Title: The New Faces of Nonlinear Optimization
Presentation Slides

In the last two years it has been shown that nonlinear optimization methods are remarkably successful at solving problems in two new areas of application. The first concerns models with equilibrium constraints which arise, for example, in robotics, economics and network design. The second area concerns systems described by partial differential equations, and includes many optimal control, parameter identification and inverse problems. This talk provides an overview of these two emerging areas. We will present three case studies involving network design, electricity models and the design of nano-controlers. We will then describe the advances in nonlinear programming that have made it possible to solve these problems, and will try to forecast the difficulties that will arise as we ask the optimization software to solve larger and larger problems.