CORS, which has been in existence since 1958, is a scientific and professional society that takes a leadership role in the advancement of both the theory and the practice of Operational Research (OR) in Canada and safeguards the existence of a vital Canadian OR community by promoting contact between people interested in the subject.

Pascal’s talk was titled, “Optimization of Energy Systems.” The design, control, and operation of energy systems typically require the solving of optimization problems over physical laws. The resulting optimization programs are often computationally challenging and increasingly so with the integration of renewable energy, the need for more resilience, and network integration.

Pascal’s talk reviewed recent progress in this area, including some surprising complexity results and a number of theoretical and computational advances that have radically changed the field in the last 5 years. The talk also presented some novel results in the design and control gas networks, which have become increasingly important in the energy mix. He concluded with a review of some fundamental challenges in the field, including the integration of electricity and gas networks.