L. Crimmins, J. Alex Halderman, and Bradley Sturt for their paper "Improving the Security of United States Elections with Robust Optimization."
November 1, 2025 at 10:33 PM
The 2025 ICS Harvey J Greenberg Research Award was presented to Braden L. Crimmins, J. Alex Halderman, and Bradley Sturt for their paper "Improving the Security of United States Elections with Robust Optimization."
Reposted by Thiago Serra
The 2025 ICS Prize Committee recommended the recognition of two submissions as co-winners of the ICS Prize:
(1) Alper Atamtürk, Andrés Gómez, and Shaoning Han
(2) Jason Altschuler and Pablo Parrilo
(1) Alper Atamtürk, Andrés Gómez, and Shaoning Han
(2) Jason Altschuler and Pablo Parrilo
November 1, 2025 at 10:46 PM
The 2025 ICS Prize Committee recommended the recognition of two submissions as co-winners of the ICS Prize:
(1) Alper Atamtürk, Andrés Gómez, and Shaoning Han
(2) Jason Altschuler and Pablo Parrilo
(1) Alper Atamtürk, Andrés Gómez, and Shaoning Han
(2) Jason Altschuler and Pablo Parrilo
October 29, 2025 at 1:08 AM
In Hans Mittelmann’s presentation on optimization benchmark results at #informs2025, he raised the point that benchmarking enters a new era with AI being used under the hood by solvers in one way or another.
October 28, 2025 at 1:14 PM
In Hans Mittelmann’s presentation on optimization benchmark results at #informs2025, he raised the point that benchmarking enters a new era with AI being used under the hood by solvers in one way or another.
Thinking of my PhD days, my recollection of Shabbir Ahmed was as one of those senior professors who would come, chat, and give advice to other people’s PhD students in workshops and conferences. He was a nice guy who left this world too early.
October 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Thinking of my PhD days, my recollection of Shabbir Ahmed was as one of those senior professors who would come, chat, and give advice to other people’s PhD students in workshops and conferences. He was a nice guy who left this world too early.
Reposted by Thiago Serra
Group photo taken at the Resilient Networks session at #informs2025. My @isenbergumass.bsky.social PhD student @ismaelpour.bsky.social presented our paper published recently in ITOR on crop and cargo war risk insurance. This is joint work with Borys Kormych.
October 27, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Group photo taken at the Resilient Networks session at #informs2025. My @isenbergumass.bsky.social PhD student @ismaelpour.bsky.social presented our paper published recently in ITOR on crop and cargo war risk insurance. This is joint work with Borys Kormych.
Reposted by Thiago Serra
I’m recruiting a postdoctoral researcher on a fully funded 2-year contract. The topic is developing and implementing new parallel graph algorithms, with applications to data-driven transportation and logistics.
Details and application procedure below ⬇️ Reach out if you have any questions!
Details and application procedure below ⬇️ Reach out if you have any questions!
acme-mobidec.github.io
October 27, 2025 at 5:43 PM
I’m recruiting a postdoctoral researcher on a fully funded 2-year contract. The topic is developing and implementing new parallel graph algorithms, with applications to data-driven transportation and logistics.
Details and application procedure below ⬇️ Reach out if you have any questions!
Details and application procedure below ⬇️ Reach out if you have any questions!
The University of Iowa is launching a new ranking of business analytics departments (including equivalent departments in other business schools) at this year’s @informs.bsky.social Annual Meeting.
1/3
1/3
October 26, 2025 at 4:07 PM
The University of Iowa is launching a new ranking of business analytics departments (including equivalent departments in other business schools) at this year’s @informs.bsky.social Annual Meeting.
1/3
1/3
Had a fun pre-INFORMS Saturday.
First, I joined Kayse Lee Maass and Graeme Warren for the panel Learning and Teaching with Games at the Teaching Excellence and Networking workshop, hosted by Yaren Bilge Kaya.
1/3
First, I joined Kayse Lee Maass and Graeme Warren for the panel Learning and Teaching with Games at the Teaching Excellence and Networking workshop, hosted by Yaren Bilge Kaya.
1/3
October 26, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Had a fun pre-INFORMS Saturday.
First, I joined Kayse Lee Maass and Graeme Warren for the panel Learning and Teaching with Games at the Teaching Excellence and Networking workshop, hosted by Yaren Bilge Kaya.
1/3
First, I joined Kayse Lee Maass and Graeme Warren for the panel Learning and Teaching with Games at the Teaching Excellence and Networking workshop, hosted by Yaren Bilge Kaya.
1/3
Happening right now at INFORMS: Lucas Waddell is talking about our project, which improved how final exams are scheduled at Bucknell University at B406!
You can read more about it here: arxiv.org/abs/2509.11031
#informs2025
You can read more about it here: arxiv.org/abs/2509.11031
#informs2025
October 26, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Happening right now at INFORMS: Lucas Waddell is talking about our project, which improved how final exams are scheduled at Bucknell University at B406!
You can read more about it here: arxiv.org/abs/2509.11031
#informs2025
You can read more about it here: arxiv.org/abs/2509.11031
#informs2025