curriculum vitae

Contact Information

Name Andrea Brilli
Professional Title PostDoc
Email brilli@diag.uniroma1.it

Professional Summary

Researcher in Operations Research specialized in nonlinear constrained optimization, active member of the Derivative-Free community. Passionate for solving complex problems and enthusiastic about applying cutting-edge techniques to real-world challenges.

Education

  • 2021 - 2025

    Rome, Italy

    Ph.D.
    Sapienza, University of Rome
    Operations Research
    • Curriculum: Operations Research
    • Thesis: Derivative-Free Optimization: worst-case complexity for Line-Search methods and a mixed Penalty-Barrier approach
    • ABRO (Automatic control, Bioengineering and Operations Research)
  • 2019 - 2021

    Rome, Italy

    Master degree
    Sapienza, University of Rome
    Management Engineering
    • Curriculum: Decision Models
    • Thesis: An interior penalty method for black-box constrained optimization
  • 2015 - 2019

    Rome, Italy

    Bachelor degree
    Sapienza, University of Rome
    Management Engineering

Experience

  • 2024 -

    Rome, Italy

    PostDoc
    Sapienza University of Rome
    Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering. Funded by PRIN (NextGenerationEU funds) for hydrodynamic optimization study on biomimetic and innovative hydrodynamic configurations for autonomous underwater gliders (AUG), specifically designed for ocean surveying.
    • Support to PhD students on advanced techniques for training neural networks and derivative-free techniques
    • Collaboration with INESC MN (Lisbon, Portugal) for optimization of structural design parameters of metamaterials
    • Collaboration with NOVA University of Lisbon on techniques to approximate the Pareto Front of constrained multiobjective optimization problems
    • Collaboration with Polytechnique Montréal to study nonsmooth constrained optimization problems
    • Collaboration with University of Florence to enhance performance of Augmented Lagrangian techniques
  • 2024 - 2024

    Montréal, Canada

    Ph.D. Visiting Researcher
    Polytechnique Montréal
    Six months of collaboration with Professor Sébastien Le Digabel and Professor Youssef Diouane to enhance the performance of NOMAD solver.
  • 2022 - 2023

    Lisbon, Portugal

    Ph.D. Visiting Researcher
    Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
    One year of collaboration with Professor Ana Luísa Custódio and Ph.D. Everton Jose da Silva to enhance the performance of the SID-PSM algorithm.

Teaching

  • 2025 - 2026

    Rome, Italy

    Mathematical Programming
    Sapienza University of Rome
    Bachelor degree in Computer Science Engineering
    • Introduction to multivariate calculus and mathematical optimization
  • 2026 - 2026

    Rome, Italy

    Optimization of Complex Systems
    Sapienza University of Rome
    Master degree in Industrial Engineering
    • Advanced algorithms for nonlinear optimization

Awards

  • 2025
    AIROYoung Dissertation Award
    AIROYoung (Italian Operations Research Society)

    Yearly award for the best doctoral thesis in Operations Research defended in Italy.

Publications

Published

Preprints

Skills

Optimization (Expert): Derivative-Free Optimization, Nonsmooth Optimization, Constrained Optimization, Direct Search Methods, Interior Point Methods, Penalty Methods
Programming (Advanced): Python, MATLAB, LaTeX
Software Development (Advanced): DFL Library, NOMAD, LOG-DS

Languages

Italian : Native speaker
English : Fluent
Portuguese : Basic
Spanish : Basic

Certificates

  • Deep Learning Specialization - Coursera (2020)
  • Data-driven Astronomy - University of Sydney (2020)
  • CyberChallenge 2020 - CINI (Consorzio interuniversitario Nazionale per l'Informatica) (2020)

Projects

  • DFL - Derivative-Free Library

    Collaborator for the implementation of algorithms in Python within the DFL library. Author of LOG-DFL.

  • LOG-DS

    Co-author of the LOG-DS algorithm, a direct search method for general nonlinear constrained problems implemented in Matlab.

  • NOMAD

    A Blackbox Optimization Software. Supported the implementation of new constraint-handling strategies within the package.

References

  • Professor Giampaolo Liuzzi

    Ph.D. supervisor, Sapienza University of Rome. Email - liuzzi@diag.uniroma1.it

  • Professor Stefano Lucidi

    Master thesis advisor, Sapienza University of Rome. Email - lucidi@diag.uniroma1.it

  • Professor Ana Luísa Custódio

    NOVA University of Lisbon. Email - algb@fct.unl.pt

  • Professor Sébastien Le Digabel

    Polytechnique Montréal. Email - sebastien.le-digabel@polymtl.ca

  • Professor Youssef Diouane

    Polytechnique Montréal. Email - youssef.diouane@polymtl.ca