Reconnect 2022: Optimization

Reconnect workshops expose faculty teaching undergraduates to current applications of the mathematical and computational sciences and provide an opportunity to learn about recent research in related areas. The topic is presented over the course of 4.5 days in series of lectures and activities, and participants are involved in activities that they and their students can continue with after the workshop.

The featured topic for Reconnect changes each year. This year’s topic is Optimization.

The notion of optimization is ubiquitous in everyday life—nearly every decision, at its core, is an optimization problem. The broad field of “optimization” emerged to provide the language and tools to surmount complex problems in real applications, and optimization tools and algorithms have since transformed fields ranging from biology to finance. Optimization capabilities touch our everyday lives through more efficient supply chains, better traffic management, and more secure power grids. In the short history of the field of mathematical optimization, advances in underlying theory, practical implementation, and computing power have brought us from solving linear programs (LPs) with a few hundred variables to those with more than a million, and widely available general-purpose solvers make sophisticated tools for linear, integer, and nonlinear programming broadly accessible.

Reconnect 2022 will review classic methods for linear and integer programming with an eye toward introducing software tools and activities that are engaging and accessible for use with undergraduate students. The workshop will also explore a variety of real-world applications that make use of optimization methods. Several researchers affiliated with the newly established DHS Center of Excellence, SENTRY, will provide an overview of SENTRY’s research mission and offer examples of how they will use optimization methods in the center’s research. These include allocating resources for disaster management, deploying “virtual sentries” to protect civilian spaces—so-called “soft targets”—around the country, and several others.

Reconnect’s primary speakers are Robert Bosch of Oberlin College and Robert Vanderbei of Princeton University. Additional speakers include Carl Crawford (CSUPTWO LLC), Rusty Lee (University of Delaware), and Jun Zhuang (University at Buffalo).

View Reconnect Agenda