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Brendan Ames, Phd
Associate Professor University of Alabama Dept of Mathematics bpames@ua.edu Gordon Palmer Hall 316B 
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ResearchMy research interests include convex analysis, matrix analysis, conic programming, and their applications to nonlinear optimization.
My current focus is on the relaxation of combinatorial optimization problems arising from applications in machine learning and high-dimensional statistics, specifically, convex relaxations for learning tasks such as clustering and classification. I am also engaged in several interdisciplinary projects applying machine learning with applications in:
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Teaching
I am teaching the following this semester:
I am the academic advisor for math majors with surnames starting with D.
I am always interested in collaborating with promising undergraduate and graduate students. Please contact me for more details.
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Biography
I am an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Alabama. I teach a variety of courses in the Department of Mathematics and conduct research in the area of optimization and its applications in engineering, statistics, and computer science.
Prior to joining the University of Alabama, I was a Von Karman Instructor in Applied and Computational Mathematics in the Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at the California Institute of Technology (2013-2014 academic year), where I worked with Dr. Joel Tropp, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications at the University of Minnesota (2011-2013 academic years), where I worked with the Optimization for Signal Processing and Communication research group.
I completed my Ph.D. in July of 2011 under the direction of Dr. Stephen Vavasis in the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization at the University of Waterloo. I previously studied in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Guelph where I obtained a M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics (completed under the direction of Dr. Hristo Sendov) and B.Sc. in Mathematics.
Prior to joining the University of Alabama, I was a Von Karman Instructor in Applied and Computational Mathematics in the Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at the California Institute of Technology (2013-2014 academic year), where I worked with Dr. Joel Tropp, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications at the University of Minnesota (2011-2013 academic years), where I worked with the Optimization for Signal Processing and Communication research group.
I completed my Ph.D. in July of 2011 under the direction of Dr. Stephen Vavasis in the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization at the University of Waterloo. I previously studied in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Guelph where I obtained a M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics (completed under the direction of Dr. Hristo Sendov) and B.Sc. in Mathematics.
