Optimal Control of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Dr. Karen A. Ames Lecture Series on Applied Mathematics

Dr. Suzanne Lenhart

University of Tennessee and Oakridge National Laboratories

April 6, 2007
202 Madison Hall
3:00 PM (Refreshments at 2:30 in 201 Madison Hall)

Abstract

This talk will present an introduction to optimal control of models which are discrete in time. After a simple example, the main example involves difference equations that models a circulatory system and the effect of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The goal is to design an external chest pressure pattern to improve the blood flow in the heart in standard CPR procedure.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Suzanne Lenhart is a full professor in the Mathematics Department at the University of Tennessee and a part-time research staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She received her PhD at the University of Kentucky in partial differential equations. Her research involves partial differential equations, ordinary differential equations and optimal control. She works on a variety of applications, including population models, disease models, and resource management.

She was the President of the Association for Women in Mathematics in 2001-2002. She was an elected member of the Board of the Society for Mathematical Biology in 2001-2004. Dr. Lenhart was the director of the Research Experiences for the undergraduates summer program at UT from 1990-2005. She was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 2004.