DSpace@MIT

The initial five-year phase of the SMA Programme in High Performance Computation for Engineered Systems (HPCES) ended two years ago. During the past two years the SMA Masters degree has not been offered, but the group has remained very active on the research front. Many PhD students who started their research during the initial five-year period are still engaged in their degrees. In addition some students who completed the Master degree the year before have started on their PhD. The intellectual thurst of this program will be continued over the next five years with the SMA2 Programme in Computational Engineering (CE).

Intensive computation for simulation and optimization has become an essential activity in both the design and operation of engineered systems, where the terminology “engineered systems� includes (but goes well beyond) complex systems in engineering science (truss/mechanical structures, guidance/controller systems, imaging systems, e.g.) as well as man-made systems (nano-technology systems, telecommunications systems, transportation systems, e.g.) for which optimization and control are critical to system success. In applications as diverse of aircraft design, materials design, manufacturing operations scheduling, micro-machined device design/optimization, and airline seat pricing and inventory management, engineers and managers need computationally-tractable modeling systems that predict and optimize system performance in a reliable and timely manner. Effective computation allows for shorter design cycle times, better product quality and improved functionality. One cannot overstate the importance of computational engineering and optimization in the global industrial economy, particularly as the systems we use grow more necessary and more complex (cellular telephone telecommunications systems, the electric power grid, the internet, air transport systems, etc.) The HPCES/CE integrated educational and research programme are designed to meet these needs.

The research programme of HPCES, under the theme of “Effective Computation for Design and Optimization of Engineered Systems�, emphasizes the development of new methodologies cognizant of the ultimate rapid response context in which they must be applied. Multidisciplinary interactions, which often play a role in realistic problems, is also a main focus of our research.

1. Molecular simulation of Micro-and Nano Systems
2. Parametric and Dynamic Model Order Reduction
3. Fast algorithms for application to diverse problems ranging from Electromagnetic/Electrostatics to Bio-MEMS
4. Convex/Discrete/Nonlinear Optimisation
5. Robust Optimisation in Logistic and Finance