Simcha van Helvoort
PhD researcher · Fontys & TU/e
Optimization for electric freight and the energy systems behind it.
Main work is on scheduling electric truck fleets together with the design of the photovoltaic and battery infrastructure that charges them. Furthermore, I teach mathematics and data science.
Research
PhD research
Fleet operators and site owners usually solve two problems separately: when trucks charge, and how much solar and battery capacity to install. Treating them as one problem changes both answers. My work builds optimization models that size PV and storage while respecting real routing and depot constraints.
Distributionally robust optimization under heavy tails
A comparison of KL-divergence, Wasserstein-1, and Holistic Robust ambiguity sets across robust mean estimation, wind electricity nomination, and portfolio selection.
Publications & output
- Applications of Distributionally Robust Optimization in Heavy-Tailed Environments - MSc thesis, Eindhoven University of Technology, 2026. (PDF)
Teaching
Lecturer in applied mathematics and data science at Fontys Hogeschool. Qualified with the Dutch BKO teaching certificate. I supervise student projects on optimization, machine learning, and applied statistics.
Interested in a graduation project on energy systems or optimization? Get in touch.