2016 Polyak-Lojasiewicz paper by Mark Schmidt's team wins ECML PKDD 2026 Test of Time Award, 2,000+ citations
peter_richtarik · x · 2026-10-02
UBC professor Mark Schmidt and former trainees Hamed Karimi and Julie Nutini won the ECML PKDD 2026 Test of Time Award (Sept 7-11, Naples) for their 2016 work on the Polyak-Łojasiewicz condition.
- The paper established a framework for proving fast convergence of gradient methods, earning 2,000+ citations in a decade and underpinning guarantees for nearly every standard optimizer, plus new areas like RL and diffusion sampling.
- Karimi, now a senior applied scientist at Amazon, said they didn't expect it to make a splash back in 2016.
- Citing researchers Nic Loizou and Peter Richtarik praised the paper's accessible convergence analysis and masterclass-level clarity.
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