Dear Colleague,

We would like to invite you to submit an abstract to the Mini-Symposia  CST2012-S16  on de topic  “Derivative-Free Methods For Engineering Optimization”(   http://www.civil-comp.com/conf/cst2012-s16.htm) as part of  the Eleventh Conference in the Computational Structures Technology (CST2012), Dubrovnik, Croatia, 4-7 September 2012.

Notice that the Final Call for Papers closes on 5 March 2012. We kindly ask you to submit your abstract via the conference website.

In the Submission Process do not forget to indicate that the paper is for the session: CST2012-S16 on de topic  “Derivative-Free Methods For Engineering Optimization”.

The purpose of this Mini-Symposia is to bring together researchers who successfully develop techniques for solving optimization problems (single and multi-objective) using derivative-free methods such as:  Evolutionary Algorithms (Genetic Algorithms, Evolutionary Programming, Evolution Strategies, Ant Colony Optimization, Particle Swarm Optimization,  ....), Direct Search Methods (Pattern Search, Direct MultiSearch, Mesh Adaptive Direct Search, ...), etc.

We encourage new theoretical developments in Derivative-Free Optimization algorithms for single or multi-objective optimization as well as their application for solving real engineering problems. Submissions presenting novel developments or critical reviews are welcome.

Young Researcher Best Paper Competition: To encourage young researchers to attend these conferences a 1000 Euro Young (35 years or younger) Researcher Best Paper Prize will be awarded to the best paper presented at each of the conferences (further details on the website).

Please email this call to anyone you think may be interested.

Best regards,

The session organizers

J.F. Aguilar Madeira, IDMEC/IST, Portugal  

H. Pina, IDMEC/IST, Portugal  

Please see the conference website for details: http://www.civil-comp.com/conf/cst2012.htm.