Laura Palagi

Laura Palagi is a Full Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Computer, Automation, and Management Engineering "Antonio Ruberti". She has been with the institution since 1996, progressing from Researcher to Associate Professor in 2005, and Full Professor since March 2020. She currently serves as Coordinator of the PhD program in Automatic Control, Bioengineering and Operations Research (ABRO) since February 2024 and is the GEP committee representative at the DIAG Department.

Her research focuses on developing and analyzing methods for solving nonlinear optimization problems with continuous and discrete variables. Key research themes include decomposition methods for training Support Vector Machines and Deep Networks, methods for Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP), Semidefinite Programming (SDP), standard quadratic problems (StQP), and convex quadratic constrained problems. She also develops predictive machine learning models for healthcare applications and surrogate models for engineering.

Her recent publications span optimization methods, machine learning applications in healthcare, sustainability assessment, and network design. Her work demonstrates a strong integration of theoretical optimization with practical applications across multiple domains.

• Continuous Optimization Awards 2020 Member
• Best Paper Award from Journal of Global Optimization
• Honorable Mention from Marguerite Frank Award jury for Best EJCO Paper 2024
• EURO Doctoral Dissertation Award

Professor Palagi teaches multiple courses including Optimization and Decision Science, Laboratory of Decision Science, Optimization Methods for Machine Learning, and Optimization for Medical programs. She serves as thesis advisor for numerous Bachelor's and Master's students in Management Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Data Science programs.