Jim Luedtke, an associate professor of industrial and systems engineering, is the UW-Madison principal investigator on a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy that is part of its 2017 program for mathematical multifaceted integrated capability centers. The new project is directed by Argonne National Laboratory; the University of Chicago, Pacific Northwestern National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are additional partners.
The UW-Madison project, “MACSER: Multifaceted mathematics for rare, high-impact events in complex energy and environment systems,” includes co-principal investigators Jeff Linderoth (Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering), Victor Zavala (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering) and Bernie Lesieutre (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering), as well as Michael Ferris and Stephen Wright from the Department of Computer Sciences. The team will investigate mathematical methods for assessing the impact of rare high-impact events in energy systems, such as the electrical power grid or natural gas distribution network. The overall goal of the five-year project is to design and operate these energy systems to withstand and recover from extreme events, such as hurricanes or the polar vortex.