Introduction to Optimization: Practical Strategies for Solving Industry Use Cases

Most optimization problems in industry don't show up looking like a textbook exercise. They show up as a logistics puzzle, a sensor reading that doesn't add up, or a routing problem that's too slow to solve in real time. In this Expert Spotlight Series session, ThinkOnward Community Member, Dr. Tien Dung Le, a 15-plus-year data scientist and Kaggle Grandmaster, walks through two representative case studies developed within the ThinkOnward community: building an algorithm to route workers across a map for maximum reward under time and budget constraints, and locating hidden heat sources from noisy sensor data using nonlinear optimization. Rather than just presenting the final answer, Tien Dung shows the actual process: how to analyze a problem, build a baseline, visualize what's going wrong, and iterate toward a faster, better solution when the first approach hits a wall. A grounded, practical look at how optimization gets solved in the real world approaches are developed in practical settings, not just in theory. The Expert Spotlight Series is ThinkOnward's recurring webinar program built around the expertise inside our community. Each session features a ThinkOnward Community Member presenting original work and hard-won knowledge across subsurface science, engineering, and AI. July 8, 2026 | 11:00 AM CT | 16:00 UTC

Wednesday, July 8 at 11:00 AM CDT