This project supports travel by graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and young faculty members from US institutions to the International Symposium in Mathematical Programming (ISMP), to be held on August 23-28, 2009, in Chicago, Illinois. This year's ISMP is the twentieth conference in a series that began in 1949 and is held about every three years. ISMP is the major conference for the optimization / mathematical programming community and is a must-attend event for researchers in the area worldwide. The attendance has grown from about 40 participants in 1949 to over 1400 at more recent gatherings. About every second or third ISMP is held in the US. Further information on ISMP 2009 can be found at www.ismp2009.org. ISMP provides the main forum for the exchange of ideas in optimization, and in particular for cross-fertilization between the discrete, continuous, and stochastic aspects of the discipline. The major professional prizes in optimization, which are decided by juries assembled by MPS and co-sponsoring societies AMS and SIAM, are awarded during the opening ceremony of ISMP. Particularly notable is the Tucker Prize, which is awarded to the best student thesis written during the three years preceding ISMP. It has been a long-standing tradition to hold a technical session at ISMP during which the three student finalists present their work; this session is always a highlight of the meeting.
The project provides reimbursement of travel costs for at least 25 graduate students and young researchers from US institutions to attend ISMP 2009, to a level of up to $800 per participant. ISMP is the premier conference in optimization, held triennially. Optimization is a field of mathematical and computational research that concerns itself with finding the best way to operate a system subject to restrictions on the choices that can be made. It has applications in a great many areas of science, engineering, and commerce, which are illustrated by the following three examples. First, optimization is a vital tool in designing radiation treatment plans for cancer patients, where the goal is to irradiate and thus destroy tumors while sparing healthy tissue. Second, optimization is used in designing mechanical parts for vehicles and machines that have minimum weight and cost while meeting certain strength and robustness requirements. Third, optimization is used in budget planning for businesses, to allocate resources in a way that maximizes expected profit in an uncertain economic environment. Support of attendance by young US researchers at ISMP will be of great benefit to their careers and research programs. It will eventually have important positive benefits for US industry, science, and technology. Applications for support will be solicited and reviewed by a committee of optimization researchers. Awardees will be chosen to ensure breadth and diversity of individuals and institutions represented, and to ensure participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in ISMP 2009.
