Marek Makowski profile picture

Marek Makowski

Guest Research Scholar

Sustainable Service Systems Research Group

Energy, Climate, and Environment

Guest Research Scholar

Integrated Assessment and Climate Change Research Group

Energy, Climate, and Environment

Biography

Marek Makowski, from the Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (SRI), joined IIASA in August 1987 to work on the development and application of mathematical programming software. He is currently a guest research scholar with the Energy, Climate, and Environment Program, and continues to be a research scholar of the SRI.

Makowski graduated in 1970 with an Engineering and a Master of Science degree in the field of automatic control and computer sciences received from the Faculty of Electronics of the Warsaw University of Technology in Poland; he also studied mathematics at the Warsaw University. He received his PhD in 1976, from the Polish Academy of Sciences for his thesis on the optimization of environmental models. He was leader of the project on the development of decision support systems for various applications in Poland, and since 1976, he has been actively participating in joint projects with IIASA.

He joined the IIASA Computer Services Department in 1987 to provide support on mathematical programming. From September 1989 to August 1991, he was Acting Project Leader of the Methodology of Decision Analysis (MDA) Project, then Senior Research Scholar with MDA, and from 1996, worked with the Risk, Modeling, and Society Project. From 2006 to 2011 he was the leader of the Integrated Modeling Environment (IME) Project, and from 2012 to 2014 he was a senior research scholar with the former Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program. From 2014, he was a guest research scholar with the former Energy Program, moving over to the new Energy, Climate, and Environment Program in 2021. He also led many long-term IIASA collaborative projects with Japan and Poland, as well as diverse work-packages in several EU-founded projects.

Makowski's research interests focus on model-based support for solving complex problems, which incorporates three interlinked areas. First, integration of interdisciplinary knowledge and its representation by mathematical models. Second, the creation of knowledge by comprehensive model analysis, including multiple-criteria methods. Third, tailoring the modeling process to meet the needs of decision-making processes.

Thus the research interests cover a cluster of areas relevant to the adaptation (whenever possible) or development (when needed) of methodology, algorithms, and software for model-based decision-making support. This includes more specific topics in Operations Research (OR) such as: multiple-criteria problem analysis, large scale optimization, optimization of badly conditioned problems, the use of database management systems for complex models, decision analysis and support, user interfaces in decision support systems, and the effective treatment of uncertainty and risk. Specific activities focused on Structured Modeling Technology (SMT) developed to meet the institute's needs for tailored modeling support for problems characterized by complex relations, huge amounts of data, and the demand for integrated model analysis. SMT supports interdisciplinary teams working at dispersed locations on model specification, collection and verification of data, definition of various model instances, and applying diversified methods of model analysis. Therefore, the SMT methodology provides a consistent framework for the whole modeling process.

His current focus is on the further development and application of modular tools for Multiple-Criteria Analysis (MCA) and their applications to diverse energy models. Two types of MCA methods and tools are being developed. First, MCAA for MCA of discrete alternatives. Second, MCMA for MCA of models, especially for large models. Both MCA developed over decades and applied to diverse problems are now extended to effectively support analysis of large models that require substantial computational time. The recent applications focus on integrated analysis of energy policies, in particular the energy technology pathways.




Last update: 04 APR 2023