Tan Hoang Cao

Office: Room B524, Academic Building

119 Songdo Moonhwa-Ro

Yeonsu-Gu, Incheon, Korea 21985

☎ +82-32-626-1912

✉ tan.cao [at] stonybrook.edu

I am an Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at SUNY Korea, affiliated with Stony Brook University.

Research Interests

My research lies at the intersection of applied analysis, optimization, and control theory, with particular focus on:

Optimal control of nonsmooth dynamical systems
Variational analysis and generalized differentiation
Sweeping processes (Moreau’s sweeping process and variants)
Differential inclusions and nonsmooth optimization
Reinforcement learning in nonsmooth dynamical systems

Education

I received my Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Wayne State University (Detroit, MI, USA), where I worked under the supervision of Prof. Boris Mordukhovich. Prior to that, I completed my M.S. in Mathematics at the University of Orléans (France) and my B.S. in Mathematics at HCMC University of Pedagogy (Vietnam).

Research Grants

NRF 기본연구 (2020–2023) — Principal Investigator, National Research Foundation of Korea. Project: Optimal Control of the Sweeping Process and Its Applications. Total budget: 165,000,000 KRW.
NRF 기본연구B (2026–2030) — Applied; under review, National Research Foundation of Korea.

Service

I serve as a reviewer for several international journals in optimization, control, and applied mathematics, including Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Applied Mathematics & Optimization, Set-Valued Analysis, Journal of Global Optimization, Optimization Letters, Applied Mathematical Modelling, Evolution Equations and Control Theory, Nonlinear Differential Equations and Applications, Numerical Algorithms, and Acta Mathematica Scientia.

📄 Download my Curriculum Vitae

news

May 21, 2026	🎉 Paper accepted in Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems — Optimal Control of Nonconvex Sweeping Processes with Variable Time via Finite-Difference Approximations (with B.S. Mordukhovich, D. Nguyen, T. Nguyen, N.N. Thieu).
May 01, 2026	📋 Submitted application for the NRF 2026 기본연구B grant (2026–2030) on research in sweeping processes and applications; currently under review.
Apr 20, 2026	🌐 Launched new personal website at tancao.org — migrated from Google Sites.

selected publications

JOTA

Optimal Control of Several Motion Models

Tan H. Cao, Nilson Chapagain, Kangmin Cho, and 3 more authors

Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, 2025

Bib HTML

@article{cao2025several,
  title = {Optimal Control of Several Motion Models},
  author = {Cao, Tan H. and Chapagain, Nilson and Cho, Kangmin and Lee, Haejoon and Phung, Thi Ngoc and Thieu, Nguyen Nang},
  journal = {Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications},
  volume = {205},
  number = {3},
  year = {2025},
}

JDE

Optimization of Fully Controlled Sweeping Processes

Tan H. Cao, Giovanni Colombo, Boris S. Mordukhovich, and 1 more author

Journal of Differential Equations, 2021

Bib

@article{cao2021fully,
  title = {Optimization of Fully Controlled Sweeping Processes},
  author = {Cao, Tan H. and Colombo, Giovanni and Mordukhovich, Boris S. and Nguyen, Dao},
  journal = {Journal of Differential Equations},
  volume = {295},
  pages = {138--186},
  year = {2021},
}

JDE

Optimization and Discrete Approximation of Sweeping Processes with Controlled Moving Sets and Perturbations

Tan H. Cao, Giovanni Colombo, Boris S. Mordukhovich, and 1 more author

Journal of Differential Equations, 2021

Bib

@article{cao2021discrete,
  title = {Optimization and Discrete Approximation of Sweeping Processes with Controlled Moving Sets and Perturbations},
  author = {Cao, Tan H. and Colombo, Giovanni and Mordukhovich, Boris S. and Nguyen, Dao},
  journal = {Journal of Differential Equations},
  volume = {274},
  pages = {461--509},
  year = {2021},
}

JDE

Optimal Control of a Nonconvex Perturbed Sweeping Process

Tan H. Cao and Boris S. Mordukhovich

Journal of Differential Equations, 2019

Bib

@article{cao2019nonconvex,
  title = {Optimal Control of a Nonconvex Perturbed Sweeping Process},
  author = {Cao, Tan H. and Mordukhovich, Boris S.},
  journal = {Journal of Differential Equations},
  volume = {266},
  pages = {1003--1050},
  year = {2019},
}

NAHS

Optimal Control of Nonconvex Sweeping Processes with Variable Time via Finite-Difference Approximations

Tan H. Cao, Boris S. Mordukhovich, Dao Nguyen, and 2 more authors

Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems, 2026

Accepted

Bib

@article{cao2026variable,
  title = {Optimal Control of Nonconvex Sweeping Processes with Variable Time via Finite-Difference Approximations},
  author = {Cao, Tan H. and Mordukhovich, Boris S. and Nguyen, Dao and Nguyen, Trang and Thieu, Nguyen Nang},
  journal = {Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Accepted},
}