Short Bio
I am a Simons-FODSI Post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, working with Prof. Michael Jordan. I received my doctorate degree in Computer Science from Columbia University, under the supervision of Prof. Mihalis Yannakakis and Prof. Rocco Servedio.
My main research interests lie in the areas of Beyond Worst-Case Analysis of Algorithms, Theoretical Foundations of Machine Learning, Algorithmic Game Theory, Optimization, and Dynamical Systems.
Before joining as PostDoc at UC Berkeley, I was a Research Intern at the Simons Institute for Theory of Computing in Berkeley in Learning and Games Workshop, and at the "Athena" Research & Innovation Center in Athens, Greece. I received a Bachelor's and M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from one of Greece's "Grand Schools", the ECE Department of the National Technical University of Athens, where I was advised by Prof. Dimitris Fotakis.
Links to: CV, Publications List (last update August 23), Google Scholar, arXiv.
My birth name is Emmanouil-Vasileios Vlatakis-Gkaragkounis, but I go by Manolis.
To pronounce my name correctly: Ma (as in Mark) - no (as in Nolan) and lis (as in list).
I will be on the academic job market in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Get in Touch
Education
Professional Experience
Selected Achievements, Awards, and Fellowships
2023Featured Presentation at QTML
It was an honor to deliver an extended presentation on our groundbreaking research about Nash equilibria in Quantum Zero-sum Games at QTML. This recognition underscored the innovative fusion of quantum mechanics, game theory, and machine learning in our work.
2023Invited Speaker at Google, NUS/IMS & CANADAM Learning and Games Workshops
As a postdoctoral researcher, I had the enriching experience of engaging in intellectual exchanges at the forefront of Learning and Game Theory, both in the vibrant metropolis of Singapore and the academic hubs of Canada.
2022-2023Two Oral talks at NeurIPS 2022 & ICLR 2023
Our collaborative works titled "First-Order Algorithms for Min-Max Optimization in Geodesic Metric Spaces," co-authored with Tianyi Lin and Michael I. Jordan, and "Efficiently Computing Nash Equilibria in Adversarial Team Markov Games," in partnership with Ioannis Panageas' group, have been recognized among the elite top 1% of papers presented at NeurIPS 2022 and ICLR 2023. Both papers have been granted Oral presentations under the theme of Game Theory and Optimization.
2021-2022 Simons-Google Fellowship -> Ph.D Thesis Defended -> FODSI-Post Doc Fellowship
After a very productive publication year (6 papers in total COLT/NeurIPS), I was granted with a Simons-Google Fellowship for the Spring 2022 Workshop in "Learning and Games". I received my PhD from the CS Department at Columbia University where I was very fortunate to be advised by Mihalis Yannakakis & Rocco Servedio. I will be a FODSI postdoc at UC Berkeley from August 2022 until July 2024!
2019-2020Three Spotlight talks at NeurIPS 2019 & NeurIPS 2020
Our publications titled "Optimal Private Median Estimation under Minimal Distributional Assumptions," "No-Regret Learning and Mixed Nash Equilibria: They Do Not Mix," and "Poincaré Recurrence, Cycles and Spurious Equilibria in Gradient-Descent-Ascent for Non-Convex Non-Concave Zero-Sum Games" were distinguished among the top 2% of papers presented at NeurIPS in both 2019 and 2020, earning a coveted Spotlight presentation.
2018Invited Speaker at Economist Youth Summit
In a rapidly evolving world with new challenges and career paths, I had the opportunity to discuss the adaptability and skills needed in the current job market. This timely conference featured insights from experts both from Greece and internationally.
2011-2016Papakyriakopoulos, N. Critikos, Tzafestas, P. Kanellakis & Limmutstang Scholarships
Awarded for consistent academic excellence in Mathematics and Computer Science, culminating in graduating at the pinnacle of the CS department.
2009Bronze Medal in NASA Fundamental Aeronautics International Student Competition
For my aeronautical study/proposal about Next Generation Supersonic Aircraft Design.