Michael Friedlander

Michael Friedlander is a Professor of Computational Mathematics at the University of British Columbia (UBC), holding joint appointments in the Departments of Computer Science and Mathematics. He serves as Director of the UBC Institute of Applied Mathematics and is a Sauder School Distinguished Scholar. His research focuses on optimization theory, algorithms, and applications, particularly in convex optimization, first-order methods, and machine learning. Friedlander is a SIAM Fellow (2024) and has received multiple teaching awards, including the 2013 UBC CS Teaching Award.

Education: PhD (2002) in Operations Research from Stanford University; BA (1993) in Physics from Cornell University.

Research Interests: Friedlander’s work spans computational optimization, including first-order methods, gauge duality, federated learning, and applications in signal processing and quantum computing. His contributions include SPGL1, a widely used convex optimization solver, and foundational work on atomic decomposition and polar alignment in structured optimization.

Key Contributions: His research bridges optimization with practical applications, such as compressed sensing and data science. Notable areas include dual methods for federated learning, low-rank spectral optimization, and algorithms for sparse recovery. He has advised numerous PhD students, including work on topics like gauge duality and federated learning contribution valuation.

Awards & Honors:

• SIAM Fellow (2024)
• 2013 UBC CS Department Teaching Award
• CACS Outstanding Young Researcher Prize
• AI & Statistics 2009 Best Paper Award

Advising & Grants: Supervised over 20 graduate students and postdocs. Active in grant-funded research, including projects on optimization algorithms and their industrial applications. Collaborates with institutions like Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) and the Data Science Institute at UBC.

Labs & Affiliations: Affiliated with the Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS), Data Science Institute, and Quantum Computing Research Cluster at UBC. Leads interdisciplinary efforts in applied mathematics and computational science.