This two-day conference is held in celebration of the 60th birthday of Professor Michael C. Ferris, in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in the research, scientific, and academic communities, and in grateful appreciation for his contributions to these communities and to the well-being of our society at large. 

Michael Ferris is John P. Morgridge Chair in Computer Sciences & Jacques-Louis Lions Professor of Computer Sciences, (by courtesy) Mathematics, and Industrial and Systems Engineering at University of Wisconsin – Madison. He is also the Director, Hub Central, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.

Dr. Ferris' research is concerned with algorithmic and interface development for large scale problems in mathematical programming, including links to the GAMS and AMPL modeling languages, and general purpose software such as PATH, NLPEC and EMP. He has worked on many applications of both optimization and complementarity, including cancer treatment planning, energy modeling, economic policy, traffic and environmental engineering, video-on-demand data delivery, structural and mechanical engineering.

Ferris is a SIAM fellow, an INFORMS fellow, received the Beale-Orchard-Hays prize from the Mathematical Programming Society and is a past recipient of a NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He serves on the editorial boards of INFORMS Journal on Computing and Optimization Methods and Software.

Organizing Committee: 

• Steven Dirkse, Ph.D., President, GAMS Development Corp. [Email]

•  Gino Lim, Ph.D., R. Larry and Gerlene (Gerri) R. Snider Endowed Chair, Professor & Chair, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Houston [Email]

• Andy Philpott, Ph.D., Professor, Electric Power Optimization Centre, University of Auckland [Email]