Optimization is a rich and thriving discipline rooted in applied mathematics but with applications across all the sciences, engineering, industry and business. Whether one wants to minimize the cost of energy, the cost of manufacturing difficulty, maximize accuracy of engineering design, or maximize profit, the mathematical way to express one’s goal amounts to an optimization problem. Some classes of optimization problems are so well understood that problems in millions or even billions of variables are routinely solved on a daily basis; others are so difficult that even small instances can be challenging. This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners with a wide variety of expertise from universities and from government and industrial laboratories.

The workshop will focus on algorithms for solving large-scale continuous optimization problems, both convex and nonconvex, as well as their industrial applications in a variety of contexts. Some talks will have a theoretical focus (e.g., convergence theory, complexity); others will have a more practical focus (e.g., computational practice), and others will focus on specific problems arising in an industrial setting. 

The workshop will celebrate the 70th birthday of Andrew R. Conn, who, arguably more than anyone, has made major contributions both to the theory of algorithms for nonlinear optimization and application of algorithms through high performance software tools to solve industrial optimization problems of critical importance.