Michael P. Friedlander

Professor of Computational Mathematics
Sauder School Distinguished Scholar
Director, UBC Institute of Applied Mathematics
Department of Computer Science
Department of Mathematics
University of British Columbia

ICCS 221, 2366 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

Research & Teaching

I develop and teach optimization algorithms, with research applications spanning machine learning, signal and image processing, and the physical sciences. I focus on structured optimization, which imposes interpretable structure on solutions built from simpler components. This work is grounded in convex and variational analysis, duality, and geometry, mathematical tools that guide the design of efficient algorithms.

Background

Professor, University of British Columbia (2014–present)
Professor, University of California, Davis (2014–2016)
Assistant ⤳ Associate Professor, University of British Columbia (2004–2014)
Wilkinson Fellow, Argonne National Laboratory (2002–2004)
PhD, Stanford University, Operations Research (2002)
BA, Cornell University, Physics (1993)

Appointments

Current Positions

Fellow, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) (2024–present)
Director, UBC Institute of Applied Mathematics (2018–present)
Associate Editor, Open Journal of Mathematical Optimization (2021–present)

Past Leadership

Board of Directors, Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences (2017-2023)
Associate Head for Faculty Affairs, UBC Dept of Computer Science (2017–2018)
Program Director, SIAM Activity Group in Optimization (2014–2020)

Conference Organization

Co-chair, SIAM Annual Conference (2024)
Co-chair, SIAM Conference on Optimization (2017)

Past Editorial Service

Area Editor for Continuous Optimization, Mathematics of Operations Research (2018–2022)
Associate Editor, Mathematics of Operations Research (2016–2018)
Associate Editor, SIAM J. Optimization (2009–2018)
Associate Editor, Mathematical Programming Computation (2008–2018)
Associate Editor, SIAM J. Matrix Analysis and Applications (2011–2017)
Associate Editor, Mathematical Programming (2015–2017)
Associate Editor, SIAM J. Scientific Computing (2013–2016)
Associate Editor, Optimization Methods and Software (2011–2013)
Associate Editor, Electronic Transactions Numerical Analysis (2011–2013)

Selected Publications

Polar deconvolution of mixed signals
Z. Fan, H. Jeong, B. Joshi, M. P. Friedlander. IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, 2022
Online mirror descent and dual averaging: keeping pace in the dynamic case
H. Fang, N J. A. Harvey, V. S. Portella, M. P. Friedlander. J. Machine Learning Research, 2022
Atomic decomposition via polar alignment: the geometry of structured optimization
Z. Fan, H. Jeong, Y. Sun, M. P. Friedlander. Foundations and Trends in Optimization, 3(4):280–366, 2020
Polar convolution
M. P. Friedlander, I. Macêdo, T.K. Pong. SIAM J. Optimization, 29(2):1366–1391, 2019
Low-rank spectral optimization via gauge duality
M. P. Friedlander, I. Macêdo. SIAM J. Scientific Computing, 38(3):A1616–A1638, 2016
Gauge optimization and duality
M. P. Friedlander, I. Macêdo, T. K. Pong. SIAM J. Optimization, 24(4):1999–2022, 2014
Probing the Pareto frontier for basis pursuit solutions
E. van den Berg, M. P. Friedlander. SIAM J. Scientific Computing, 31(2):890–912, 2008
Exact regularization of convex programs
M. P. Friedlander, P. Tseng. SIAM J. Optimization, 18(4):1326–1350, 2007
A globally convergent linearly constrained Lagrangian method for nonlinear optimization
M. P. Friedlander, M. A. Saunders. SIAM J. Optimization 15(3):863–897, 2005