Lin F. YANG

This website is moving to http://drlinyang.net.

My name is Lin Yang (杨林). I am an assistant professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at University of California, Los Angeles. Previously, I was a postdoc at Princeton University working with Prof. Mengdi Wang. I obtained my PhD degrees (in Computer Science and in Physics & Astronomy) from Johns Hopkins University. I was a recipient of the Dean Robert H. Roy Fellowship.

My research focuses on developing and applying fast algorithms for large-scale optimization and machine learning. I am keen on understanding the fundamental theory and computation limits of optimization from streaming data. I have worked on a number of topics including nonconvex streaming optimization, policy optimization for reinforcement learning, and streaming methods for optimization and function approximations. I am also enthusiastic about applying my algorithmic developments to accelerate real-world applications. For instance, my algorithmic developments have been applied to accelerate astrophysical discoveries.

I am looking for motivated and talented students working on Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning. Please contact me if you are interested in my research.

I was very fortunate to be advised by Professor Alex Szalay and Professor Vova Braverman, and to work with many wonderful collaborators.

[Last Updated Sept. 2019]

Publications

Teaching

  • TA: Fall 2016: Randomized and Big Data Algorithms (600.464/664)
  • TA: Fall 2015: Randomized and Big Data Algorithms (600.464/664)
  • TA: Fall 2015: General Physics Laboratory I (AS.173.111)
  • TA: Spring 2012: General Physics II (171.102)
  • TA: Spring 2012: General Physics Laboratory I (173.111)
  • TA: Spring 2011: General Physics Laboratory I (173.111)

Service

  • Program Committee: ACML (2019), AAAI (2020)
  • Conference Reviewing: AAAI, ICML, NeurIPS, STOC, FOCS, COLT, PODS, ITCS, ACML, AISTATS, ICALP, RANDOM, ESA, LATIN, KAIS, FSTTCS
  • Journal Reviewing: Theoretical Computer Science, QIC, JCSS, OPRE

People

Collaborators (alphabetical order)
Avrim Blum Vladimir Braverman Tamás Budavári Miguel Angel Aragon Calvo
Zhehui Chen Simon Du Ethan X. Fang Hua Feng
Jarvis Haupt Wei Hu Philip Kaaret Sham M Kakade
Ananya Kumar Robert Krauthgamer Harry Lang Xingguo Li
Yingyu Liang Zaoxing Liu Matey Neykov Mark Neyrinck
Aaron Sidford Joe Silk Christian Sohler Zhao Song
Alex Szalay Mengdi Wang Ruosong Wang Zhaoran Wang
David Woodruff Zhuoran Yang Yinyu Ye Zheng Yu
Hongyang Zhang Tuo Zhao Peilin Zhong
Talks

Education

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

  • Ph.D. in Computer Science, Advisors: Vladimir Braverman, Alex Szalay
  • Ph.D. in Physics & Astronomy, Advisor: Alex Szalay
  • MS.E. in Computer Science (GPA 4.0/4.0)

Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

  • B.S. in Math & Physics with High Honors

Contact Me

Email: linyang[at]ee[dot]ucla[dot]edu

My middle name Forrest is a translation of my first name (林). My publication name is Lin F. Yang -- to distinguish me from many Lin Yang's. Note that my official name (Lin Yang OR 杨林) does not contain a middle name.