Frank E. Curtis, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at Lehigh University, has been awarded two federal research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). These awards, totaling more than $675,000, will further support his pioneering work in mathematical optimization, algorithm design, and their applications to pressing challenges in science and engineering.
The NSF grant ($220K), funded through the Division of Mathematical Sciences, will advance computational mathematics by developing new gradient-sampling-based algorithms for solving large-scale, non-smooth, and nonconvex optimization problems. A central goal is to create methods that can handle noisy or stochastic information effectively—conditions often encountered in image processing, statistical learning, and robust control—while maintaining rigorous convergence guarantees. Complementing this work, the AFOSR grant ($455K) through its Mathematical Optimization Program will focus on optimization under uncertainty and informed machine learning. This project will design algorithms with strong theoretical guarantees, particularly emphasizing Lagrange multiplier estimation techniques when solving constrained optimization problems. Together, these projects aim to push the boundaries of optimization theory while producing practical tools with wide reaching impact.
Dr. Curtis joined Lehigh in 2009 after completing his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences at Northwestern University and a postdoctoral appointment at NYU’s Courant Institute. His research centers on the design, analysis, and implementation of numerical methods for solving large-scale nonlinear optimization problems. He has received significant recognition for his contributions, including a DOE Early Career Award, the 2021 SIAM/MOS Lagrange Prize in Continuous Optimization, and the 2018 INFORMS Computing Society Prize. His work has been funded by NSF, DOE, ONR, and ARPA-E, and he has led teams recognized in competitions such as the ARPA-E Grid Optimization Challenge. He is also deeply engaged in the professional community, serving as Area Editor for Mathematics of Operations Research and Mathematical Programming Computation and as an Associate Editor for leading journals including Mathematical Programming, Operations Research, and SIAM Journal on Optimization.
These new grants will allow Frank, his graduate students, and his collaborators to expand the scope of optimization research at Lehigh, producing new algorithms that are not only mathematically rigorous but also tailored for modern applications in data science, energy systems, and machine learning. By combining theoretical breakthroughs with practical software implementations, the projects will strengthen Lehigh ISE’s leadership in optimization and support Curtis’s broader mission of advancing computational tools that can shape technology, industry, and society.
Frank says “I’m extremely grateful to the National Science Foundation and Air Force Office of Scientific Research for supporting these projects. Beyond the scientific contributions that they will enable, what is most meaningful to me is that these projects will support incredibly talented doctoral students who inspire me every day.”
