OPTIMA Mathematical Optimization Society Newsletter 86

July 1, 2011. For the few sorry spirits who, misguided by the general state of the world, thought that mathematical optimization was in theoretical decline or too remote from applications in the real world, the SIOPT Conference on Optimization in Darmstadt in May was a real and vivid counterexample. Indeed this very well attended meeting (600+ participants) was a resounding success in terms of interest and quality of the talks. As has been so far the case in this series of meetings, the focus was mainly on continuous problems: in particular, problems arising from continuous mechanics, fluids and control were prominent, showing the very healthy state of not only optimization in those domains, but also the German industry’s interest in optimization in general. The significant presence of discrete optimization was also noticeable, with several interesting sessions and plenary talks in this area. As optimizers, all were delighted that, once more, a high quality conference has been organized by SIAM in addition to the major events organized by the Mathematical Optimization Society. If mathematical optimization is turning today into one of the major branches in applied mathematics, this is due not only to our present efforts as scientists, but also to those of the founding fathers of our research domain. One of them, Charles Broyden (the B in BFGS) unfortunately passed away on Friday 20th May, at the age of 78 (see the obituary published in this issue on page 10). His memory will stay with us for long, and his work will undoubtedly continue to inspire. The beginning of 2011 was also the time to start thinking about the various prizes sponsored by MOS, which will be awarded in the International Mathematical Programming Symposium in Berlin in August 2012. It may be useful to recall that the MOS currently awards five scientific prizes and a named lectureship. These are the Dantzig, Lagrange, Beal-Orchard-Hays, Fulkerson and Tucker prizes, and the Paul Tseng Lectureship, whose more complete description, scope and past winners can be found on the MOS Website (http://www. mathprog.org). The respective committees have now been established for deciding to whom these distinctions must be given, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our colleagues who kindly accepted to serve on these committees. I would also like to call on all members to think about proposing high quality submissions for these prizes. I am certain that their scientific value can only be enhanced by friendly competition between high quality submissions. I am personally looking forward to meeting you all at the the award ceremony during the opening session of the Berlin ISMP. This is also the time to start looking at possible sites that will host ISMP in 2015. The call for proposal submission can be found in this issue on page 12. And as always, do not forget to renew your MOS membership. Meanwhile, enjoy the summer (for the majority of us in the northern hemisphere) and let us keep the abundance and quality of our scientific activities at the present vibrant level. Note from the Editors