Education

This project uses mathematical filtering theory to develop computer tractable real time solutions for incomplete, corrupted information problems. These techniques have proven to be beneficial in defence, communications, media effects, and manufacturing. In 2002-2003, Optovation Inc. was added as a new partner, Lockheed Martin Corp. filed for two new patents and we formed a spin-off company, Random Knowledge Inc. to commercialize our technology in the areas of Network Security, Fraud Detection, and Finance.

The management of transportation and production systems often requires solving a sequence of optimization problems, each problem optimizing the utilization of some resources: equipment, personnel, etc. For instance, transit authorities perform bus scheduling followed by daily and monthly driver scheduling; airlines perform aircraft scheduling followed by crew pairing and monthly crew scheduling; and manufacturing companies address manpower scheduling before production scheduling. Such a sequential approach for management was introduced a long time ago when solutions were computed manually.

Due to the explosive growth in the technology for manufacturing integrated circuits, modern chips contain millions of transistors. Using sophisticated optimization algorithms, it is possible to achieve notable increases in the performance of the chips, reduce the manufacturing costs, and produce faster, cheaper computing for society. Thus, the objective of this project is to enhance the solution of large-scale optimization problems arising in these applications.

The surveys being developed by government, health and social science organizations have increased in complexity and as a result, the data that is collected is similarly more complicated. Thus, this project focuses on developing new tools to address issues which arise during the analysis of this complex data including longitudinal data, information which is based on a set of repeated observations of an individual, or group of individuals, over time.

Statistical machine learning is an endeavor in which statisticians and computer scientists use computation to identify useful information from large amounts of data. Telecommunications, insurance and pharmaceutical companies use the team’s machine learning and data mining techniques to determine customer patterns, predict future customer behavior and better understand their needs. The project addresses some of the main practical and theoretical difficulties encountered when dealing with large datasets.