IlliGAL Blogging

IlliGAL Blogging's Paul Winward posted about Optimatics, an Australian firm that uses GAs to optimize water distribution networks. Old time IlliGALers will recall that one of Optimatics principals, Dr. Angus Simpson, was an IlliGAL visitor back in 1993. At the time, Angus studied the use of advanced GAs in water distribution system design, and Optimatics was started shortly after Simpson returned to Adelaide following his Urbana adventure. Angus and I were students together at the University of Michigan, and Ben Wylie advised both of our theses. My own work in water distribution network analysis and design goes back to my four-year stint at Stoner Associates in Carlise, Pennsylvania. At the time Mike Stoner was a lone entrepreneur with a suite of four analysis codes in a new building in the middle of a corn field. Today, Stoner is called Advantica, and the company serves gas and water clients around the globe.