Research

A Dual Perspective on Decision-Focused Learning: Scalable Training via Dual-Guided Surrogates
Paula Rodriguez-Diaz,  Kirk Bansak, Elisabeth Paulson
ML×OR Workshop: Mathematical Foundations and Operational Integration of Machine Learning for Uncertainty-Aware Decision-Making @NeurIPS 2025

Full paper under review.

What is the Right Notion of Distance between Predict-then-Optimize Tasks?
Paula Rodriguez-Diaz,  Lingkai Kong, Kai Wang, David Alvarez-Melis, Milind Tambe
Earlier version at DMLR and Humans, Algorithmic Decision-Making and Society Workshop @ICML 2024

UAI-25. Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, 2025.

Optimizing Vital Sign Monitoring in Resource-Constrained Maternal Care: An RL-Based Restless Bandit Approach
Niclas Boehmer, Yunfan Zhao, Guojun Xiong, Paula Rodriguez-Diaz, Paola Del Cueto Cibrian, Joseph Ngonzi, Adeline Boatin, Milind Tambe

IAAI-25. Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 2025.

Improving Health Information Access in the World’s Largest Maternal Mobile Health Program via Bandit Algorithms
Arshika Lalan, Shresth Verma, Paula Rodriguez-Diaz, Panayiotis Danassis, Amrita Mahale, Kumar Madhu Sudan, Aparna Hegde, Milind Tambe, Aparna Taneja
IAAI-24. Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 2024.

Fairness for Workers Who Pull the Arms: An Index Based Policy for Allocation of Restless Bandit Tasks
Arpita Biswas, Jackson Killian, Paula Rodriguez-Diaz, Susobhan Ghosh, Milind Tambe
AAMAS-23. International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, 2023.
* Oral presentation

Flexible Budgets in Restless Bandits: A Proximal Primal-Dual Algorithm for Efficient Budget Allocation
Paula Rodriguez-Diaz, Jackson Killian, Lily Xu, Arun Suggala, Aparna, Taneja, Milind Tambe
AAAI-23. AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2023.

Robust Planning over Restless Groups: Engagement Interventions for a Large-Scale Maternal Telehealth Program
Jackson Killian*, Lily Xu, Arpita Biswas*, Shresth Verma, Vineet Nair, Aparna Taneja, Aparna Hegde, Neha Madhiwalla, Paula Rodriguez-Diaz, Sonja Johnson-Yu, Milind Tambe
AAAI-23. AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2023.

Understanding the Effect of Compliance with Quarantines and Lockdowns on Domestic Violence Occurrence in Bogotá
Paula Rodriguez-Diaz, Oscar Gomez, Johan Garcia, Alvaro Riascos, Juan Moreno, Juan Castro, Jose Panqueva

UNDP Latin America and the Caribbean, Working Papers Series, 2022.

Visual Representations to Evaluate the Heterogeneous Effects of Urban Parks Restoration on Crime
Julian Chitiva, Douglas Newball-Ramirez, Paula Rodriguez-Diaz., Hamadys Benavides, Mateo Dulce-Rubio, Álvaro Riascos
COMPASS-21. Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies, 2021.

Efficient Allocation of Law Enforcement Resources Using Predictive Police Patrolling
Paula Rodriguez-Diaz., Mateo Dulce-Rubio, Juan Moreno, Sebastian Ramirez, Alvaro Riascos
LatinX in AI Workshop @NeurIPS, 2019.
* Best Talk Award