Dr. Sergiy Butenko, assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded a grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Butenko, who is also a researcher in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Division of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), received this grant for the winning research proposal he submitted as part of the Air Force’s Young Investigator Research Program. His proposal focuses on the concept of a cohesive subgroup that was first introduced in social network analysis. It can also used in several other important application areas including wireless networks, telecommunications and graph-based data mining. One of the earliest models for the study of cohesive subgroups was the clique model. Butenko proposes new, more practical, models that relax various aspects of the ideal definition of a cohesive subgroup. He will design algorithms for solving the resulting optimization problems and will use the developed techniques to analyze the structure of biological and social networks. Butenko came to Texas A&M in 2003. He received his master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He is a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He is a member of the editorial board of four publications. He has authored numerous publications and has contributed chapters to several books. Butenko’s grant will be administered by TEES, the engineering research agency of the State of Texas and a member of The Texas A&M University System.
