Lectures on Modern Optimization Methods

Dear students,

we have entered the exam grades in CMS and the final course grades in LSF.

This was the first time we offered this course. We will reflect on possible adjustments for future iterations. We also plan to update the lecture notes based on the comments we received (including some of the missing exercise solutions). Until then, you are welcome to use them as study resources, but please do not share them publicly.

We hope you found the course insightful and that you take away some useful tools and perspectives for your future work.

Looking ahead, next semester we will offer a seminar on optimization in machine learning. This will cover the area broadly, though in much less detail than in this course.

Best regards,

Dear students,

we have posted the final exam schedule under Materials.

For those who did not contact us earlier, the initially announced morning/afternoon partition should have remained unchanged.

Please arrive at the "arrival time" indicated in the schedule and go to the designated room. You will receive a sheet with 2-3 questions and have 30 minutes of closed-book preparation time, followed by a 15-minute closed-book oral exam.

Dear students,

Just a quick reminder: the course starts this Thursday, August 21.

Here is the schedule for the first day:

• 🧠 Lecture: 09:30–12:00

• 🛠️ Exercise session: 14:00–16:00

• 📍 Location: CISPA main building (E9 1), Room 0.05

You can find the full schedule here:
🔗 https://cms.cispa.saarland/mom25/2/Course_Content
(Please note that small changes are still possible.)

We are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Dear students,

As many of you requested in the survey, we have uploaded preliminary versions of the slides for Lectures 1 and 2 to help you prepare for the course.
Please note that the slides are still subject to change, but they should already give a good sense of the content and style.

📅 Reminder: The course will begin on August 21 (morning), with the first exercise session in the afternoon.

Lectures 1 and 2 will be recorded due to rescheduling (and the overlap with the exam of the other optimization course).
However, if you cannot attend both days (Aug 21 and 22), please send us a short message in advance.

Best regards,

Thank you to everyone who completed the participation survey.

We have decided to offer an oral exam, which will take place on September 23, with September 24 reserved as an overflow day if needed.

🗓️ Please note:
Each student will be assigned a short individual time slot. The detailed schedule will be shared toward the end of the course period.

🔔 Important:
You must register for the exam on LSF no later than 7 days before September 23.
This deadline applies to all students, including those scheduled on the second day.