TILOS is a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Institute for Learning-enabled Optimization at Scale, funded by NSF with additional support from Intel Corporation. Our mission is to become the nexus of learning, optimization, and the leading edge of practice for three high-stage areas: chips, networks, and robotics.

A partnership of faculty from University of California, San Diego, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas at Austin, and Yale University, NSF TILOS use-domain research pioneers learning-enabled optimizations that transform chip design, robotics, communication networks, and other use domains that are vital to our nation’s health, prosperity and welfare.

Our foundational research pursues five main pillars:

  • Bridging discrete and continuous optimization.
  • Distributed, parallel, and federated optimization.
  • Optimization on manifolds.
  • Dynamic decisions under uncertainty.
  • Nonconvex optimization in deep learning.
A diagram representing the interconnectedness of the various components of TILOS mission
FEATURED PRESENTATION
Machine Learning, Fairness and AI: A Conversation with Adam Kalai

Recordings of past TILOS Seminars and other presentations are available at tilos.ai/recorded_talks.
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Opinion: We Can’t Regulate Our Way to Crypto Leadership. We Still Need Science

CoinDesk || National Science Foundation funding cuts threaten to devastate U.S. crypto research, say 10 leading professors, including TILOS Chips team co-lead Farinaz Koushanfar, the Nemat-Nasser Endowed Chair Professor of...

Congressional Robotics Caucus relaunches to help U.S. industry

The Robot Report || The Congressional Robotics Caucus had not convened formally since 2019, according to TILOS Robotics team co-lead Henrik Christensen, who is also the Qualcomm Chancellor’s Chair of...

Congratulations to Kehan Long for his acceptance to the 2025 RSS Pioneers Workshop!

RSS Pioneers is an intensive workshop for senior PhD students and early career researchers in the robotics community. Held in conjunction with the main Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) conference...

Steering AI: New Technique Offers More Control Over Large Language Models

Imagine developing a finer control knob for artificial intelligence (AI) applications like Google Gemini and OpenAI ChatGPT. Mikhail Belkin, a professor with UC San Diego’s Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI)...

Congratulations to Neha Sangwan, winner of the 2025 Thomas M. Cover Dissertation Award!

The IEEE Information Theory Society Thomas M. Cover Dissertation Award is awarded annually to the author of an outstanding doctoral dissertation. Neha Sangwan has been selected as the recipient of...

STATEMENT OF VALUES

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY

We are a community of cross-disciplinary scholarship, creativity and curiosity, and value the pursuit of knowledge, the advancement of technology, and professional development.

INTEGRITY

We are a community of integrity and character that values what is honorable and honest in addressing real societal needs and grand challenges.

INCLUSIVITY

We are an inclusive community that values the perspectives of and contributions from members of all groups.