I am a postdoctoral research associate working with Stephen J. Wright at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. I completed my PhD in Computer and Communication Sciences at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2021. I received my BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bilkent University in 2016.

My research interests are in optimization, machine learning and reinforcement learning. I especially focus on understanding the theoretical properties of practical optimization algorithms and improving them.

Email: alacaoglu at wisc dot edu

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News: Starting from July 2024, I will be an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of British Columbia, as part of the AI Methods for Scientific Impact (AIM-SI) cluster.

Prospective students: If you are interested in the graduate programs at UBC and want to work with me, feel free to apply and send me an email. To learn about the activities at UBC on ML/AI, data science and applied mathematics, check out CAIDA, MILD, DSI and IAM.