About Me

I’m a Chilean Assistant Professor of Computational Applied Mathematics and Operations Research at Rice University. I’m also a member of the Ken Kennedy Institute and AI-OWLS at Rice University.

My Research

I’m broadly interested in operations research, discrete optimization, and optimization under uncertainty. My research focuses on developing new models and algorithms with provable guarantees to support decision-making in uncertain environments.

Background

I obtained my Ph.D. in the multidisciplinary Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization (ACO) program at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I was fortunate to be advised by Mohit Singh and Alejandro Toriello. I also hold a B.Eng. and M.S. in Applied Math from Universidad de Chile.

Papers

• Online Selection with Uncertain Disruption. Y. Xu, S. Kerimov, and SP-S. (Submitted).
• Stochastic Scheduling with Abandonments via Greedy Strategies. Y. Xu, R. Ghuge, and SP-S. (Submitted).
• Maximin Online k-Selection. SP-S, A. Torrico. (Submitted).
• Optimal Guarantees for Online Selection Over Time. SP-S, and V. Verdugo. (Submitted).
  – Extended Abstract in WINE 2024.
• Residual Prophet Inequalities. J. Correa, D. Pizarro, SP-S, B. Ziliotto. In EC 2025.
• Splitting Guarantees for Prophet Inequalities via Nonlinear Systems. J. Brustle, SP-S, and V. Verdugo. Mathematics of Operations Research 2025.
  – Extended Abstract in WINE 2024.
• The IID Prophet Inequality with Limited Flexibility. SP-S, M. Singh, A. Toriello. Mathematics of Operations Research 2025.
• Robust Online Selection with Uncertain Offer Acceptance. SP-S, M. Singh, A. Toriello. Mathematics of Operations Research 2024.
• On First-Order Meta-Reinforcement Learning with Moreau Envelopes. M. Toghani, SP-S, C. A. Uribe. Proceedings of the 2023 62nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC).
• Adaptive Bin Packing with Overflow. SP-S, M. Singh and A. Toriello. Mathematics of Operations Research 2022. (Talk in AGCO Seminar).
  – Honorable mention, 2022 INFORMS Optimization Society 2022 Student Paper Prize.
• Dynamic Resource Allocation in the Cloud with Near-Optimal Efficiency. SP-S, I. Menache, M. Singh and A. Toriello. Operations Research, 2021.
  – Runner-up, 2019 INFORMS Computing Society Student Paper Prize (Highlight)
• Preserving Diversity when Partitioning: A Geometric Approach. SP-S, A. Torrico, V. Verdugo. In ACM conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO 2021).
• Differentially Private Online Submodular Maximization. SP-S and R. Cummings. In Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics (AISTATS 2021).
• Graph reconstruction in the congested clique. P. Montealegre, SP-S, I. Rapaport, I. Todinca. Journal of Computer and System Sciences (2020).
• Two rounds are enough for reconstructing any graph (class) in the congested clique model. P. Montealegre, SP-S, I. Rapaport and I. Todinca. In Proceedings of the 25th International Colloquium on Structural Information and Communication Complexity (SIROCCO 2018).

Theses

• El problema de la degenerancia de grafos en Congested Clique (in Spanish). M.S. in Applied Math thesis, Universidad de Chile, 2016.
• New benchmarking techniques in resource allocation problems: theory and applications in cloud systems. Ph.D. ACO thesis, Georgia Tech, 2022.

Contact

Computational Applied Mathematics and Operations Research, Rice University.
Duncan Hall 3021.
Houston, Texas.
e-mail: sperez [at] rice [dot] edu