DM: UCLA short course on "Genetic Algorithms Workshop"

[Goodin, Bill]

On January 4-8, 1999, UCLA Extension will present the short course,
"Genetic Algorithms Workshop", on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles.

The instructors are Mark J. Jakiela, PhD, Washington University, St. 
Louis; and Matthew B. Wall, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, Cambridge.

The robustness and versatility of Genetic Algorithms (GAs) have 
spurred 
their application to a diverse range of problems, such as scheduling, 
structural optimization, computer animation, and software generation. 
As computation becomes increasingly powerful and inexpensive, more 
applications should follow. This course is aimed at the practitioner 
who

intends to create these new applications. Genetic algorithms are 
inherently simple in concept and application, such that the course 
takes participants quickly to the actual use of GAs on real problems. 
Current theory is presented as needed to understand the operation 
and performance of GAs and to describe their historical context. 

Participants are encouraged to bring a real problem that they wish to 
solve, so that their working software prototype can be developed in a 
supervised laboratory environment. The course is conducted in a 
lecture and workshop format, where mornings are devoted to lectures 
and afternoons to related laboratory exercises. Dedicated computer 
teaching classrooms are utilized for the lab sessions. The course 
uses 
the genetic algorithms library GALib developed at the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology CADLAB, an object-oriented library written in 
C++ that runs on MacOS, Windows, and UNIX. The course fee 
includes a single-user, for-profit license for GALib. (If 
participants 
would like to integrate GALib with existing software during the 
course, 
they should contact the course instructors as soon as possible to 
make arrangements.)

The course is intended for anyone who is interested in any type of 
optimization, including engineers, managers, computer scientists, as 
well as those interested in planning, operations, and operations 
research. The course should also benefit anyone oriented toward basic 
sciences, such as biology and sociology, where evolutionary models 
may be useful. There are no limitations with regard to particular 
technical disciplines or industries.

Prerequisite
Participants should be reasonably proficient in C or C++ and be 
comfortable with the write-compile-debug process of software 
development. The course workshops use Microsoft Visual C++ as the 
development environment. 

The course fee is $1595, which includes extensive course materials.
These materials are for participants only, and are not for sale.

For a more information and a complete course description, please
contact Marcus Hennessy at:

(310) 825-1047
(310) 206-2815  fax
mhenness@unex.ucla.edu
http://www.unex.ucla.edu/shortcourses

This course may also be presented on-site at company locations.