KOALA Lab
School of Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Welcome to the KOALA Lab 🐨
The KOALA (Knowledge of Optimization and Learning Algorithms) Lab is at the School of Computational Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, led by Professor Kai Wang.
We develop artificial intelligence, machine learning, optimization, and multi-agent systems to create social impact — specifically in health, public health, and environmental sustainability.
Research Themes
- Decision-Focused Learning & Differentiable Optimization — End-to-end learning that reasons about downstream decisions, integrating ML with combinatorial optimization.
- Restless Multi-Armed Bandits — Scalable algorithms for resource allocation under uncertainty, with deployments in maternal/child health and wildlife conservation.
- Algorithmic Game Theory — Stackelberg games, security games, and Nash equilibrium computation for strategic multi-agent settings.
- AI for Social Impact — Deployed systems for maternal health (ARMMAN), pediatric early warning (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta), and environmental monitoring.
Joining the Lab
We will recruit 1–2 PhD students for Fall 2027 — prospective students are welcome to apply through the Georgia Tech CSE PhD program and reach out by email.
We have limited capacity for MS/BS students — we encourage you to take our courses first (CSE/ISyE 6740, CSE 8803) and reach out afterward.