Slavomír Hanzely

PhD candidate, Optimization for Machine Learning

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

About me

Currently, I am a Ph.D. student enrolled in the program Applied Mathematics and Computational Science at KAUST. I work under the supervision of prof. Peter Richtárik.

I am from the Slovak Republic; I lived there until I received a bachelor’s degree in Informatics on Comenius University. With a background in both Mathematics and Computer Science, I wanted to contribute to research as soon as possible. Hence I enrolled in an MSc./Ph.D. program at KAUST.

In my spare time, I like to play collective sports. My favorite is ultimate frisbee due to the fair play spirit of the game. Back in Slovakia, I represented the Slovak youth national team.

Check out my resumé.

Interests

Machine Learning
Stochastic Algorithms
Federated Learning

Education

PhD in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, 2020-present

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
MSc/PhD in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, 2020

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
BSc in Informatics, 2019

Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics

Experience

Research Intern

Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation

Jun 2022 – Aug 2022 New York

Working in the research group of Robert Gower. My task was to investigate ML loss reformulations and design variance reduced algorithms.

Research Assistant

MBZUAI

Feb 2022 – Apr 2022 Abu Dhabi

Working in the research group of Martin Takáč. My task was to investigate ML loss reformulations and design variance reduced algorithms. My objective was to develop fast second-order optimization algorithms with provable convergence guarantees.

Research Intern

Wincent (Crypto-trading company)

May 2020 – Aug 2020 Bratislava

Main goal was to analyze, model and design practical algorithms to optimize resource allocation of the company and implement the developed methods under various constraints.

Organizer to the events related to the Mathematical Olympiad

Iuventa (Slovak Youth Institute)

Oct 2017 – Jun 2019 Slovakia

Responsibilities included:

Marking problems at the national round of Mathematical Olympiad (3 times)
Organizing a day at the national selection camp for International Mathematical Olympiad — creating problem set and marking the solutions (3 times)
preparing new format of selection camp for International Mathematical Olympiad and creating problem sets for the whole camp (team of 4 people)

Volunteer

Trojsten

Aug 2016 – Aug 2019 Slovakia

Responsibilities included:

Marking solutions of the competitions for talented high school students KMS, KSP and iKS (approximately 600 solutions, 150 hours of work)
Organizing camps for talented high school students in Mathematics and Computer Science - up to this day, I have organized 11 camps (4 of them as the main organizer)
Delivering 36 lectures (including a half-day lecture on the camp iKS)