Yao Ji

Yao Ji

H. Milton Stewart Postdoctoral Fellow

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology · Atlanta, GA

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Beyond research

Operations Researcher

I am an H. Milton Stewart Postdoctoral Fellow in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech mentored by Prof. Guanghui (George) Lan.
My current focus is on optimal parameter-free methods for stochastic optimization. I study first- and higher-order methods for convex and nonconvex problems in both deterministic and stochastic settings. I have worked on gradient minimization, variational inequalities, distributed optimization, statistical learning, and reinforcement learning, including applications in healthcare.
    • Branching Process
    • Distributed Optimization
    • Statistical Learning
    • Parameter-free
    • First / Higher-order
    • Gradient Minimization
    • Variational Inequalities
    • Reinforcement Learning
    • Healthcare Applications
Featured Publications
Yao Ji, Guanghui Lan (2026). Stochastic Auto-conditioned Fast Gradient Methods with Optimal Rates. arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.06525.
PDF Slides (INFORMS Optimization Society 2026)
Yao Ji, Guanghui Lan (2025). High-Order Accumulative Regularization for Gradient Minimization in Convex Programming. arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.03723.
PDF Slides (INFORMS 2025)
Yao Ji, Gesualdo Scutari, Ying Sun, Harsha Honnappa (2023). Distributed Sparse Regression via Penalization. Journal of Machine Learning Research.
PDF
Yao Ji, Gesualdo Scutari, Ying Sun, Harsha Honnappa (2023). Distributed (ATC) Gradient Descent for High Dimension Sparse Regression. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory.
PDF DOI
Presentations
Yao Ji, Guanghui Lan (2026). Stochastic Auto-conditioned Fast Gradient Methods with Optimal Rates. 2026 INFORMS Optimization Society Conference, Atlanta, GA — Talk.
Slides Paper
Yao Ji, Yan Li, Guanghui Lan, Zehua Dong, Shuoling Li, Ilker Guven, Xiaoyu Chen, Lihui Bai, Jiapeng Huang (2026). Transformer-Based Patient Response Modeling Across All Perioperative Phases for Cardiac Surgery-Associated Acute Kidney Injury Management. SCA 2026 (Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists) — Poster Presentation.
Poster
Yao Ji, Guanghui Lan (2025). High-order Accumulative Regularization Methods for Gradient Minimization. 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting — Talk.
Slides Paper
Teaching

Teaching Experience

Georgia Institute of Technology, ISyE

Instructor

  • ISyE 4106: Senior Design Fall 2026

Purdue University, Industrial Engineering

Teaching Assistant

  • IE 335: Operations Research Spring and Fall 2023
  • IE 330: Probability and Statistics in Engineering Fall 2022
  • IE 590: Introduction to Optimization Algorithms (graduate-level) Fall 2022

Beijing Normal University, School of Mathematical Sciences

Co-Lecturer

  • Large Deviation Theory Spring 2018
  • Brownian Motion Fall 2017
  • Random Walk in Random Environment Spring 2017
  • Galton–Watson Branching Process Fall 2016

Teaching Assistant Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

  • Measure Theory I Fall 2017 and Fall 2018
  • Measure Theory II Spring 2017 and Spring 2018
  • Stochastic Calculus for Finance (graduate-level) Fall 2016

Outreach

  • Instructor Pre-College Reinforcement Learning Course for High School Students, Georgia Tech Summer 2026
  • Judge STEM Spark: INFORMS K–12 Poster Competition 2026
  • Judge Georgia Tech 2026 CRIDC Poster Competition 2026
Recent News

Seminar at Clemson University

Gave a seminar at Clemson's School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences on Stochastic Auto-conditioned Fast Gradient …

Field Visit to Gwinnett County Wastewater Facility

Visited the Gwinnett County wastewater facility with collaborators, marking the start of a new project on reinforcement …

Poster Presentation at SCA 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee

Presenting our poster on Transformer-Based Patient Response Modeling for Cardiac Surgery-Associated AKI at SCA 2026.

Chairing a Session at INFORMS Optimization Society Conference 2026

Chairing a session on Accelerated Methods and Sharp Analysis for Nonlinear Optimization at IOS 2026.

See you at INFORMS 2025

Presenting a talk on High-Order Accumulative Regularization for Gradient Minimization at INFORMS 2025.

H. Milton Stewart Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Tech

Starting my new role as a postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Tech.