Prashant Palkar

Assistant Professor

Operations Research: Theory, Algorithms, Software and Applications,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

Research Interests

Mixed-integer nonlinear (and linear) programming, Parallel computing, Derivative-free optimization, Algorithmic game theory,
Developing algorithms in Minotaur

Academic/Industry Experience

Teaching

Publications

  • Shivani R.G., Sharma S. and Palkar P., “Multiobjective Derivative-Free Optimization of Parameters for a Volumetric Solar Receiver” (SOM 2023)

  • Samant A. and Palkar P., “A Two-phase Integer Programming Approach for Integrated Production and Distribution of Organic Products in Polyhouse Farming” (awarded Best Academic Paper in 2023-ICBAI & 2023-ORSI)

  • Graf L., Harks T. and Palkar P., "Dynamic Traffic Assignment for Electric Vehicles", In 22nd Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2022). Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik, 2022. pdf (full version on arxiv)

  • Palkar P. and Mahajan A., “Mitigating Anomalies in Parallel Branch-and-Bound Based Algorithms for Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Optimization”, International Symposium on Combinatorial Optimization, 143-156, 2022. pdf

  • Sharma M. Palkar P., and Mahajan A., "Linearization and Parallelization Schemes for Convex Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Optimization", Computational Optimization and Applications, 1-56, 2022.  pdf

  • Larson J., Leyffer S., Palkar P. and Wild S. M., "A Method for Convex Black-Box Integer Global Optimization", Journal of Global Optimization, 1-39, 2021. pdf

  • Liu Z., Rajkumar K., Leyffer S., Palkar, P. and Foster, I., "A mathematical programming- and simulation-based framework to evaluate cyberinfrastructure design choices", 13th IEEE International Conference on eScience, Auckland, New Zealand, October 24-17, 2017. pdf

  • Palkar, P. and Mahajan, A., “A Branch-and-Estimate heuristic procedure for solving nonconvex integer optimization problems”, Workshop on Parallel Computing and Optimization (PCO), IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS), Hyderabad, India, 2015. pdf

Talks/Posters

  • "Mitigating Anomalies in Parallel Branch-and-Bound based Algorithms for Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Optimization", 7th biennial International Symposium on Combinatorial Optimization (ISCO), Online, May 18-20, 2022.

  • "Computational Complexity and Complexity Classes in Optimization", special session for the course Quantitative Techniques II, Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM), IIT Kharagpur, March 25, 2022.

  • "Linearization and Parallelization Schemes for Convex Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Optimization", 31rst European Conference on Operational Research (EURO 2021), University of West Attica, Athens, Greece, 11 - 14 July, 2021.

  • "Accelerating LP, NLP, and MILP Based Algorithms for Convex MINLPs using Parallelization Schemes", 52nd Annual Convention of ORSI & International Conference, IIM Ahmedabad, India, December 15 - 18, 2019.

  • "Parallel Algorithms for Convex Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Optimization", 3rd International Conference and Summer School on Numerical Computations: Theory and Algorithms (NUMTA) 2019, Calabria, Italy, June 15 – 21, 2019.

  • "A globally convergent simulation-based optimization algorithm with integer constraints", 23rd International Symposium on Mathematical Programming 2018, Bordeaux, France, July 01 – 06, 2018.

  • "Mixed Integer Derivative Free Optimization", 2018 Mixed Integer Programming Workshop, Greenville, SC, USA, June 18 – 21, 2018. pdf

  • "MINOTAUR: Mixed Integer Nonlinear Optimization Toolkit - Algorithms, Underestimators, Relaxations", OPTSUM 2017, Mumbai, September 14, 2017.

  • "Towards global optimization of mixed-integer nonlinear programming problems", Innovation Day, JDA, Hyderabad, India, April 06, 2016.

  • "A parallel branch-and-bound framework for solving convex integer optimization problems", 52nd Annual Convention of ORSI & International Conference, New Delhi, India, 12th Dec, 2016.

  • Palkar, P. and Sambasivam, R., “Optimization of Integrated Production Planning and Distribution of raw material and finished goods from supplying plants to stockyards”, International Conference on Advances in Supply Chain and Manufacturing Management, IIT Kharagpur, India, 2011.

  • Sweta, B. and Palkar, P., "Centralized Optimization Suite to handle end-to-end operations of Cut and Bend centres of Tata Steel and its Associates", Operating Committee Meeting on IT and Automation,  Jamshedpur, India, 2013.

Visits

  • "A globally convergent cutting-plane method for simulation-based optimization with integer constraints", with Dr. Jeffrey Larson and Dr. Sven Leyffer, Argonne National Laboratory, IL, USA from April, 23 - August, 03, 2018.

  • "Algorithms for mixed-integer derivative-free optimization", with Dr. Jeffrey Larson and Dr. Sven Leyffer, Argonne National Laboratory, IL, USA from March, 27 - July, 14, 2017.

Workshops

Other Interests

Indian classical music, playing volleyball, badminton, table-tennis, cricket, etc.

Contact

Office: VA-11, Block 5A, IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India, 110016
Telephone: +91 (0) 11 2659 1127
Email: ppalkar@iitd.ac.in