Optimization principles can be applied to several problems and areas. In fact, optimization is used every day — from TV shows that target advertisements to specific population segments to a radiologist that uses selective beam radiation that targets cancer cells in a lung cancer patient.
Many of these problems can be formulated as one of the standard paradigms in optimization, including linear programming, network optimization, nonlinear programming, stochastic optimization, or complementarity or variational inequality. In their research, optimization specialists develop algorithms for these and other types of optimization problems, study their mathematical properties and practical performance to implement them in high-quality software and apply them to practical problems.
