Led by Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) Professors Daniel P. Robinson and Frank E. Curtis, Lehigh University hosted the jointly organized 2022 International Conference on Continuous Optimization (ICCOPT) and the Modeling and Optimization: Theory and Applications (MOPTA) conference from July 23–28, 2022. The conference, which had 537 in-person participants from more than 30 countries, was immensely successful! It allowed PhD students, postdocs, industrialists, and academics from around the world to form exciting research collaborations, meet new people, and create lasting memories. This all happened while gaining a greater appreciation of Lehigh University and its rich history that is inseparable from that of the Bethlehem region.
As the first large in-person-only optimization conference held in the last couple of years (and we believe the largest in Lehigh’s history), the local organizing committee ran into significant logistical challenges. Yet, led by key administrative support staff Sheila Dorney (ISE), Mark Motsko (ISE), and Sarah Wing (I-DISC), the team was able to successfully organize 3 plenary talks, 6 semi-plenary talks, 184 parallel sessions (most consisting of 3 talks each), a best paper prize for young researchers, a poster competition and session, and the AIMMS/MOPTA Modeling Competition. Just prior to the scientific program, the team organized a two day summer school program that took place at the Mountaintop Campus, which was attended by 162 people (mostly PhD students).
On the social front, conference attendees enjoyed a welcome reception in the Zoellner Atrium, students mingled and played lawn games at the student social, and 250 attendees chose to purchase tickets for the conference dinner hosted at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.
The local organizing committee is grateful to President Joseph J. Helble, Provost Nathan Urban, Dean Stephen P. DeWeerth, Lawrence V. Snyder (director of I-DISC), and Luis Nunes Vicente (Chair of ISE) for their strong and essential support throughout.
For more details, visit the conference website >>
Article by Daniel P. Robinson, ICCOPT Organizer