Autumn at TTIC means crisp air, colorful leaves, and the perfect walks around the @UChicago campus (where TTIC is located) between research sessions.🍂

We extend our sincere thanks to Aaron Hertzmann of Adobe Research for presenting “Can Computers Create Art?” as part of our Distinguished Lecture Series yesterday. His talk offered valuable perspectives on the intersection of art, creativity, and #AI.

💫 I am recruiting exceptional PhD students & postdocs for my lab @tticconnect.bsky.social this year! Application details: www.ttic.edu/studentappli...

We extend our sincere thanks to Aaron Hertzmann of Adobe Research for presenting “Can Computers Create Art?” as part of our Distinguished Lecture Series yesterday. His talk offered valuable perspectives on the intersection of art, creativity, and artificial intelligence.

Jeff Xu's Research at TTIC talk, “Smooth Tradeoff for Tensor PCA via Sharp Matrix Bounds," is now available to stream on our YouTube channel:

Wednesday, November 12th at 10:30am: TTIC's Young Researcher Seminar Series presents Konstantinos Stavropoulos of the University of Texas with a talk titled "Efficient Learning Algorithms under (Heavy) Contamination." Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

Congratulations to Prof. Matt Walter and his colleagues on receiving the 2026 AAAI Classic Paper Award for their influential 2011 paper on understanding natural language commands for robotic navigation and manipulation! Read more: buff.ly/0ct5Ns7

Friday, November 7th at 11am CT: Research at TTIC presents Siddharth Prasad with a talk titled "Integer Programming and Combinatorial Markets." Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

Seeking nominations for outstanding final-year PhD students & postdocs to present at the 2025 Chicago Junior Theorists Workshop (Dec 8–9, Northwestern & TTIC), exploring broad themes in theoretical #CS. Details: buff.ly/yRrd7cO

Pursue a fully funded PhD in #computerscience at TTIC advancing #AI, #ML, #robotics, #NLP and more! Join our collaborative research community in Chicago and access the tools, mentorship, and support needed to thrive. Apply by Dec. 9 (NO FEE): ttic.edu/stuapp

Friday, October 31st at 11am CT: Research at TTIC presents Stephen Wright of @WisconsinCS with a talk titled "Gradient-Based Methods for Bilevel Optimization." Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

Every Friday, TTIC hosts Research at TTIC talks showcasing innovative work from our faculty. Stay at the forefront of research in #AI, #speech, #computervision, #algorithms, #ML, #robotics, and more! Watch past talks on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@ttic_connect

Chicago is ranked one of the top 10 happiest cities in the world! As a #computerscience research hub of the Midwest and home to TTIC, we love our city: www.timeout.com/chicago/news...

Santhoshini Velusamy's Research at TTIC talk, “Relating Streaming Approximations, LP Relaxations, and Local Algorithms for CSPs,” is now available to stream on our YouTube channel: youtu.be/r0FqyBcG-EI

TTIC is hiring tenure-track faculty! Join a top #CS research environment with exceptional PhD students, strong research support, and a uniquely light teaching load. Apply by Dec 1: buff.ly/wv1sA0i #CSJobs #FacultyHiring

Friday, October 24th at 11am CT: Research at TTIC presents Jeff Xu with a talk titled "Smooth Tradeoff for Tensor PCA via Sharp Matrix Bounds." Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

TTIC is hiring Research Assistant Professors in #ML, #Robotics, #Algorithms & more! 3-year, fully funded role — no teaching required, full research freedom, strong mentorship & collaborations. Join a top #CS research community in Chicago. Apply by Dec 1: buff.ly/wv1sA0i

Thank you to Hyde Park Academy IB juniors for visiting TTIC yesterday! Professors Avrim Blum and Greg Shakhnarovich presented research being conducted at TTIC, including work on Markov chains and generative models.

Wednesday, October 22nd at 11am CT: TTIC's Young Researcher Seminar Series presents Keyon Vafa (@keyonV) of @harvard_data with a talk titled "Evaluating the Implicit World Models of Generative Models." Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

Friday, October 17th at 11am CT: Research at TTIC presents Santhoshini Velusamy with a talk titled "Relating streaming approximations, LP relaxations, and local algorithms for CSPs." Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!

David McAllester kicked off Research at TTIC talks for the start of the fall semester with “Reasoning and Mathematics,” exploring AI's reasoning push, including how #LLMs are solving IMO problems without tools. Watch now: buff.ly/LC8JfZc

Wednesday, November 5th at 11 AM CT: TTIC's Distinguished Lecture Series presents Aaron Hertzmann of Adobe Research with a talk titled "Can Computers Create Art?" Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

Thank you to Hyde Park Academy International Baccalaureate students for visiting TTIC yesterday! Professors Nati Srebro and Jingyang Wang presented on Nash equilibrium and game theory.

Friday, Oct. 10 at 11AM: Research at TTIC presents Mahdi Haghifam with a talk titled "The Sample Complexity of Membership Inference and Privacy Auditing." Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

We had a blast at the South Side Science Festival this past weekend! Students and faculty from TTIC showcased their Baxter robot, robotic arms, and more!

On Friday, TTIC celebrated Professor David McAllester’s retirement. A founding faculty member who joined in 2002, Professor McAllester has been with TTIC for 23 years, shaping the institute through his leadership, mentorship, and pioneering research.

Walking around the Hyde Park neighborhood, home to TTIC, you'll find gardens with native flowers, grasses, shrubs, and trees that attract more colorful birds and butterflies!

Wishing you a blessed Yom Kippur!

We mourn the passing of Robert Barnett, TTIC’s longest-serving Trustee, who guided the Institute with wisdom and care from 2006 to 2025. A renowned attorney and advocate for education, his leadership will be deeply missed: buff.ly/kTMUeBw

Good research requires plenty of coffee. Happy #NationalCoffeeDay ☕

TTIC celebrated its largest-ever graduating class at the 2025 Diploma & Awards Ceremony on Sept. 22, 2025. 9 Ph.D. grads were honored for groundbreaking work in #ML, #computervision, #NLP, and more! Read more about our graduates and the ceremony: www.ttic.edu/news/#0925-4

Friday, October 3rd at 11am CT: Research at TTIC presents David McAllester with a talk titled "Reasoning and Mathematics." Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

Welcome to our new incoming Ph.D. students for fall 2025! From left to right: Emily Chang, Haoran Chen, Hirota Kinoshita, Uriel Barron, and TTIJ exchange student Yota Urano. Not pictured: Shester Gueuwou!

Congratulations to Nirmit Joshi, recipient of the 2025 Outstanding TA Award! This award recognizes a student’s outstanding dedication and effort as a teaching assistant, as nominated by students.

TTIC held its Diploma and Awards Ceremony yesterday! Congratulations to the class of 2025: Sudarshan Babu, Jiading Fang, Mrinalkanti Ghosh, Gene Li, Naren Sarayu Manoj, Ankita Pasad, Kumar Kshitij Patel, Pedro Henrique Pamplona Savarese, and Pushkar Shukla.

TTIC’s 2025 Summer Workshop Program wrapped up, but proposals are open for 2026! Gather researchers in Chicago to explore #AI, #ML, #NLP, #Speech, #Robotics & more. $10K support + venue, meals, lodging. Learn more: buff.ly/SL0hsKs

Happy #ConstitutionDay! On this day in 1787, delegates signed the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia.

REMINDER: Join the TTIC Industry Open House on Sept. 26 to learn about our latest research in #ML, #NLP, #robotics, and more—and explore opportunities for collaboration. Register by Sept. 19: buff.ly/0KwH36l

Today is the start of #NationalHispanicHeritageMonth!

From the iconic skyline to the vibrant neighborhoods, there's so much to love about #Chicago, home of TTIC!

Join us for Ph.D. candidate Shengjie Lin's thesis defense titled "Scalable 3D Scene Understanding and Embodied Reasoning for Robotics." Wednesday, September 24th at 2:30pm.

Hyde Park Academy students got hands-on with #AI, ethics, and #computerscience through a new partnership with TTIC. The result? Deep discussions, stronger critical thinking, and inspired essays. Read more: buff.ly/BnXSghQ

Monday, September 15th at 11:30am CT: Talks at TTIC presents Nadav Cohen of Tel Aviv University with a talk titled “Implicit Biases of Gradient Descent in Offline System Identification and Optimal Control." Please join us in Room 530, 5th floor.

TTIC is pleased to welcome four new Research Assistant Professors (RAPs) to its faculty this fall: Mahdi Haghifam, Siddharth Prasad, Kaylene Stocking, and Jeff Xu. Learn more about our new RAPs and their research: buff.ly/DUGstPT

TTIC has named Professor Avrim Blum, current Chief Academic Officer and established leader in theoretical #CS and #ML, as Interim President, effective September 2025. Read the full announcement here: buff.ly/DvyV2GD

Happy Labor Day! TTIC offices will be closed today in observance.

After six years of leadership, Matthew Turk will wrap up his term as TTIC President in August 2025. From community building to academic growth, he has helped shape the Institute’s path forward. Read more about his time at TTIC: buff.ly/2YsfxK6

It's a lovely August morning on the University of Chicago campus, home of TTIC!

Happy #InternationalDogDay 🐶!