Abstract
Genetic algorithms (GAs) have been extensively used as a means for performing global optimization in a simple yet reliable manner. However, in some realistic engineering design optimization domains a general purpose GA is often inecient and unable to reach the global optimum. In this thesis we describe a GA for continuous designspace optimization that uses new GA operators and strategies tailored to the structure and properties of engineering design domains. Empirical results in several realistic engineering design domains as well as benchmark design domains demonstrate that using our system can greatly decrease the cost of design space search, and can also improve the quality of the resulting designs.