Rafael Martí is a Professor of Statistics and Operations Research at the University of Valencia, Spain. He earned his PhD in Mathematics from the same university in 1994. His research focuses extensively on metaheuristics for complex optimization problems. Prof. Martí has published over 200 papers, most of them in indexed journals (JCR), including the European Journal of Operational Research, INFORMS Journal on Computing, IIE Transactions, Journal of Global Optimization, Computers & Operations Research, and Discrete Applied Mathematics. He is the co-author of several monographic books, the most recent being Discrete Diversity and Dispersion Maximization (Springer, 2023) and Exact and Heuristic Methods in Combinatorial Optimization (Springer-Verlag, 2022).
Prof. Martí serves as Area Editor for the Journal of Heuristics and as Associate Editor for the European Journal of Operational Research and Mathematical Programming Computation. He is also a senior research scientist at the Spanish logistics consulting firm OGA and holds a U.S. patent. He has delivered around 50 invited and plenary talks and is a recurring visiting professor at the University of Colorado (USA), Molde University College (Norway), and University College Dublin (Ireland). He has participated in over 20 government-funded research projects, and his publications have received more than 15,000 citations.
Panos Pardalos was born in Drosato (Mezilo) Argitheas GR in 1954 and graduated from Athens University (Department of Mathematics). He received his PhD (Computes and Information Sciences) from the University of Minnesota. He is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida, and an affiliated faculty of Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science & Information & Engineering departments. Since 2011 he has been the academic advisor at LATNA, HSE.
Panos Pardalos is a world-renowned leader in Global Optimization, Mathematical Modeling, Energy Systems, Financial applications, and Data Sciences. He is a Fellow of AAAS, AAIA, AIMBE, EUROPT, and INFORMS and was awarded the 2013 Constantin Caratheodory Prize of the International Society of Global Optimization. In addition, Panos Pardalos has been awarded the 2013 EURO Gold Medal prize bestowed by the Association for European Operational Research Societies. This medal is the preeminent European award given to Operations Research (OR) professionals for "scientific contributions that stand the test of time."
Panos Pardalos has been awarded a prestigious Humboldt Research Award (2018-2019). The Humboldt Research Award is granted in recognition of a researcher's entire achievements to date - fundamental discoveries, new theories, insights that have had significant impact on their discipline.
Panos Pardalos is also a Member of several Academies of Sciences, and he holds several honorary PhD degrees and affiliations. He is the Founding Editor of Optimization Letters, Energy Systems, and Co-Founder of the International Journal of Global Optimization, Computational Management Science, and Springer Nature Operations Research Forum. He has published over 600 journal papers, and edited/authored over 200 books. He is one of the most cited authors and has graduated 71 PhD students so far.
Mauricio G.C. Resende is an Affiliate Professor of the Graduate Program in Operations Research of the Aeronautical Institute of Technology (ITA) and the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) and a Permanent Member of the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS). He is most known for his work with metaheuristics and interior point methods for linear programming and network flows. Mauricio has published five books and over 200 papers on optimization. He holds 15 U.S. patents. With a successful career spanning over four decades, Mauricio has brought his expertise to various industrial research laboratories worldwide. These include electrical power systems at Furnas Centrais Elétricas in Brazil, semiconductor device manufacturing at Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation in Silicon Valley, California, telecommunications at AT&T Bell Labs Research and AT&T Labs Research in New Jersey, and retail logistics at Amazon in Seattle. Mauricio holds a PhD in operations research from the University of California, Berkeley. He is an INFORMS Fellow.
