The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at Lehigh University marked a historic milestone in 2025 with the triple celebration of its 100th anniversary, the 70th birthday of Tamás Terlaky, and the successful hosting of two major international events in the Azores Islands: the Modeling and Optimization: Theory and Applications (MOPTA) 2025 conference and its satellite workshop, the Portuguese American Optimization Workshop (PAOW). Held back-to-back on Faial and São Miguel islands, these events brought together more than 200 leading scholars, students, and professionals from around the world to explore the latest advances in optimization theory and applications within one of Europe’s most stunning natural settings.
MOPTA 2025, held June 17–20 in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel island, marked the 25th anniversary of the MOPTA conference series, which has evolved into one of the most respected global gatherings in the optimization community. Hosted in the iconic Teatro Micaelense, the conference welcomed over 145 participants and featured six world-class plenary speakers: Serge Gratton (INP Toulouse), Oktay Günlük (Georgia Tech), Ojas D. Parekh (Sandia National Labs), Julie L. Swann (NCSU), Jerad Tanner (Oxford Univ.), and Karen E. Willcox (UT Austin) who delivered the prestigious Lehigh ISE Spencer C. Schantz Distinguished Lecture, presenting her research on predictive digital twins. The scientific program also included 17 technical sessions with 68 research talks, a tutorial on infinity computing, and numerous opportunities for networking and cultural immersion.
A highlight of this year’s conference was the celebration of Professor Tamás Terlaky, founder of MOPTA, whose 70th birthday was honored with a special “Tamas-70” Session and Dinner. Speakers and colleagues paid tribute to Terlaky’s extraordinary influence in the field of optimization and his visionary leadership in establishing MOPTA as a globally recognized forum. The event reflected not only his scientific legacy but also the collaborative spirit that continues to define the MOPTA community a quarter-century after its inception.
At the 17th AIMMS/MOPTA Optimization Modeling Competition, nineteen teams from around the world were challenged to develop optimal aircrew scheduling strategies for Transavia Airlines. The finalist teams were: Team “BigGreen” from Dartmouth College (USA); Team “CruisingAltitude,” a joint team from Dartmouth College (USA), Georgia Tech (USA), Chitkara Univ. (India), and the Univ. Azores (Portugal); and Team “Aero Head” from Shanghai University (China). Team “BigGreen” was announced as the winner during the conference banquet, concluding a competition that highlighted the vital link between academic modeling and real-world industry challenges.
Kicking off the 10-day program, PAOW was held June 13–15 in Horta, Faial Island, and drew over 65 participants. The workshop featured an outstanding lineup of 20 main speakers from top U.S. and international institutions. With a focused theme on continuous optimization and its applications to machine learning, PAOW offered a high-level, collaborative environment for exploring emerging research directions. The program concluded with a scenic excursion to Pico Island, combining deep intellectual exchange with the Azores’ unique natural and cultural offerings.
Together, MOPTA 2025 and PAOW underscored Lehigh ISE’s enduring commitment to advancing optimization research through leadership, innovation, and community.