Igor Sokolov
Igor Sokolov

PhD Candidate in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science

I am currently on the job market for postdoctoral positions and industry research roles starting in 2026.
I am a PhD candidate in Applied Mathematics at KAUST, supervised by Professor Peter Richtárik and affiliated with the Center of Excellence for Generative AI.
My research focuses on optimization algorithms for machine learning. In 2025 I was a research intern at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (AIRI), hosted by Alexander Tyurin.
Before my doctoral studies, I completed an MS in Applied Mathematics at KAUST and earned MS and BS degrees in Applied Mathematics and Physics from MIPT.

Interests
  • Numerical Optimization
  • Machine Learning
  • Efficient Algorithms
Education
  • PhD in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science

    King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

  • MS in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science

    King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

  • MS in Applied Mathematics and Physics

    Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

  • BS in Applied Mathematics and Physics

    Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

9

Publications & Preprints

400+

Citations

5

h-index

My Research Expertise

My research interests lie at the intersection of optimization and machine learning, with a particular focus on federated learning and communication-efficient distributed algorithms. I have contributed to multiple publications at top-tier conferences including NeurIPS and ICML. Additionally, I serve as a reviewer for TMLR and major machine learning conferences, including NeurIPS, ICML, and ICLR.

Areas of expertise: stochastic and distributed optimization for ML; communication-efficient methods for federated learning (compression, quantization, local updates, error feedback); variance reduction; convex/non-convex and smooth/non-smooth convergence analysis; orthogonalized gradient preconditioning; reproducible large-scale numerical experiments.