Thanks. I don't have much knowledge on the field; I was wondering what important problems involve large linear systems and/or convex optimization. Here's an expert from the wiki if anyone's interested:

"Convex minimization has applications in a wide range of disciplines, such as automatic control systems, estimation and signal processing, communications and networks, electronic circuit design, data analysis and modeling, statistics (optimal design), and finance."

I wonder if we could use convex optimization techniques to solve non convex problems (and occasionally jump out of local minima traps?)