LAURA WYNTER

 

Contact Information

Work

Laboratoire PRISM (Computer Science Department)

Université de Versailles, and
INRIA
B.P. 105, Domaine de Voluceau, Rocquencourt
78153 Le Chesnay, France
Tel : +33 1 39 63 55 38, Fax : +33 1 39 63 59 60
Email: Laura.Wynter@inria.fr
Web: www.prism.uvsq.fr/~wynter

 

Home

147 Shonnard Terrace

Yonkers, NY 10701, USA

Tel: (914) 423 0095

Education

 

1992-1995

PhD, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC), Paris, France

Thesis title: Advances in the theory and application of the multi-class traffic assignment problem,
Specialty: Transportation, Thesis director: Prof. Georges Dobias, ENPC, Jury members: Prof. Piet H.L. Bovy, TU Delft (The Netherlands); Prof. Philippe Toint, FUNDP (Belgium)
Grade: Très honorable avec les félicitations du jury (highest honors).

1990-1992

S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass.

Subject: Transportation Engineering, Master's thesis title: Using real-time data from automatic vehicle identification (AVI) in traffic management, Master's thesis director: Thomas Humphrey.
 

1986-1990

S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass.

Subject: Mathematics.
  

Research Experience

 

9/2000-present position

Invited research scientist (joint position with Université de Versailles)

INRIA (French National Research Institute for Computer Science and Applied Mathematics)
Rocquencourt, Le Chesnay, France.

 

Fall 1997-present position

Assistant professor

Laboratoire PRISM, Computer Science Department
Université de Versailles, Versailles, France.

 

2/1999-8/1999

Visiting researcher
Dept. of Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE),
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.

Fall 1996-1997

Post-doctoral researcher

Laboratoire PRISM and CNRS (French National Scientific Research Center)
Université de Versailles, Versailles, France.

 

1992-1996

Visiting scientist

Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurité (INRETS)
Arcueil, France.

 

1990-1992

Research assistant, Center for Transportation Studies,

MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.

 

Summer 1989

Visiting researcher, Research department

Toshiba ULSI Center, Kawasaki, Japan.
  

Professional Societies

 

ROADEF

(The French National Society for Operations Research and Decision Analysis) Member, 1998-present.

EURO

(The Association of European Operational Research Societies) Member, Working Group on Transportation, 1994-present, Member, Working Group on Parallel Optimization (PAREO), 1997-present.

INFORMS

(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Member, 1996-present.

MPS

(Mathematical Programming Society), Member, 1996-present.

                                       

Services

                                                             

Elected treasurer of ROADEF: January, 1998-January, 2000.

Referee for Transportation Science, Operations Research, EJOR, and numerous conference proceedings
 

Research Interests

 

METHODOLOGIES: Nonlinear and bilevel programming, non-convex optimization and variational inequalities, network optimization; also stochastic programming and mixed-integer programming,
 

APPLICATION AREAS: Optimal pricing, revenue management, and congestion pricing of networks:  Transportation (in particular: traffic assignment, traffic network design and revenue management, multi-commodity network flow, rail optimization), Telecommunications and e-commerce (equilibrium problems, pricing and auction techniques), Logistics (hub location)
 

Teaching Experience

Introduction to Operations research: including a complete set of course notes and corrected homework problems (in French),

Graduate courses in Optimization (topics covered include: linear and nonlinear programming, bilevel programming, stochastic programming, variational inequality problems, equilibrium problems, convex analysis), and Optimization for Finance

Undergraduate courses in: Production scheduling and logistics, Stochastic programming, Linear programming, Integer programming, Graph algorithms, Disaggregated transport models

 

Publications
 

A. Special Issues, Popular articles, Book Chapters, Reviews

[4] Guest Editor, Networks and Spatial Economics: Special Issue on Crossovers between Transportation and Telecommunications, to appear January-February, 2003

[3] Pricing Out Demand, in InEdit, Vol. 28, March, 2001. Published by INRIA. Available in print or electronically at http://www.inria.fr/actualites/inedit/index.en.html

[2] Stochastic bilevel programs, in Encyclopedia of Optimization, P. Pardalos and C. Floudas, (eds.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht,2001 .

[1] Review of The traffic assignment problem, models and methods by M. Patriksson, Transportation Science, vol. 30, no. 3 1996, pp.271-272.
 

B. Articles in Refereed Journals


[12] Optimizing Proportionally Fair Prices, submitted.

[11] An Optimal Smart Market Auction for the Pricing of Telecommunications Services, submitted, (with F. Jarray).

[10] On the half plane and cone algorithms for bilevel programming by Clegg and Smith, to appear in Transportation Research-B, 2002, (with G. Cohen and J.-P. Quadrat).

[9] A convergent algorithm for the Multimodal Traffic Equilibrium Problem, under revision for Transportation Science.

[8] Optimal Location of Intermodal Freight Hubs, under revision for Transportation Science, (with I. Racunica).

[7] Stochastic Bilevel Programming in Structural Optimization, Journal of Structural Optimization, vol. 21 (5) 2001, 361-371, 2001, (with S. Christiansen and M. Patriksson).                                                              

[6] Stochastic Mathematical Programs with Equilibrium Constraints, Operations Research Letters, vol. 25, 1999, 159-167 (with M. Patriksson).

[5] Asymmetric Multiclass Traffic Assignment: A coherent formulation, 13th Intntl.Symposium on Transp. and Traffic Theory, Lyon, J.B. Lesort, (ed.), Pergammon, Oxford, G.B., 1996, 237-260 (with Ph. Toint).

[4] The Value of Time of Freight Transport in France: Estimation of Continuously Distributed Values from a Stated Preference Survey, International Journal of Transport Economics, vol. 22, no. 2, 1995, pp. 151-165.

[3] MIRAGE : Un modèle d'affectation de circulation pour le transport routier inter-urbain de marchandises en France, Recherche, Transports, Sécurité, vol. 45, 1995, pp. 29-38.

[2] A Stated Preference Survey for Calculating Values of Time of Road Freight Transport in France, Transportation Research Record, vol. 1477, 1995, pp.1-6.

[1]  La valeur du temps de transport de fret en France: Estimation à partir d'une enquête sur les préférences déclarées, Recherche, Transports, Sécurité, vol. 44, 1994, pp. 23-30.
      

D. Research Reports    

[5] Issues of Uniqueness and Convexity in the Non-additive Bi-criteria Model of Gabriel and Bernstein (with D. Bernstein) (1999).

[4] A Convergent Algorithm for the Multimodal Traffic Equilibrium Problem, INRIA Research Report, RR-4125, (2001). Available at http://www.inria.fr/RRRT/publications-eng.html.

[3] Optimal Location of Intermodal Freight Hubs, INRIA Research Report, RR-4088 (2000). Available at http://www.inria.fr/RRRT/publications-eng.html.

[2] Parallel methods for stochastic programming over networks: a survey, PRISM Report 97/001, (1997). Available at http://www.prism.uvsq.fr.

[1] Solving the asymmetric traffic assignment problem with a non-monotonic cost operator, PRISM Report 96/026, (1996). Available at http://www.prism.uvsq.fr.
 

E. Conference Presentations ([I] Invited, [S] Submitted)


[21][I] Complementarity and variational models for traffic problems, invited seminar at the 3rd International Conference on Complementarity Problems (ICCP 2002) to be held in Cambridge, UK, July 29-31, 2002. 

[20][I] A new global algorithm for bilevel programs on networks, INFORMS Annual Meeting, Miami Beach, November, 2001.

[19][S] A new fair pricing model for telecommunications and the Internet, INFORMS Annual Meeting, Miami Beach, November, 2001.

[18][S] A Convergent algorithm for the (non-monotone) multiclass traffic equilibrium problem, TRISTAN, Azores Islands, Portugal, June, 2001.

[17][S] Concave-cost hub location models for intermodal freight transport, TRISTAN, Azores Islands, Portugal, June, 2001.

[16][S] A model and algorithm for the concave-cost hub location problem, FRANCORO, Quebec, Canada, May, 2001.

[15][S] Optimal pricing of public transport services with non-monotone multiclass traffic equilibrium, Optimization Days, Quebec, Canada, May, 2001.

[14][I] Developments and extensions of proportional fairness pricing of telecommunications and the Internet, Versailles Workshop on Telecommunications Pricing, Universite de Versailles, France, March,2001.

[13][I] Optimal pricing of telecommunications and transportation: From game theory to bilevel optimization, Optimization, Games, and Economic modeling Seminar series of the Univ. of Paris 6, Paris, France, December, 2000.

[12][I] Uniqueness and Convexity in the Non-additive Bi-criteria Traffic Equilibrium Model, 8th Meeting of the EURO Working Group on Transportation, Rome, Italy, September, 2000.

[11][I] Parallel resolution strategies for solving stochastic structural topology optimization problems, PAREO 98, EURO Working Group on Parallel Optimization, Versailles, France, July, 1998.

[10][I] Models, resolution methods, and applications of stochastic bilevel programs, ROADEF 98, Conference of the French national Operations Research Society, Paris, France, January, 1998.

[9][S] Stochastic optimization of truss-based structures, (presented by S. Christiansen), Tri-annual Meeting of Mathematical Programming Society, Lausanne, Switzerland, August, 1997.

[8][I] Stochastic bilevel programs in transportation planning, Tri-annual Meeting of Mathematical Programming Society, Lausanne, Switzerland, August, 1997.

[7][S] The asymmetric multiclass traffic assignment problem: a coherent formulation, 13th International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic Theory, Lyon, France, July, 1996.

[6][I] On solving the asymmetric traffic assignment problem with a nonmonotone operator, Sven Erlander Symposium on Traffic models, Vadstena, Sweden, June, 1996.

[5][S] An algorithm for solving the asymmetric traffic assignment problem with a nonmonotone operator, Stockholm Optimization Days, Stockholm, Sweden, June, 1996.

[4][I] A new, coherent formulation of the asymmetric multiclass traffic assignment problem, (presented by Ph. Toint), Mathematical Programming Society Network Optimization Conference, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA, February, 1996.

[3][S] A new, coherent formulation of the asymmetric multiclass traffic assignment problem, 3rd Meeting of the EURO Working Group on Transportation, Univ. Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, September, 1995.

[2][S] Le problème asymétrique multi-classe du trafic : Une formulation cohérente, FRANCORO (Rencontres Francophones de la Recherche Opérationelle), Mons, Belgium, June, 1995.

[1][S] A Stated Preference Survey for Calculating Values of Time of Road Freight Transport in France, 1995 TRB (Transportation Research Board), Washington D.C., USA, January, 1995.
 

Software Developed

Optimal location of intermodal hubs and freight flows: Sponsored by a European Community project for the DG-VII (Transportation). Prototype software based on a large-scale mixed-integer program for optimally locating intermodal hubs and identifying potential freight flows between the hubs. Applied to the European network within the context of the EEC project IQ(http://www.inrets.fr:80/ur/dest/iq.htm) and to the Trans-Alpine rail network within the project SCENES (http://www.inrets.fr:80/ur/dest/scenes.htm).

Adaptive stochastic quasi-gradient/auxiliary function method for solving stochastic dynamic two-stage linear programs. Nonlinear extension of an algorithm proposed by W. Powell (Princeton University), applied to stochastic, dynamic network optimization.

Robust optimal freight flows in a dynamic space-time network: Prototype software using a path-based decomposition for a multi-commodity flow extended space-time model within a stochastic programming framework. Applied to a portion of the French national railways.

Truss topology optimization: Program for determining the optimal topology of a discretized mechanical structure (truss), based on a stochastic bilevel formulation.

MIRAGE: A fixed-time multi-class traffic assignment software using the price-time algorithm with extended value of time curves. Based on the European road network (approx. 10,000 arcs). Used for projects defined by the French Regional planning Association (DATAR), 1995, and by the French Environmental Agency (ADEME), 1996.

Macintosh Yellow Pages: Developed and commercialized a Hypercard database containing information on Macintosh products and services. First edition, October, 1990. With John C. Wang.
 

Research grants
  ([A] Grant applicant or co-applicant  [P] project participant )

2001-2003

[A] Development of a Traffic Assignment Toolbox in SCILAB. Financed by the DTT, French Transport Ministry. This project supports two post-doctoral researchers.

2001-2003

[P] Study of the optimal location of intermodal container swapping hubs in France. Project to be financed by the French national railways, SNCF.

2000-2002

 [A] Optimal network design and pricing of telecommunications networks. Extension of ``fairness'' strategies for pricing problems. Deterministic and stochastic approaches, including bilevel programming. Financed by France Telecom R&D. This project supports a Ph.D. student.

2000-2002

[P] Strategies for the optimal pricing of telecommunications and Internet networks. Development of auction strategies ("smart markets'') for Internet pricing. Financed by the CNRS. This project supports a master's student.

1999-2002

 [A] Bilevel optimization for public transit: identifying the optimal level of service and tariff structure for a bus operator based on an equilibrium description of the travelers. Project financed by the PREDIT (association of several French ministries) and CGEA, a regional public transport operator. This project supports one post-doctoral researcher.

1998-1999

[A] Capacity modeling and robust operational optimization for train flows on the French network, using combined high quality local and noisy global data. Financed by the Réseau Ferré de France (French rail infrastructure operator). This project supported a PhD student.

1996-1998

[A] Robust operational optimization of rail freight flows on the French network. Project financed by the SNCF and INRETS. This project supported three master's students.

1996-1999

[P] Intermodal Quality (IQ): Task 4 (Optimal design of a hub-and-spoke based network for intermodal freight transport in Europe), project financed by the DG VII of the European Union, directed by Christian Reynaud, INRETS. This project supported one master's student.

1996-1999

[P] Identification and evaluation of strategies for improving the market for rail freight services in Europe. (EUFRANET) Includes modeling and network design for a freight-only subnetwork. Project financed by the DG VII of the European Union, directed by the SNCF.

1993-1995

[A] French national value of time survey for road freight transport, financed by the French Environmental Agency (ADEME).

1992-1995

[P] Development of a dynamic multimodal traffic assignment program for the French network including both passenger and freight transport, financed by the French Regional planning Association (DATAR), directed by F. Papon.

1992-1993

[P] Creation of Integrated Transport Information Centers (ITIC) in Central and Eastern Europe, project financed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), directed by Ph. Cabanius.

1989-1990

[P] Research into the use of neural networks for the inverse scattering problem, financed by MIT and Draper Laboratories.

1989

[P] Simulation of a specialized neural network processing microchip, financed by Toshiba, Kawasaki, Japan.

1987-1988

[P] Modeling the flow of perchloroethylene (chemical used in dry cleaning) through the human organs with the STELLA software, for use in cancer evaluation, financed by the Environmental Protection Agency and MIT

Current Research Activities

 

General Information