Theoretically Speaking — Market Design through the Lens of Approximation

The Internet has become a huge computational platform for many heterogeneous, complex markets. These complex markets require the design of fast algorithms that take into account the economic, game theoretic, and computational considerations in a unified way. In this talk, Michal will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities that arise in this domain, through the lens of approximation.

Michal Feldman is the computation and economics professor of computer science at the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University and a visiting scholar at Microsoft Research, Herzliya. Her research spans computer science, economics, game theory, and operations research. She received her PhD from UC Berkeley in 2005. She was a visiting professor at Harvard University and Microsoft Research New England (2011-13). She is an associate editor for Games and Economic Behavior, Mathematics of Operations Research, ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation, and the Journal of Computer and System Sciences. She served as vice chair of ACM SIGecom and PC chair of ACM EC 2015.

She is an alumna of the Global Young Academy and the Israel Young Academy (and its management committee). She is the recipient of two European Research Council grants, a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship, an Alon Fellowship, an Israel Science Foundation grant, and an Amazon Research Award. She was also listed on Forbes' list of the 50 most influential women in Israel (2016) and on The Marker's 40 under 40 list (2014).

Theoretically Speaking is a lecture series highlighting exciting advances in theoretical computer science for a broad general audience. Events are free and open to the public. No special background is assumed. The lecture will be held via Zoom webinar. Registration is required to receive the webinar link. Please use the Q&A feature to ask questions. This lecture will be livestreamed and will be viewable thereafter on this page and on our YouTube channel.

If you require accommodation for communication, please contact our access coordinator at simonsevents [at] berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible.