Lauren Conger
research website
I am an incoming Szegő Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Stanford University and an incoming NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellow. My research focuses on multispecies evolutions and gradient flows with applications in population modeling and strategic behavior.
I completed my PhD in Control and Dynamical Systems at Caltech, advised by Professors Franca Hoffmann, Eric Mazumdar and John Doyle. I was supported by a NDSEG Fellowship and PIMCO Data Science Graduate Fellowship. I earned my Bachelors degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a physics minor from Cornell University in 2018.
Selected Publications
Monotone Multispecies Flows
SIAM Dynamical Systems, 2026
Convex Constrained Controller Synthesis for Evolution Equations
ACC, 2025 Best Student Paper Award
Coupled Wasserstein Gradient Flows for Min-Max and Cooperative Games
arXiv, 2024
Preprints
Coupled Wasserstein Gradient Flows for Min-Max and Cooperative Games
arXiv, 2024
Conference Papers
Computing Optimal Transport Plans via Min-Max Gradient Flows
CDC, 2025
Convex Constrained Controller Synthesis for Evolution Equations
ACC, 2025 Best Student Paper Award
Characterizing Controllability and Observability for Systems with Locality, Communication, and Actuation Constraints
CDC, 2024
Learning the Uncertainty Sets for Control Dynamics via Set Membership: A Non-Asymptotic Analysis
ICML, 2024
Strategic Distribution Shift of Interacting Agents via Coupled Gradient Flows
NeurIPS, 2023
Designing System Level Synthesis Controllers for Nonlinear Systems with Stability Guarantees
L4DC, 2023
Nonlinear System Level Synthesis for Polynomial Dynamics
CDC, 2022
Output-Feedback System Level Synthesis via Dynamic Programming
ACC, 2022
Journal Papers
Monotone Multispecies Flows
SIAM Dynamical Systems, 2026
Resolution and dose dependence of radiation damage in biomolecular systems
IUCr Journal, 2019
Workshop Papers
Signal Enhancement for Magnetic Navigation Challenge Problem
Talks and Visits
ICERM Workshop Partial Differential Equations for Many Particles Systems, Providence
August 2026
FoCM Workshop Computational Optimal Transport, Vienna, Austria
Dissipative Evolutions in Metric Spaces
July 2026
Prof. Jan Maas, Vienna, Austria
July 2026
Oberwolfach Workshop: Flows on Measure Spaces and Applications in Machine
Learning, Oberwolfach, Germany
Games & Gradient Flows: Modeling Strategic Behavior
March 2026
Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations Spring School, Ulm, Germany
Monotone Multispecies Flows
March 2026
Prof. Giuseppe Savar\'e, Milan, Italy
Monotonicity of Coupled Multispecies Wasserstein-2 Gradient Flows (Politecnico di Milano)
November 2025
American Control Conference, Denver
Convex Constrained Controller Synthesis for Evolution Equations
July 2025
Wasserstein Gradient Flows in Math and Machine Learning, Banff, Canada
Monotonicity of Coupled Multispecies Wasserstein-2 Gradient Flows
June 2025
Co-PI Seminar, UC San Diego
Convex Constrained Controller Synthesis for Evolution Equations
February 2025
Conference on Decision and Control, Milan, Italy
Characterizing Controllability and Observability for Systems with Locality, Communication, and Actuation Constraints
December 2024
Oberwolfach Mini-Workshop: High-Dimensional Control Problems and Mean-Field Equations with Applications in Machine Learning, Germany
December 2024
CSC@USC Seminar Series, University of Southern California
Wasserstein Gradient Flows for Modeling Strategic Distribution Shift
September 2024
Dr. André Schlichting, Universität Münster
Research Visit
July 2024
Theory of Interacting Particle Systems Mini-Symposium, European Congress of Mathematics
Strategic Distribution Shift of Interacting Agents via Coupled Gradient Flows
July 2024
Intelligent Control Systems Lab Seminar, ETH
Strategic Distribution Shift of Interacting Agents via Coupled Gradient Flows
July 2024
Kolloquium der angewandten Mathematik, Universität Münster
Dynamics of Strategic Agents and Algorithms as PDEs
July 2024
Frontiers in Interacting Particle Systems, Aggregation-Diffusion Equations & Collective Behavior, Summer Research School, CIRM Marseille France
June 2024
Aggregation-Diffusion Equations & Collective Behavior: Analysis, Numerics and Applications Conference, CIRM Marseille France
April 2024
Semiautonomous Seminar at Berkeley
Strategic Distribution Shift of Interacting Agents via Coupled Gradient Flows
December 2023
SIAM Student Meeting at Caltech
Inequalities for proving convergence of coupled PDEs for modeling distribution shift
October 2023
Group Seminar, Harvard University
Coupled Gradient Flows for Strategic Non-Local Distribution Shift
May 2023
Research Seminar, MIT Lincoln Lab Homeland Protection Systems
Coupled Gradient Flows for Strategic Non-Local Distribution Shift
May 2023
Group Seminar, University of Washington
System Level Synthesis: Parameterization for Linear and Nonlinear Control
August 2022
Projects
System Level Synthesis for Evolution Equations
This repository contains the python code that accompanies the paper \\ Lauren Conger, Antoine P. Leeman and Franca Hoffmann. “Convex Constrained Controller Synthesis for Evolution Equations” IEEE ACC 2025.
Optimal Transport via Min-Max Gradient Flows
This repository contains code accompanying the paper \\ Lauren Conger, Franca Hoffmann, Ricardo Baptista, Eric Mazumdar "Computing Optimal Transport Plans via Min-Max Gradient Flows" IEEE CDC 225.
Teaching
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CS 143: Networks: Algorithms & Architecture Fall 2025
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CDS 131: Linear Systems Winter 2025Developed course material and lectured on system level synthesis. Lecture notes posted soon!
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CS 42: Computer Science Education in K-14 Settings Winter 2024
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CDS 131: Linear Systems Fall 2023
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CS 144: Networks and Economics Winter 2021
Gradient Flows Reading Group
Graduate students and postdocs from around the world meet bi-weekly to discuss research papers related to gradient flows, optimal transport, and mean-field games. Please email me if you would like to join the mailing list or volunteer to present!
Upcoming Schedule
October 28, 2025:
Lukas Weigand
"Analysis of mean-field models arising from self-attention dynamics in transformer architectures with layer normalization" Burger, Kabri, Korolev, Roith, Weigand (2025)
"A new class of transport distances between measures" Dolbeault, Nazaret, Savaré (2009)
November 3, 2025:
Fatemeh Ghaderi Zefreh
"Kermack-McKendrick type models for epidemics with nonlocal aggregation terms" Di Francesco, Zefreh
December 8, 2025:
Anna Shavlova, Ben Faktor
"Nonlinear diffusion limit of non-local interactions on a sphere" Shavlova (2025)
"A Family of Nonlinear Fourth Order Equations of Gradient Flow Type" Matthes, McCann, Savaré (2009)
Past Speakers
October 13, 2025:
Fabius Krämer
"Weighted, Multiphase, Volume-Preserving Mean Curvature Flow as Limit of the MBO Scheme on Manifolds" Krämer (2025)
September 29, 2025:
Jethro Warnett
"Mean-field limit for CBO algorithm for multiplayer games" Huang, Warnett (2025)
May 12, 2025:
Holger Spellmann, Lauren Conger
"Cosh Gradient Systems and Tilting" Peletier, Schlichting
April 22, 2025:
Vasily Ilin
"A blob method for diffusion" Carrillo, Craig, Patacchini (2019)
"Probability flow solution of the Fokker-Planck equation" Boffi, Vanden-Eijden (2022)
March 24, 2025:
Connor Marrs, Megha Kamath
"Gradient flow for the Boltzmann entropy and Cheeger's energy... Part 2" Gallouet, Monsaingeon (2017)
March 10, 2025:
Nico Gerber, Sixu Li
"A gradient flow approach of propagation of chaos" Salim (2020)
February 24, 2025:
Guillaume Wang, Giacomo Borghi
"A JKO Splitting Scheme for Kantorovich-Fisher-Rao Gradient Flows" Gallouet, Monsaingeon (2017)
February 10, 2025:
Connor Marrs, Megha Kamath
"Gradient flow for the Boltzmann entropy and Cheeger's energy... Part 1" Kopfer (2018)
January 27, 2025:
Jethro Warnett, Shuchen Guo
"Mean field limit for coulomb-type flows" Serfaty (2018)
January 13, 2025:
Lauren Conger, Djordje Nikolic
"Kinetic equilibration rates for granular media and related equations" Carrillo, McCann, Villani (2003)