Marcus Brazil

Marcus Brazil is an Associate Professor and Reader in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne, where he also serves as Capstone Project Coordinator. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Melbourne and a PhD in Mathematics from La Trobe University, awarded in 1995 for work in Computational and Geometric Group Theory. His academic career has been based at the University of Melbourne, progressing from lecturer to his current senior position within the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology. Brazil's contributions extend to industry through his role as founder and director of MineOptima, a company specializing in strategic design software for underground mining optimization.

Brazil's research focuses on optimal network design, with applications in telecommunications, wireless sensor networks, VLSI physical design, underground mining, and electric vehicle infrastructure. He integrates this with theoretical investigations into Steiner trees, minimal-length interconnecting networks for point sets. He has published over 130 papers in leading optimization journals and conferences. Key works include the co-authored book Optimal Interconnection Trees in the Plane (2015), as well as recent papers such as 'Structural Properties of Minimum Multi-source Multi-Sink Steiner Networks in the Euclidean Plane' (2023), 'An exact algorithm for the Euclidean k-Steiner tree problem' (2024), 'Network augmentation for disaster-resilience against geographically correlated failure' (2022), 'A model for open-pit pushback design with operational constraints' (2021), and 'Simplifying obstacles for Steiner network problems in the plane' (2021). His optimization research for underground mining has received substantial support from industry leaders including BHP Billiton and Newmont Australia Ltd, demonstrating significant practical impact in the field.

Professional Email: brazil@unimelb.edu.au