Summer 2016 – Jim Luedtke

Jim Luedtke (Optimization) attended a conference on stochastic programming and presented a three hour tutorial the day he arrived on “stochastic integer programming”, which is a field concerned with making discrete decisions in the face of uncertainty or “randomness”.  He also presented a seminar about his recent research with colleague Jeff Linderoth on methods for optimizing the generation and transmission of electricity while maintaining reliability of the power grid in the face of uncertain output from renewable energy sources.

Memorable moment from Jim: “A busload of students from Brazil missed the first half of the tutorial because their bus took a wrong turn on the way there, and then got stuck in a place where it could not turn around. Later in the week, the conference organizers played a video of the first half on a large-screen projector so the students who missed it could view it.

I was a few weeks earlier than the 2016 Summer Olympics, but I did get to observe many of the preparations being made in Rio as I passed through.”

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