NEO

Kalyanmoy Deb
Michigan State University

Abstract:  Started in early nineties, multi-objective optimization problems were solved without any prior preference information. Evolutionary computation methods were minimally modified to search and store multiple Pareto-optimal solutions simultaneously within an evolving population. The basic idea has not changed in the past three decades, but it has been extended, perfected, and applied to various fields of science, society, engineering, and business. This lecture will present a chronological account of key events and research inventions which propelled the evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) into a field which many novice and expert researchers and applicationists now proudly call it their profession.

Bio:  Kalyanmoy Deb is Koenig Endowed Chair Professor at Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in Michigan State University, USA. Prof. Deb is a pioneer and has been an active proponent of EMO field since 1994. Prof. Deb's research interests are in evolutionary optimization and their application in multi-criterion optimization, modeling, and machine learning. He has been a visiting professor at various universities across the world including IITs in India, Aalto University in Finland, University of Skovde in Sweden, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He was awarded IEEE Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Award, Infosys Prize, TWAS Prize in Engineering Sciences, CajAstur Mamdani Prize, Distinguished Alumni Award from IIT Kharagpur, Edgeworth-Pareto award, Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences, and Bessel Research award from Germany. He is fellow of IEEE, ASME, and three Indian science and engineering academies. He has published over 520 research papers with Google Scholar citation of over 137,000 with h-index 116. He is in the editorial board on 20 major international journals. More information about his research contribution can be found from https://www.coin-lab.org

Ivan Salgado Transito
AC Optics Research Center

Abstract:  The talk will present a brief overview of the relevance of solar power technology, its potential to transform the global energy system and become into the main energy source in the next century. We will focus on solar thermal technology for electricity generation also call Concentrating Solar Power (CPS). This technology use optical mirrors or lens to concentrate solar radiation in a focal point where a fluid is heated up, then, electricity is generated in a conventional thermodynamic power cycle. CPS has the enormous advantage of having low-cost energy storage systems becoming it in a stabilizing key source in distributed power generation networks dominated by other fluctuating renewable energy sources as wind and solar PV. Finally, some of the niches of opportunity for optimization of power grid with distributed generation will succinctly presented.

Bio: Research Fellow in Solar Energy, Member of Mexican National Research System level - 1. Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineer and MSc. & D.Eng in Solar Energy from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Postdoc at the Solar Energy Laboratory of the University of Minnesota, US. Member of TAKS 49 - Solar Heat Integration in Industrial Processes (IEA) and the Mexican Heat Initiative. He has done two research stays, one in the Almeria Solar Platform and the other in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Basque Country. He serves as Assistant Professor at the University of Sonora working in the Heliostats Test Field in Hermosillo, Mexico. He is currently a Research Fellow at The Optical Research Center (CIO, Spanish abbreviation); His main achievements are the foundation of the Solar Energy Research & Engineering Group and the establishment of The Thermal Energy and Photovoltaic Evaluation Lab (LICS-TF).

More information about his research contribution can be found from https://www.cio.mx/investigadores/ivan_salgado

Jian-Qiao Sun
UC Merced

Abstract:   In this talk, we shall report the project progress and results of piezoelectric energy harvesting from highway traffic. The project is supported by California Energy Commission. We shall review the background of the project, the objectives, device design and experimental evaluations. Finally, we report the projection of energy production by the proposed piezoelectric energy technology over a mile-long highway. The scale of the possible energy production using piezoelectric materials is the largest one reported in the literature at this time.

Bio: Dr. Jian-Qiao Sun earned a BS degree in Solid Mechanics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China in 1982, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of California at Berkeley in 1988. He worked for Lord Corporation at their Corporate R&D Center in Cary, North Carolina. Dr. Sun jointed the faculty in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware as an Assistant Professor in 1994, was promoted to Associate Professor in 1998 and to Professor in 2003. He joined University of California at Merced in 2007, and is currently a professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in School of Engineering. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Dynamics and Control published by Springer.

More information about his research contribution can be found from https://www.ucmerced.edu/content/jian-qiao-sun