Leximax Approximations and Representative Cohort Selection

Watch a research presentation from the 2022 Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing where Stanford researcher Judy Hanwen Shen explores mathematical approaches to selecting representative groups from larger populations. Learn about lexicographic maximality (leximax) as an optimization method for ensuring fair representation, including new approximation techniques that improve algorithmic efficiency, utility improvements, and noise robustness. Discover how these concepts apply to real-world scenarios like choosing governing committees and consumer panels, with detailed explanations of polynomial-time algorithms for finding leximax distributions and the computational complexity challenges of finding integer solutions. Follow along as the presentation covers introduction, problem formulation, and various approximation approaches over 19 minutes.