About Me
About Me
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Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
UC Berkeley
I am a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, hosted by Michael I. Jordan. Previously, I was a PhD student at ETH Zurich in Florian Dörfler's research group. My current research lies at the intersection of optimization, statistics, and computation, addressing the challenges of optimal decision-making under uncertainty. This includes complex forms of uncertainty such as distribution shifts, rare events (black swans), and graph-structured correlations. My theoretical work generally draws inspiration from fundamental engineering challenges in machine learning, power systems, energy markets, and transportation, where uncertainty plays a key role in decision-making and system resilience. My PhD work mainly focused on developing the foundations of distributionally robust optimization, with applications in high-dimensional estimation, automatic control, and energy markets. Earlier in my PhD, I worked on the stability and robustness of nonlinear systems, with applications to renewable-integrated power systems.
Research Interests
Research Interests
Stochastic and Robust Optimization, Asymptotic and High-Dimensional Statistics, Uncertainty Quantification, Optimal Transport, Control Theory
Selected Works
Selected Works
[1] L. Aolaritei, N. Lanzetti, H. Chen, F. Dörfler. “Distributional Uncertainty Propagation via Optimal Transport”. Accepted in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. ArXiv version: arxiv:2205.00343 (2025).
[2] S. Shafiee, L. Aolaritei, F. Dörfler, D. Kuhn. “Nash Equilibria, Regularization and Computation in Optimal Transport-Based Distributionally Robust Optimization”. Accepted in Operations Research. ArXiv version: arXiv:2303.03900 (2025).
[3] L. Aolaritei, S. Shafiee, F. Dörfler. “Wasserstein Distributionally Robust Estimation in High Dimensions: Performance Analysis and Optimal Hyperparameter Tuning”. Accepted in Mathematical Programming. ArXiv version: arxiv:2206.13269 (2025).
[4] L. Aolaritei, M.I. Jordan, R. Pathak, A. Ulichney. “Revisiting mean estimation over ℓp balls: Is the MLE optimal?”. Under review in The Annals of Statistics. ArXiv version: arxiv:2506.10354 (2025).
[5] S. Braun, L. Aolaritei, M.I. Jordan, F. Bach. “Minimum Volume Conformal Sets for Multivariate Regression”. Major Revision in Journal of the American Statistical Association (Theory and Methods). ArXiv version: arxiv:2503.19068 (2025).
[6] L. Aolaritei, B. Bangoura, S. Bolognani, N. Lanzetti, F. Dörfler. “Hedging Against Black Swans in Day-Ahead Energy Markets". Under Review in Electric Power Systems Research (EPSR), ArXiv version: arxiv:2510.14328 (2025).
Selected Presentations
Selected Presentations
Distributional_Uncertainty.pdfWasserstein_Estimation.pdfBlack_Swans.pdfContact: liviu.aolaritei@berkeley.edu
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