Title: Exact and heuristic MIP methods for the solution of MINLP - Examples from gas transport optimization problems Speaker: Dr Lars Schewe Affiliation: Dept of Mathematics, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg Location: 217 Huxley Building Time: 13:30 - 14:30 Abstract. In this talk, we present exact and heuristic methods for MINLP, the development of which was motivated by applications in gas transport... Read more »

Title: Robust Discrete Optimization: Globalized Gamma Robustness and Radius of Robust Feasibility Speaker: Prof. Dr Frauke Liers Affiliation: Dept of Mathematics, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg Location: 217 Huxley Building Time: 15:00 - 16:00 Abstract. In this talk, we extend the notion of two robust optimization methodologies that were originally introduced for continuous problems towards robust discrete tasks. On the one hand, we... Read more »

Title: Extremal Cuts and Isoperimetry in Random Cubic Graphs Speaker: Prof. Gregory B. Sorkin Affiliation: Dept of Mathematics, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Location: LT139 Huxley Building Time: 14:00 - 15:00 Abstract. The minimum bisection width of random cubic graphs is of interest because it is one of the simplest questions imaginable... Read more »

Title: Chordal Completions - Semidefinite Programming and Minimum Completions Speaker: Dr Arvind Raghunathan Affiliation: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) Location: 217 Huxley Building Time: 14:00 - 15:00 Abstract. A graph is chordal if every cycle of length at least four contains a chord, that is, an edge connecting two nonconsecutive vertices of the cycle. Chordal... Read more »

Title: Largest Small n-Polygons: Numerical Results and Conjectured Optima Speaker: János D. Pintér Affiliation: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Lehigh University Location: 218 Huxley Building Time: 14:00 - 15:00   Abstract. LSP(n), the largest small polygon with n vertices, is defined as the polygon of unit diameter that has maximal area A(n). Finding the configuration LSP(n) and the... Read more »

The minimum bisection width of random cubic graphs is of interest because it is one of the simplest questions imaginable in extremal combinatorics, and also because the minimum bisection of (general) cubic graphs plays a role in the construction of efficient exponential-time algorithms, and it seems likely that random cubic graphs are extremal. It is... Read more »

Professor Miguel Anjos from the University of Edinburgh is giving a seminar on: Tight-and-Cheap Conic Relaxations for AC Optimal Power Flow and Optimal Reactive Power Dispatch   Abstract: The classical alternating current optimal power flow problem is nonconvex and generally hard to solve. We propose a new conic relaxation obtained by combining semidefinite optimization with... Read more »

TITLE: Learn to Relax: Integrating Integer Linear Programming with Conflict-Driven Search   ABSTRACT: Pseudo-Boolean (PB) solvers optimize 0-1 integer linear programs by extending the conflict-driven learning paradigm from SAT solving. Though PB solvers should be exponentially more efficient than SAT solvers in theory, in practice they can sometimes get hopelessly stuck even when the relaxed... Read more »

Title: Pessimistic Bilevel Optimization Pessimistic bilevel optimization problems, as optimistic ones, possess a structure involving three interrelated optimization problems. Moreover, their finite infima are only attained under strong conditions. We address these difficulties within a framework of moderate assumptions and a perturbation approach which allow us to approximate such finite infima arbitrarily well by minimal... Read more »

Title: Bayesian Optimization in Molecule Space: Challenges and Opportunities Speaker: Austin Tripp Affiliation: University of Cambridge Location: Huxley 315 Abstract. Rational design of experiments in chemistry is one of the most commonly mentioned applications of Bayesian optimization (BO). Therefore you might presume that existing BO algorithms for chemistry are well-developed. In this talk I explain how... Read more »