INFORMS Open Forum

  • 1.  MOPTA 2020 Conference

    Posted 01-08-2020 13:41
    Edited by Albert Berahas 01-10-2020 15:01

    MOPTA 2020. Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. August 12-14, 2020.

    Dear Friends and Colleagues,

    We wish to invite you to contribute to the 21st annual "Modeling and Optimization: Theory and Applications" (MOPTA 2020) conference, held at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA, August 12-14, 2020.

    The MOPTA conference brings together researchers from a broad range of optimization areas, working on theoretical or applied aspects, or both. There will be invited plenary talks from distinguished speakers, as well as organized sessions and contributed talks, spread over three days. Our confirmed plenary speakers are:

    • Hamsa Balakrishnan (MIT)
    • Simge Küçükyavuz (Northwestern University)
    • Jeffrey T. Linderoth (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
    • Catherine McGeoch (D-Wave Systems Inc.)
    • Yurii Nesterov (University of Louvain)
    • Éva Tardos (Cornell University)
    • Vladimir Vapnik (Facebook AI Research)

    For more information, please see: http://coral.ie.lehigh.edu/~mopta/.

    Our objective is to offer presentations and discussions of exciting new developments from different areas of optimization, and to provide a convenient setting which allows increased interaction among the participants.

    We welcome contributed presentations, and invite you to organize a session(s) centered around your area of expertise. The MOPTA conference sessions consist of (blocks of) three 30-minute presentations, including Q&A. Please register and submit your abstract via the MOPTA 2020 website (http://coral.ie.lehigh.edu/~mopta/). The conference website offers more information.

    We would also like to announce the 12th AIMMS/MOPTA Optimization Modeling Competition. The competition is jointly organized by the conference organizers of MOPTA and AIMS (http://www.aimms.com/). We anticipate to post the Case Study by January 20, 2020. Please check back at: http://coral.ie.lehigh.edu/~mopta/competition.

    All teams must register for the competition in order to participate. Teams of at most three students can participate. The team leader has to be a graduate student, though the other members of the team can be advanced undergraduate students. Each member of the team must be registered as a full-time student at a recognized educational institution during the Spring term of the 2019-2020 academic year. Students with a background in optimization, regardless of their actual field of study, are eligible. Collaboration between students from different departments is strongly encouraged. Each team must declare a team advisor with which the team may consult about the problem and their solution. It is the team advisor's responsibility to ensure that the students have appropriate knowledge for the competition. The team advisor should not be involved as a participant in the solution process. Finalists are expected to attend and present their results at the MOPTA 2020 conference.

    As the conference is international, so is the competition. Teams from all over the world can participate, as long as at least one team member can come to the conference, should the team make it to the final round. The official language of the competition is English.

    Important Dates:

    • MOPTA Conference: August 12-14, 2020
    • Abstract Deadline: June 28, 2020
    • Registration Deadline: August 5, 2020 (at the conference venue after this date)
    • Early Registration Deadline: June 28, 2020 (All speakers must register by this date)
    • Competition Deadline: May 17, 2020 (23:59 Pacific)

    Please feel free to contact Albert S. Berahas (albertberahas(at)lehigh(dot)edu) if you have questions about the MOPTA 2020 conference.

    Please contact Jennifer Vargas, (jav319(at)lehigh(dot)edu) with your questions related to conference logistics.

    For questions related to the MOPTA 2020 competition please contact Boris Defourny: defourny(at)lehigh(dot)edu. For questions about the AIMMS software please contact: supprt(at)aimms(dot)com.

    Thank you for your interest. Please feel free to pass along this information to your potentially interested colleagues, students and collaborators.

    Best regards,



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    Albert S. Berahas
    Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering
    Lehigh University
    Bethlehem, PA
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