The 21st annual Modeling and Optimization: Theory and Applications (MOPTA 2021) conference will be held at Lehigh University, August 2-4, 2021.
The MOPTA conference brings together researchers from a broad range of optimization areas, working on theoretical or applied aspects, or both. There will be invited plenary talks from distinguished speakers, as well as organized sessions and contributed talks, spread over three days. Our confirmed plenary speakers are:
- Hamsa Balakrishnan (MIT)
- Amy M. Cohn (University of Michigan)
- Simge Küçükyavuz (Northwestern University)
- Jeffrey T. Linderoth (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
- Michael Mahoney (UC Berkeley)
- Catherine McGeoch (D-Wave Systems Inc.)
- Anna Nagurney (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
- Yurii Nesterov (University of Louvain)
Assistant Professor Albert S. Berahas, University of Michigan, is Chair of the Organizing Committee. ISE Lehigh Assistant Professor Karmel S. Shehadeh is MOPTA Competition Chair.
This year’s Optimization Modeling Competition problem is Home Service Assignment, Routing, and Scheduling with Stochastic Service Time, Travel time, and Cancellation.
Conference Format: Current University, Commonwealth, and National guidelines indicate that we will be able to offer an in-person component in MOPTA 2021 with an option for remote attendance. This format accommodates the wishes of participants and speakers who would like to attend remotely, while still offering the in-person experience for those who would like to attend in-person. So, MOPTA 2021 will be offered in an innovative dual VIRT/IPVS mode. Participants will select between two attendance modes (all guests will experience the talks in the same format):
- Virtual (VIRT), as meetings have been held during the pandemic (via Zoom). VIRT participants and speakers will actually not be able to tell that there is another mode.
- In-Person Virtual-Sharing (IPVS), as on-campus meetings were held before the pandemic with the single exception that all speakers will present remotely. IPVS participants will be able to attend talks together in rooms equipped with large screens and room sound system. Questions are asked via personal laptops and/or cell phones in the Zoom chat. IPVS participants will share an in-person social program (coffee breaks, lunches, dinners, etc.). IPVS speakers will be assigned a room/office to deliver their talks remotely using their laptops, and can then interact in-person with IPVS participants after their virtual talks.
For more information visit: https://coral.ise.lehigh.edu/~mopta/
