Algorithms for Validation (MIT Press, forthcoming)
A broad introduction to algorithms for validating safety-critical systems. Before deploying decision-making systems in high-stakes settings, it is important to ensure that they will operate as intended. We refer to the process of analyzing the behavior of these systems as validation. Validation is a critical component of the development process for decision-making systems in a variety of domains including autonomous vehicles, robotics, and healthcare. As these systems and their operating environments increase in complexity, understanding the full spectrum of possible behaviors becomes more challenging and requires a rigorous validation process. This book discusses these challenges and presents a variety of computational methods for validating autonomous systems
Algorithms for Decision Making (MIT Press, 2022)
A broad introduction to algorithms for optimal decision making under uncertainty. We cover a wide variety of topics related to decision making, introducing the underlying mathematical problem formulations and the algorithms for solving them. Figures, examples, and exercises are provided to convey the intuition behind the various approaches. This text is intended for advanced undergraduates and graduate students as well as professionals. The book requires some mathematical maturity and assumes prior exposure to multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and probability concepts. Some review material is provided in the appendix. Disciplines where the book would be especially useful include mathematics, statistics, computer science, aerospace, electrical engineering, and operations research. Fundamental to this textbook are the algorithms, which are all implemented in the Julia programming language.
Algorithms for Optimization (MIT Press, 2019)
A comprehensive introduction to optimization with a focus on practical algorithms. The book approaches optimization from an engineering perspective, where the objective is to design a system that optimizes a set of metrics subject to constraints. Readers will learn about computational approaches for a range of challenges, including searching high-dimensional spaces, handling problems where there are multiple competing objectives, and accommodating uncertainty in the metrics. Figures, examples, and exercises convey the intuition behind the mathematical approaches. The text provides concrete implementations in the Julia programming language. Topics covered include derivatives and their generalization to multiple dimensions; local descent and first- and second-order methods that inform local descent; stochastic methods, which introduce randomness into the optimization process; linear constrained optimization, when both the objective function and the constraints are linear; surrogate models, probabilistic surrogate models, and using probabilistic surrogate models to guide optimization; optimization under uncertainty; uncertainty propagation; expression optimization; and multidisciplinary design optimization. Appendixes offer an introduction to the Julia language, test functions for evaluating algorithm performance, and mathematical concepts used in the derivation and analysis of the optimization methods discussed in the text. The book can be used by advanced undergraduates and graduate students in mathematics, statistics, computer science, any engineering field, (including electrical engineering and aerospace engineering), and operations research, and as a reference for professionals.
Decision Making Under Uncertainty: Theory and Application (MIT Press, 2015)
An introduction to decision making under uncertainty from a computational perspective, covering both theory and applications ranging from speech recognition to airborne collision avoidance. It presents both the theory behind decision making models and algorithms and a collection of example applications that range from speech recognition to aircraft collision avoidance. The book covers probabilistic models, introducing Bayesian networks as a graphical model that captures probabilistic relationships between variables; utility theory as a framework for understanding optimal decision making under uncertainty; Markov decision processes as a method for modeling sequential problems; model uncertainty; state uncertainty; and cooperative decision making involving multiple interacting agents. A series of applications shows how the theoretical concepts can be applied to systems for attribute-based person search, speech applications, collision avoidance, and unmanned aircraft persistent surveillance. Decision Making Under Uncertainty unifies research from different communities using consistent notation, and is accessible to students and researchers across engineering disciplines who have some prior exposure to probability theory and calculus. It can be used as a text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in fields including computer science, aerospace and electrical engineering, and management science. It will also be a valuable professional reference for researchers in a variety of disciplines.