[Colloq] Talk: Pascal Van Hentenryck - Thurs. Jan. 22nd 3:15pm 108 WVH - Evidence-Based Optimization of Complex Infrastructures

[Biron, Jessica]

Pascal Van Hentenryck, Professor, Australian National University
Thursday, January 22nd
3:15pm 108 WVH

Evidence-Based Optimization of Complex Infrastructures

For the first time in the history of mankind, we are accumulating data
sets of unprecedented scale and accuracy about physical
infrastructures, natural phenomena, man-made processes, and human
behavior. These developments, together with progress in
high-performance computing, machine learning, and operations research,
offer exciting opportunities for the evidence-based optimization of
complex infrastructures. This talk reviews some case-studies in
disaster management and energy systems to showcase these unique
opportunities and their associated challenges, and presents some
emerging architectures for evidence-based optimization.

Bio
ascal Van Hentenryck is professor at the Australian National University (ANU) where he holds the Vice-Chancellor Chair in Data-Intensive Computing. He also leads the optimization research group at NICTA (about 60 people). Van Hentenryck is the main designer and implementor of the CHIP programming system, the foundation of all modern constraint programming systems. During the last 15 years, he developed a number of influential systems, including the Numerica system, the optimisation programming language OPL, and the programming language Comet. These systems are described in MIT Press books and have been licensed to industry. His research on disaster planning and response has also been deployed to help federal agencies in the United States to mitigate the effects of hurricanes on coastal areas. Van Hentenryck is the author of five books, all published by the MIT Press, and over 230 scientific publications. He is the recipient of an NSF Young Investigator award in 1993, the 2002 INFORMS Computing Society (ICS) prize, the 2006 ACP award, doctor honoris causa degrees from the University of Louvain in 2008 and from the University of Nantes in 2011. He is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), the recipient of the Philip J. Bray Award for Teaching Excellence and a 2013 IFORS distinguished lecturer. He was a Ulam fellow at the Center of Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos in 2011 and 2012. Van Hentenryck also had award-winning papers at CP’2003, CP’2004, ASE’2004, IJCAI’07, and SEDE’09.