The explosion of real-time data arising from devices that sense and control the physical world requires improving synergy in research areas such as machine learning, control theory, and optimization. While control theory has been firmly rooted in the tradition of model-based design, the availability and scale of data (both temporal and spatial) will require rethinking the foundations of the discipline. From a machine learning perspective, one of the main challenges going forward is to go beyond pattern recognition and address problems in data-driven control and optimization of dynamical processes. Our conference has been building a new community of people who think rigorously across the disciplines, ask new questions, and develop the foundations of this new scientific area.

Submission Guidelines

All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference.

The conference is open to any topic on the interface between machine learning, control, and optimization; its primary goal is to address scientific and application challenges in real-time processes modeled by dynamical or control systems. The following paper topics are welcome:

• Foundations of learning of dynamics models   
• System identification   
• Optimization for machine learning   
• Data-driven optimization for dynamical systems   
• Distributed learning over distributed systems   
• Reinforcement learning for physical systems   
• Safe reinforcement learning and safe adaptive control   
• Statistical learning for dynamical and control systems   
• Bridging model-based and learning-based dynamical and control systems   
• Machine learning for reduced-order modeling and physics-constrained systems   
• Physical learning in dynamical and control systems applications in robotics, autonomy, biology, energy systems, transportation systems, cognitive systems, neuroscience, etc.
• Other topics that meet the goals mentioned above.

Committees

Organizing committee

• Necmiye Ozay (General Chair)
• Florian Dörfler (Tutorials Chair)
• Salar Fattahi (Web Chair)
• Na Li (Awards Chair)
• Vasileios Tzoumas (Local Arrangements Chair)
• Sze Zheng Yong (Publicity Chair)

Program Committee

• Alessandro Abate (Vice PC Chair)
• Laura Balzano (PC Co-Chair)
• Dimitra Panagou (PC Co-Chair)

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to l4dc-2025@umich.edu.