Balija Santoshkumar

I design and develop large-scale optimization algorithms for power generation and renewable integration within AspenTech's Generation Management System (GMS) platform. My work bridges optimization, operations research, software engineering, and energy systems, with a focus on delivering efficient, production-ready optimization solutions.

• Build and refine Mixed-Integer and Linear Programming (MIP/LP) models for Unit Commitment, Economic Dispatch, and Energy Accounting.
• Leverage Gurobi for high-performance optimization and scheduling in real-world grid operations, with COIN-OR CBC serving as a fallback solver.
• Write and maintain robust C and Python codebases, emphasizing scalability, performance, and solver interoperability.
• Model and simulate steady-state and dynamic behaviors of conventional and renewable generation assets.
• Contribute to DevOps workflows, Git-based version control, and CI/CD pipelines to streamline code integration and deployment.
• Lead and participate in technical code reviews, ensuring quality, maintainability, and numerical accuracy across modules.
• Collaborate on architecture design discussions, new feature planning, and documentation for optimization modules.

• Designed HET-NSGA-III and MFE-NSGA-III: surrogate-assisted evolutionary optimization frameworks for multi-objective problems with heterogeneous evaluation times; published in IEEE TEVC (IF 14.3) and SWEVO (IF 8.2).
• Built production-quality Python (OOP, unit-tested, documented) implementations using NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, Matplotlib; open-sourced on GitHub.
• Conducted large-scale batch simulation experiments on MSU HPCC (SLURM) to tune algorithm parameters and benchmark against state-of-the-art methods across hundreds of test problems.
• Applied optimization frameworks to electric machine rotor topology design (Ford–MSU Alliance), coupling FEA simulators with evolutionary search.
• Collaborated with Prof. Kalyanmoy Deb on 6 peer-reviewed publications (GECCO, CEC, EMO, IEEE TEVC, SWEVO); invited reviewer for IEEE TEVC, IEEE WCCI/CEC, Memetic Computing.

Built high-fidelity multi-physics models supporting commercial vehicle development for GM, Ford, Isuzu, DAF, and FCA. Work spanned variable valve actuation strategies (CDA, engine braking, LIVC, EEVO), vehicle transmission sump temperature analysis including electric vehicles, engine simulations, electrical circuit breaker mechanics, and transmission/clutch vibration diagnosis. Resolved torsional vibrations in Eaton Endurant transmissions, preventing fault code generation and warranty claims.

Developed MagneX Gen2 power distribution hardware designs using DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) methodology. Designed core for cold shrink high-voltage cable accessory joining technology and investigated material formulations for electrical and mechanical properties.