Abstract:
In the recent past, computational algorithms inspired by biological processes and evolution are gaining popularity for solving science and engineering problems. These algorithms are broadly classified into evolutionary computation and swarm intelligence algorithms, which are derived based on the analogy of natural evolution and biological activities. These include genetic algorithms, evolutionary programming, particle swarm optimization, ant colony optimization, deep neural networks, and other algorithms. These algorithms being random search techniques use some heuristics to guide the search towards optimal solution and speed-up the convergence to obtain the global optimal solutions. The bio-inspired methods have several attractive features and advantages as compared to conventional optimization solvers. They also facilitate the advantage of simulation and optimization (both can be done simultaneously) to solve hard to define (in simple expressions) real world problems. These biologically inspired methods have provided novel ways of problem-solving for practical problems in various fields of engineering including water resources management. In this presentation, key features and development of some of the bio-inspired computational algorithms, and their applications in optimal multi-reservoir operation in the multi objective context will be discussed.
Bio:
D. Nagesh Kumar is working as Edward M Curtis Visiting Professor at Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. He received Ph.D. from the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India, in 1992. He has been a Professor with the Department of Civil Engineering, IISc, since May 2002 and is on sabbatical during 2024-25 to work at Purdue Univ., USA. He is a Fellow of all the three Science Academies in India. He was holding the Prof Satish Dhawan Chair Professor position during 2018-21. He was the former Chairman, Centre for Earth Sciences, IISc, during 2014-20. Earlier, he was with IIT, Kharagpur, India (1994-2002), and National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, India (1992-94). He was a Boyscast Fellow with the Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA, in 1999 and Visiting Professor in EMSE, St. Etienne, France in 2012. His research interests include climate hydrology, climate change, water resource systems, deep learning, evolutionary algorithms, fuzzy logic, MCDM, and remote sensing & GIS applications in water resource engineering. He has supervised 14 Post-Docs (2 in progress) and 24 PhDs (5 in progress). He is a co-author of 8 books and has published more than 240 papers including 151 in peer reviewed journals. He is the Editor in Chief of Journal of Water and Climate Change, IWA Publishing, UK and Associate Editor for ASCE Journal of Hydrologic Engineering. He is the recipient of IBM Faculty Award for his outstanding contributions in modelling hydrologic extremes using microwave remote sensing.