Statistical Learning Theory: from the Vapnik-Chervonenkis theory to Learning Through Privacy

Speaker:        Dr. Luca Oneto
                Assistant Professor
                DIBRIS - University of Genoa

Title:          "Statistical Learning Theory: from the
                 Vapnik-Chervonenkis theory to Learning Through Privacy"

Date:           Monday, 28 November 2016

Time:           2:00pm - 3:00pm

Venue:          Room 3501 (via lifts 25/26), HKUST

Abstract:

How can we select the best performing predictive model? How can we
rigorously estimate its generalization error? Statistical Learning Theory
(SLT) answers these questions by deriving nonasymptotic bounds on the
generalization error of a model or, in other words, by upper bounding the
true error of the learned model based just on quantities computed on the
available data. However, for a long time, SLT has been considered only an
abstract theoretical framework, useful for inspiring new learning
approaches, but with limited applicability to practical problems. The
purpose of this tutorial is to give an intelligible overview of these
problems by focusing on the ideas behind the different SLT-based
approaches and simplifying most of the technical aspects with the purpose
of making them more accessible and usable in practice. We will start by
presenting the seminal works of the 80's until the most recent results on
learning through privacy constraints, then discuss open problems and
finally outline future directions of this field of research.

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Biography:

Luca Oneto was born in Rapallo, Italy in 1986. He received his BSc and MSc
in Electronic Engineering at the University of Genoa, Italy respectively
in 2008 and 2010. In 2014 he received his PhD from the same university in
School of Sciences and Technologies for Knowledge and Information
Retrieval with the thesis "Learning Based On Empirical Data". He is
currently an Assistant Professor at University of Genoa with particular
interests in Statistical Learning Theory, Machine Learning, and Data
Mining. More info at www.lucaoneto.com