Peter Bosman

Research

Prof.dr. Peter A.N. Bosman is the group leader of the Evolutionary Intelligence research group at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) (Center for Mathematics and Computer Science) located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He further has a part-time professor (in Dutch: deeltijdhoogleraar) position at Delft University of Technology in the Algorithmics group of the Department of Software Technology in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science. Prof.dr. Bosman was formerly affiliated with Utrecht University, where he also obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science.

Prof.dr. Bosman’s fundamental research focus is on the design and application of Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) for single- and multi-objective optimization, and Machine Learning (ML). The optimization problems considered are typically complex to an extent where a black-box optimization (BBO), or at least a grey-box optimization (GBO), perspective is required, i.e., virtually no information (BBO) or limited information (GBO) is available (or properly understood) about the problem at hand. The designed EAs are moreover mostly model-based, meaning that a model is used to capture and exploit problem-specific features to guide the search for high-quality solutions more effectively and efficiently. Such models may be derived by hand or, if this is not possible (as in e.g., the BBO case), be learned online, i.e., during optimization, using techniques from fields such as ML. For problems where efficient (problem-specific) heuristics (i.e., local search (LS) techniques) are available, model-based EAs are furthermore a very solid basis for hybridization to obtain the best of both worlds in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, resulting in state-of-the-art optimization algorithms for specific problems.

Prof.dr. Bosman’s applied research focus is on the use of (model-based) EAs to solve real-world problems that require optimization and/or machine learning, which are often multi-objective in nature, together with industry- and societal partners. A key application area is the medical domain, where research outcomes have successfully been translated into clinical practice (in particular the automated optimization of brachytherapy treatment plans for prostate cancer, at Amsterdam UMC). Additional application areas include (smart) energy systems, revenue management, and logistics.

Prof.dr. Bosman has (co-)authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, out of which 9 received best paper awards and 10 more were nominated for a best paper award. Various other awards include 2 silver Humies awards (in 2021 and in 2019) for obtaining real-world human-competitive awards with EAs (in the medical domain). He is currently chair of SIGEVO, the ACM special interest group on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation and was formerly an officer, executive board, and business committee member of SIGEVO. He is furthermore program committee member of all major conferences and various journals in the EA field and related fields. Prof.dr. Bosman has been general chair, track chair, and local chair as well as organizer of various workshops and tutorials at the main conference in the field of EAs - the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO). According to Google Scholar, his h-index is 41 with over 5800 citations to his works.

Finally, the (co-)acquired research grant funding by Prof.dr. Bosman totals over €10M, which includes funding from the Dutch research council, the Dutch cancer society, the Dutch children cancer-free foundation, and the European Innovation Council. Together, these grants support(ed) various scientific research positions (including 28 Ph.D. student positions as well as various postdoc, radiation therapy technologist, and scientific programmer positions), and various high-performance computing hardware.