A Distributionally Robust Optimization Approach to the NASA Langley Uncertainty Quantification Challenge

We study a methodology to tackle the NASA Langley Uncertainty Quantification Challenge problem, based on an integration of robust optimization, more specifically a recent line of research known as distributionally robust optimization, and importance sampling in Monte Carlo simulation. The main computation machinery in this integrated methodology boils down to solving sampled linear programs. We will illustrate both our numerical performances and theoretical statistical guarantees obtained via connections to nonparametric hypothesis testing.