Nicolas Boumal

Nicolas Boumal is an Assistant Professor in Mathematics at EPFL, Switzerland, holding dual affiliations in the Continuous Optimization Chair (OPTIM) within the Institute of Mathematics (MATH) and the SMA Education Group. He leads research in optimization on Riemannian manifolds, non-convex optimization, and statistical estimation. His work bridges geometry, numerical analysis, and applications in cryo-electron microscopy and synchronization problems.

Education: PhD in Mathematical Engineering from UCLouvain (2014), postdoctoral research at Inria Paris and Princeton University. Prior to EPFL, he was an Instructor and Assistant Professor at Princeton’s Mathematics Department.

Research Interests: Non-convex optimization landscapes, optimization on manifolds, low-rank matrix optimization, synchronization, phase retrieval, and computational methods in cryo-EM. His ERC Starting Grant (GEOSYM, 2022–2027) focuses on geometric and symmetric optimization techniques.

Grants & Awards: ERC Starting Grant (2021), SIAM Optimization Prize (2018 for student co-author), and several conference best paper awards.

Teaching: Courses include Continuous Optimization (MATH-329), Algebra Linéaire (MATH-111), and graduate-level Optimization on Manifolds (MATH-512). He authored the textbook An Introduction to Optimization on Smooth Manifolds (Cambridge University Press, 2023).

Labs & Teams: Heads the OPTIM lab at EPFL, collaborating with global researchers in optimization and applications. His group develops the Manopt toolbox for manifold optimization.