TWCCC Spring 2026 Meeting - In Person

University of Texas at Austin

Travel Information [link]

Detailed Program (All Times Central)

Monday February 23rd, 2026

9:00 - 9:05   Welcome Remarks

9:05 - 9:50 - Jim Rawlings - Robust minmax control: What a long, strange trip it's been

9:50 - 10:35 - Styliana Avraamidou - Power grid-informed experiments for battery systems: Integrating electricity markets, scheduling models, and degradation data

10:35 - 10:55  Coffee Break

10:55 - 11:40 - Victor Zavala - New perspectives on real-time process monitoring

11:40 - 12:40  Lunch Break

12:40 - 1:25 - Ilias Mitrai - Discovering interpretable piecewise nonlinear model predictive control laws via symbolic decision trees

1:25 - 2:10 - Joel Paulson - SyMANTIC for fast, data-driven discovery of equations you can use, understand, and trust

2:10 - 2:30  Coffee Break

2:30 - 2:50 - Meng-Lin Tsai (Avraamidou group) - Exploiting parametric structure in mixed-integer bilevel optimization

2:50 - 3:10 - Angan Mukherjee (Zavala group) - Uncertainty quantification in physics-constrained machine learning

3:10 - 3:30 - Madhav Muthyala (Paulson group) - Physics-enhanced neural ordinary differential equations: A hybrid framework for chemical reaction systems

3:30 - 3:50 - Titus Quah (Rawlings group) - Gray-box modeling of 2D active rods

3:50 - 5:20  Poster Session

Meng-Lin Tsai (Avraamidou Group): Exploiting parametric structure in mixed-integer bilevel optimization

Angan Mukherjee (Zavala group): Data-driven dynamic modeling and uncertainty quantification using variational inference

Madhav Muthyala (Paulson group): Physics-enhanced neural ordinary differential equations: A hybrid framework for chemical reaction systems

Titus Quah (Rawlings group): Gray-box modeling of 2D active rods

Jiyong Lee (Mitrai group): Understanding the solution of optimization problems via explainable artificial intelligence

Joshua Hammond (Baldea group): Transfer learning via the subset Kalman filter

Jorge Martorell (Baldea group): A foundational model for amine-based carbon capture processes

Adhika Retnanto (Baldea group): Process modeling for the hydrogenation of CO2 through integrated carbon capture and conversion (ICCC) with ionic liquids

Jihun Jeong (Baldea group): Operation-oriented modeling of industrial steam methane reformers for direct reduced iron production

Natalia Cislo (Baldea group): Electrification and dynamic operation of a dividing-wall distillation column

Sam Mercer (Baldea group): Interruptible process operations: Electrification enables start-stop operating strategies

Adi Sankaran (Baldea group): Multi-scale optimization for critical material separation processes

Shasank Govindarajan (Baldea group): Autonomous process operations

Sophia Shi (Baldea group): Optimization of hydrogen pipeline systems

Ethan Rho (Baldea group): A unified view of energy storage for thermal process electrification

Eivarth Caballero (Baldea group): Energy efficient redesign for crude distillation in refinery operations

Shashank Venkatesan (Baldea group): Distributed optimization of supply chains of perishable products

6:00  Dinner at County Line on the Lake

Tuesday February 24th, 2026

8:00 - 8:45  PI Meeting/Breakfast

8:45 - 9:30 - Jay Lee - Multi-stage stochastic decisions for energy transition planning and policies 

9:30 - 10:15 - Michael Baldea - Autonomy in process operations: Why, where, how, when?

10:15 - 10:35  Coffee Break

10:35 - 10:55 - Jiyong Lee (Mitrai group) - Understanding the solution of optimization problems via explainable artificial intelligence

10:55 - 11:15 - Joshua Hammond (Baldea group) - Transfer learning via the subset Kalman filter

11:15 - 11:35 - Jorge Martorell (Baldea group) - A foundational model for amine-based carbon capture processes

11:35 - 11:55 - Adhika Retnanto (Baldea group) - Multi-scale Bayesian optimization of processes and enabling materials

11:55 - 12:15 - Jihun Jeong (Baldea group) - Modeling hydrogen furnaces for direct reduced iron production

12:15 - 12:20  Conclusions and Adjourn