Distinguished Research Fellow Award Ceremony Bismark Singh, University of Southampton

Title: Mathematical optimization for highly reliable decision-making under uncertainty

Abstract:
Practically any real-world system requires decision-making under uncertainty. For systems where the consequences of failures are catastrophic, the likelihood of risk is required to be kept small. Chance-constrained optimization is a field of mathematical optimization that is especially equipped to quantifiably modeling reliability for such decision-making. However, solving such models remains both a theoretical and computational challenge.

This introductory talk has four components. First, I present some theoretical advances on solving chance-constrained models that deal with union-bounds from probability theory. Second, I describe a long-standing collaboration with the State of Texas to guide their decision-making policy for both the 2009 H1N1 and COVID-19 pandemics. Third, I describe such decision-making focusing on energy management especially towards national sustainability goals. Finally, I conclude with a vision of the future of mathematical optimization particularly in collaboration with machine-learning and artificial intelligence.