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.
Vernor Vinge Lecture Series on the Future of AI and Society – Ted Chiang
October 16 @ 14:00 - 15:30 PDT Vernor Vinge Lecture Series on the Future of AI and Society – Blaise Aguera y Arcas
November 13 @ 14:00 - 15:30 PST Vernor Vinge Lecture Series on the Future of AI and Society – Benjamin Levinstein
December 4 @ 14:00 - 15:30 PST
Big Data, Better Answers: Optimization at Scale with Courtney Paquette
FEATURED EVENTS & WORKSHOPS
Adam Tauman Kalai
OpenAI
Maarten de Hoop
Rice University
René Vidal
University of Pennsylvania
Congratulations to Yifei Shao, winner of the Best Conference Paper Award at ICRA 2026!
Brain Corp and UC San Diego partner to advance the foundational intelligence layer for physical AI
Brain Corp partners with UC San Diego to help robots operate in complex environments
STATEMENT OF VALUES
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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.
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INTEGRITY
We are a community of integrity and character that values what is honorable and honest in addressing real societal needs and grand challenges.
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INCLUSIVITY
We are an inclusive community that values the perspectives of and contributions from members of all groups.






