Why Optimization?
"Nothing in the world takes place without optimization,
and there is no doubt that all aspects of the world that have
a rational basis can be explained by optimization methods",
Leonhard Euler
(1744).
What is ERGO?
Centred around the
Optimization and Operational Research research group in the School of Mathematics at the
University of Edinburgh,
the Edinburgh Research Group in Optimization (ERGO) is a loose
association of researchers at the University of Edinburgh's Management School,
Institute for Energy Systems,
and the Roslin Institute.
ERGO also has active links with
Format Solutions,
Google,
Amazon,
National Grid and
Stochastic Solutions.
In the past, the group had links with
Bioparametrics, Edinburgh Petroleum Services, France Télécom R&D,
Yahoo!,
SAS and
Intel.
Research
The main focus of the group is on mathematical and computing aspects of
optimization. It has world-leading expertise in the solution of large sparse
linear and quadratic problems by two of the core technologies in optimization -
the simplex method and interior point methods.
The group also has interests in nonlinear and global
optimization, decomposition methods, parallel computing, industrial
applications of optimization, and stochastic optimization. There is
other expertise in simulation and stochastic areas of operational research,
and in the mathematics of energy systems.
The group interacts with academics in Italy, Norway, China, France, Spain,
Turkey, Brazil, India, USA and the UK.
Researchers from the OR Group have been invited to give plenary addresses
at several major optimization conferences, to join international committees
of several conferences, to organise specialised sessions/mini-workshops
at these conferences, and to be on assessment panels for European grants.
See the ERGO preprints series page for
current preprints, technical reports and recent publications.
The group has a strong experience in computational software. More
information, background material and download links are in the
ERGO software page.
The group meets regularly for seminars.
Research projects
EPSRC funded projects:
Sergio García Quiles, Jacek Gondzio and Jörg Kalcsics
IP-MATCH: Integer programming for large and complex matching problems
(2017-2020) EP/P029825/1 (EPSRC grant)
Ken McKinnon, Andreas Grothey, Chris Dent
EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration
(2016-2020) EP/P001173/1 (EPSRC grant)
Jacek Gondzio
Computational design optimization of large-scale
building structures: methods, benchmarking and applications
(2016-2019) EP/N019652/1 (EPSRC grant)
Sergio García Quiles, Jacek Gondzio, Jörg Kalcsics and Sotirios Sabanis
Risk Concentration Measurement
(2016-2018) (EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account and Standard Life Investments)
Peter Richtárik
Randomized algorithms for extreme convex optimization
(2016-2020) EP/N005538/1 (EPSRC Early Career Fellowship)
Chris Dent
Uncertainty analysis of hierarchical energy systems models:
Models versus real energy systems
(2014-2018) EP/K03832X/1 (EPSRC grant)
Chris Dent
High Energy And Power Density (HEAPD) Solutions to Large
Energy Deficits
(2014-2017) EP/K036211/1 (EPSRC grant)
Chris Dent
Green Growth Diagnostics for Africa
(2014-2017) EP/L002507/1 (EPSRC grant)
Chris Dent
Development and Evaluation of Sustainable
Technologies for Flexible Operation of Conventional Power Plants
(2013-2018) EP/K02115X/1 (EPSRC grant)
Peter Richtárik
Accelerated Coordinate Descent Methods for Big Data Problems
(2013-2015) EP/K02325X/1
Chris Dent
Energy Storage for Low Carbon Grids
(2012-2018) EP/K002252/1 (EPSRC grant)
Peter Richtárik, Jared Tanner
Algorithms for Data Simplicity
(2012-2013) EP/J020567/1
Jacek Gondzio, Burak Buke, Peter Richtárik
Mathematics for Vast Digital Resources
(2011-2014) EP/I017127/1
Mirella Lapata, Andreas Grothey
Global inference for summarization using integer linear programming
(2009-2012) EP/F055765/1
Ken McKinnon, Jacek Gondzio
Preventing wide-area blackouts through adaptive islanding of transmission networks
(2009-2012) EP/G060169
Andreas Grothey
Warmstarting techniques for stochastic programming problems solved by interior point methods
(2007-2009) EP/E036910/1
Jacek Gondzio
Parallel solution of large scale structured nonlinear
programs with interior point methods
(2002-2005) GR/R99683/01
Jacek Gondzio
Parallel solution of structured linear programs with
interior point methods
(1999-2001) GR/M68169
Industry funded research projects:
Jacek Gondzio
Fast interior point method for linear programming problems
(2017-2018) Google Research Award, Google, Paris, France
Julian Hall
Fast approximate solution of linear programming problems
(2016-2017) Google Research Award, Google, Paris, France
Jacek Gondzio
Quantitative analysis of structured products
(2009-2010) HEG, Geneva, Switzerland
Julian Hall
Parallel solution of block-angular LP problems
(2008-2011) SAS, Raleigh, USA
Jacek Gondzio
Conveying structure from modeling language to a solver
(2005-2007) Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, USA
Jacek Gondzio
Stochastic programming for risk analysis for a class of
optimization problems in telecommunications
(2004-2006) France Télécom, Paris, France
International roles
Editorships in OR/Optimization journals
- Chris Dent: Editor of the Sustainable Energy, Grids and
Networks.
- Jacek Gondzio: Associate Editor for Computational Optimization
and Applications (2001-present), European Journal of Operational Research
(2015-2017), Mathematical Programming Computation (2008-present) and
Optimization Methods and Software (2013-present).
- Andreas Grothey: Technical Editor for Mathematical Programming
Computation (2008-present).
- Julian Hall: Technical Editor for Mathematical Programming
Computation (2015-present).
Awards
Awards to staff
Staff in the Operational Research and Optimization group
have been awarded several prizes in recent years.
-
Jacek Gondzio is the EUROPT 2019 Fellow.
-
Julian Hall was awarded the Mathematical Programming Computation best paper prize for 2018, for the paper "Parallelizing the dual revised simplex method".
-
Julian Hall was awarded the
Computational Optimization and Applications best paper prize for 2015,
for the paper "Novel update techniques for the revised simplex method".
-
Chris Dent
won a 2014 Durham University award for excellent in research impact.
-
Julian Hall was awarded the
Computational Optimization and Applications best paper prize for 2013,
for the paper "Parallel distributed-memory simplex for large-scale
stochastic LP problems".
-
Julian Hall won the COIN-OR
INFORMS 2013 Cup for the best use of open-source COIN-OR software, for
the paper "Parallel distributed-memory simplex for large-scale stochastic LP
problems".
-
Chris Dent
won the 2012 IET Mike Sargeant Young Engineer Career Achievement Award.
-
Sergio García
Quiles received the Ramiro Melendreras 2009 Award by the Spanish
Society of Statistics and Operations Research to the best paper by a young
researcher, for the paper "Solving large p-median problems with a radius
formulation".
-
Julian Hall and
Ken McKinnon
were awarded the Computational Optimization and Applications
best paper
prize for 2005.
-
Jacek Gondzio
was awarded the Computational Optimization and Applications
best paper
prize for 2004.
Study opportunities
PhD opportunities
The people and research page lists the research
interests of the Staff members, and it is a good starting point for finding
information on PhD topics and opportunities.
For additional information and on-line applications to the Operational
Research and Optimization group, see also the
Research
Degrees (PhD) page.
MSc in Operational Research
We have started enrolling for the Operational Research MSc.
For information see the
Edinburgh OR MSc pages.
Where to find us
School of Mathematics
James Clerk Maxwell Building
King's Buildings
Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ
Telephone: +44 131 650 5060 Fax: +44 131 650 6553
Directions