# Welcome to Combinatorics and Optimization

Spring 2020 Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program (URA). ***ON-LINE APPICATIONS OPEN November 1, 2019.***

Tutte's Distinguished Lecture Series

The very successful Tutte's 100th Distinguished Lecture Series has now completed. That success has led to a Tutte Distinguished Lecture once per term. The next lecture will happen in the Spring term.

*Recordings of occurred talks are all available on C&O's YouTube Channel

Grad Studies: Fall 2020 applications now open

New Deadline: February 1, '20

1. Nov. 14, 2019Faculty of Mathematics Research Chair

C&O Professor Levent Tuncel has been awarded a five-year Faculty of Mathematics Research Chair. The award recognizes Levent's exceptional scholarly achievements and pre-eminence in the field of optimization.

2. Nov. 7, 2019"Protocols for Authentication and Key Establishment" is published by Springer

The book, written by Colin Boyd, Anish Mathuria and C&O Professor Douglas Stebila, is the most comprehensive and integrated treatment of the protocols required for authentication and key establishment.

3. Oct. 25, 2019Samuel Jaques and Andre Linhares win the 2019 Alumni Gold Medals

The Office of Alumni Affairs recognizes top graduating students for academic achievement by awarding medals to one master's student and one doctoral student at Fall convocation.

1. Nov. 21, 2019PMATH/C&O Joint Colloquium - John Schanck

Title: Kummer's Theorem on binomial coefficients, etc.

 Speaker: John Schanck Affiliation: University of Waterloo Room: MC 5501

Abstract:

Some of us like the primes and call ourselves pure mathematicians. Some of us like the Catalan numbers and call ourselves combinatorialists.

2. Nov. 22, 2019Combinatorial Optimization Reading Group - Sharat Ibrahimpur

Title: Submodular function maximization via the multilinear relaxation and contention resolution schemes

 Speaker: Sharat Ibrahimpur Affiliation: University of Waterloo Room: MC 5417

Abstract:

I will present a general framework for maximizing a nonnegative submodular set function $f$ subject to a variety of packing type constraints including multiple matroid constraints, knapsack constraints, and their intersections.

3. Nov. 22, 2019Tutte Colloquium - Aleksandr Kazachkov

Title: Disjunctive Cuts through the V-Polyhedral Lens

 Speaker: Aleksandr Kazachkov Affiliation: Polytechnique Montréal Room: MC 5501

Abstract:

Cutting planes, or cuts, are a critical component of modern integer programming solvers, but existing cuts implemented in solvers are relatively simple compared to those in the literature. We discuss the primary reasons for this disparity, as well as our recently-proposed V-polyhedral framework for mitigating some of these difficulties encountered by prior "stronger" cuts.

All upcoming events