David W. Coit, faculty member in Rutgers University’s Department of Industrial Engineering will present “Multiple Objective Stochastic Models for Electricity Generation Expansion Planning Considering Environmental Impacts” on Wednesday, March 2, at 3 p.m. in 1103 Shelby Center. His lecture is hosted by Auburn University’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Cooper Industries Seminar Series. 

Coit will discuss a new approach to the electricity generation expansion challenge, simultaneously minimizing multiple objectives, such as cost and air emissions, including carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, over a long-term planning horizon. He will also talk on how power-grid system expansion decisions select the type of power generation, such as coal, nuclear and wind, where the new generation asset should be located, and at which time period expansion should take place. Coit will demonstrate the mathematical model to show how expansion decisions vary depending on whether minimizing cost or minimizing greenhouse gas emissions or pollutants is given higher priority. 

Coit conducts research involving system reliability modeling and optimization, risk analysis and multi-criteria optimization considering uncertainty. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University, Master of Business Administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master’s degree and doctorate in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He previously worked for IIT Research Institute in Rome, N.Y., where he was a reliability analyst, project manager and engineering group manager. In 1999, he was awarded a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to develop new reliability optimization algorithms. He was also awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation in 2010 to study the integration of quality and reliability models for evolving technologies. Coit is a member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and INFORMS.