>home>Papers>Keynote Speakers

 
Christodoulos Floudas

Global Optimization in the 21 st Century: Advances and Challenges

Prof. Christodoulos Floudas, Princeton University

Abstract:

It is now established that Global Optimization has ubiquitous applications not only in Chemical Engineering but also across all branches of engineering, applied sciences, and sciences (e.g. see the textbook by Floudas 2000). As a result, we have experienced significant interest in new theoretical advances, algorithmic and implementation related investigations, and their application to important scientific problems. In this keynote presentation, we will provide an overview of the research progress in global optimization. The focus will be on important contributions during the last five years, and will provide a perspective for future research opportunities. The overview will cover areas of (a) twice continuously differentiable constrained non-linear optimization, (b) mixed-integer nonlinear optimization, (c) optimization with differential-algebraic models, (d) optimization with grey/black/nonfactorable models, and (e) bilevel nonlinear optimization. Subsequently, we will present our recent fundamental advances in (i) improved convex underestimation approaches that include convex envelope results for multilinear functions, and a piecewise quadratic convex underestimator for twice continuously differentiable functions, and (ii) the recently proposed novel generalized BB framework. Computational studies will illustrate the potential of these advances.
 
Biography:
Christodoulos Floudas earned his B.S.E. in 1982 at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and completed his Ph.D. in 1985 at Carnegie Mellon University. He is currently a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Princeton University and a world-renowned authority in mathematical modeling and optimization of complex systems at the macroscopic and microscopic level. His research interests lie at the interface of chemical engineering, applied mathematics, and operations research, with principal areas of focus including chemical process synthesis and design, process control and operations, discrete-continuous nonlinear optimization, local and global optimization, and computational chemistry and molecular biology. He is the author of two graduate textbooks, Nonlinear and Mixed-Integer Optimization (Oxford University Press, 1995), and Deterministic Global Optimization (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000) and the chief co-editor of the recently published Encyclopedia of Optimization (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001). He has co-edited six monographs/books and has over 180 refereed publications.