About MOCA

The Center for Modeling, Optimization and Computational Analysis (MOCA) is a School of Science research center formed in 2018.  The MOCA Center involves faculty and students from many departments at Rensselaer, with the Department of Mathematical Sciences serving as the home department.

Mission

The mission of the MOCA Center is to promote and facilitate collaborative research involving the integration of modeling, optimization and computation to solve complex problems emerging in science and engineering.  The rationale for creating the Center is that the problems arising in Rensselaer’s signature research thrusts, including Biotechnology and the Life Sciences; Computational Science and Engineering; Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems; and Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials involve multiple scientific disciplines, complex data sets, and pervasive uncertainties.  The key to understanding the multifaceted and multidisciplinary aspects of these problems, and to create new solution strategies, is the development, analysis, and simulation of mathematical models.  The MOCA Center is designed to establish new modes of operation for applied mathematicians, scientists and engineers by cutting across the boundaries of traditional approaches and thus establishing new avenues of research and collaboration.

Leadership

Center Director:
Mark Holmes, Professor of Mathematical Sciences

Executive Committee:
William Henshaw, Professor of Mathematical Sciences 
Gregor Kovačič, Professor of Mathematical Sciences
John Mitchell, Professor of Mathematical Sciences 
Donald Schwendeman, Professor and Head of Mathematical Sciences

Advisory Committee:
Sibel Adali, Associate Dean and Professor of Computer Science
Vincent Meunier, Professor and Head of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy
Rick Relyea, Professor of Biological Sciences
Mark Shephard, Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering