Vincent Taboga
Postdoctoral Researcher at Mila
I am a postdoctoral researcher at Mila, working with Professor Pierre-Luc Bacon. I completed my Ph.D. at Polytechnique Montréal and Mila under the supervision of Professor Hanane Dagdougui. My doctoral research focused on the optimal control of HVAC systems in buildings participating in Demand Response programs.
I specialize in reinforcement learning and optimal control, with an engineering-driven focus on deployable solutions for real-world energy systems. I am particularly interested in transfer, multi-task, offline and risk-sensitive reinforcement learning. My long-term goal is to develop foundation policies for control. I see HVAC control in buildings as the perfect benchmark for developing generalizable and transferable policies for control. Buildings are complex and heterogeneous systems, but at the same time HVAC control shares a common underlying structure across buildings. Achieving foundation control policies for HVAC control would be a cornerstone for robotics and embodied AI more broadly.
I am also a course lecturer at Polytechnique and Université de Montréal. I teach classes such as calculus, linear algebra, data science and machine learning for undergraduate and graduate students.
News
Community Engagement
From November 2024 to November 2026, I served as a Lab Representative for the Mila Community. The role of Lab Reps is to engage in discussions with professors and the administration to ensure Mila stays a safe and creative space for everyone. On a daily basis, we engage with the community and try to address student concerns. To strengthen the community, we also organize social events, workshops, and facilitate access to funding for any student-led initiative.
During my Ph.D., I was part of the student committee of the RQEI, a Quebec-wide network of private and public research entities. The mission of the student committee is to enhance collaboration between universities and with the private sector by organizing for instance company visits, workshops, and research visit programs.
Science Outreach
I believe it is our responsibility as scientists to communicate our research to the broader community. Although challenging at times, this exercise is essential for people to make informed decisions about important topics such as climate change and to rebuild trust in science.
I have been involved in many science popularization contests throughout my Ph.D. Through the MT180 competition, I had the opportunity to represent Canada in the international finals and present my research to a wide audience. I also shared the results of my research on Radio Canada shows Des années lumières and Moteur de recherche to raise public awareness about the impact of HVAC systems on our environment and the importance of energy efficiency.
