Design Optimization under Uncertainty Group

Stochastic Programming considers decision making problems where the decisions are considered deterministic but there are uncertainties in data, as in planning and investment problems. Design Centering and Tolerance Design considers design problems where the design variables themselves are uncertain, a problem we face in the design of manufactured systems.

Development of new methodologies for these two distinct problems in design optimization under uncertainty, explicitly considering risk and applying the newly developed techniques in engineering including civil, chemical, electrical, environmental and financial engineering problems is our main objective. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the many applications, much of the work has been done in collaboration with colleagues from both inside and outside the university.

"Tech is invasive," Gates said. "It's in all of our lives. Don't you want the people who are sitting behind that, programming it, to be people who have diverse points of view?" By Melinda Gates, CNN Money, Sept 20, 2017.

"To top it off, we have fallen into a trend of diverting and rewarding the best of our collective I.Q. to people doing financial engineering rather than real engineering. These rocket scientists and engineers were designing complex financial instruments to make money out of money — rather than growing food (I added this), designing cars, phones, computers, teaching tools, Internet programs and medical equipment that could improve the lives and productivity of millions." By Thomas L Friedman, NY Times, Dec 24, 2008

A detailed description connecting the various aspects of our research is available in the detailed statement of research (.pdf)