Title: AN EFFICIENT METHOD FOR THE SHORTEST PATH PROBLEM BASED ON INITAL VALUE ODES AND INTERMITTENT DIFFUSION Abstract: We propose a fast algorithm for finding the shortest path connecting two points while avoiding obstacles in a region by solving an initial value ODE problem. The idea is the shortest path enjoys a simple structure, which enables us to reduce the set of feasible paths dramatically to a finite dimensional set. Then a gradient descent leads us to local minimal paths. A stochastic based method Intermittent Diffusion is then used to find the global minimal path. We incorporate level set method to handle any shape of obstacles. Also the method is dimension independent, which enables us to extend the method to 3D without difficulty. This is a joint work with Shui-Nee Chow and Jun Lu (GATECH).