Full name: Bert Gerards
Formal name: Prof.dr.ir. A.M.H. Gerards
Function: Scientific Staff Member

Email: Bert.Gerards@cwi.nl
Telephone +31(0)20 592 +31-
Room:  L128
Research groups:
(PNA1) Algorithms Combinatorics and Optimization

Research

Bert Gerards works in combinatorial optimization, an area on the interface of mathematics and computer science that seeks to find efficient algorithms for discrete computational problems.

His main research interest is Matroid Theory. With Jim Geelen and Geoff Whittle, Bert Gerards works on generalizing Robertson and Seymour's Graph Minor Theory to matroids representable over any fixed finite field. Main targets are the conjectures by Robertson and Seymour that such matroids are well-quasi-ordered by minors and can be tested in polynomial time for having a specific minor, and Rota's conjecture that such representability can be characterized by finitely many excluded minors. Challenge and bulk of the work is to understand the structure of minor-closed classes of matroids over the specific field.

Recent postdocs of Bert Gerards are Tony Huynh and Stefan van Zwam.

For contact information and more see Bert's homepage.

Career

2010 -	Professor Maastricht University
2009 -	Scientific staff member PNA1 - Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization
2008 - 2012	Professor University of Waterloo
2005 - 2009	Leader Scientific Cluster PNA - Probability, Networks and Algorithms
1999 - 2009	Professor Eindhoven University of Technology
1997 - 2005	Group leader PNA1 - Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization
1989 - 1996	Scientific staff member BS1 - Combinatorial Optimization and Algorithmics
1984 - 1989	Assistant Professor Tilburg University

Selected Awards and Honours

2003	Fulkerson Prize

Selected Academic Activities

2012	Organizer Maastricht, The Netherlands - Workshops on Graphs and Algorithms
2010	Organizer Maastricht, The Netherlands - Workshop on Graphs and Matroids
2008	Co-organizer Sittard, The Netherlands - Workshop on Graphs and Matroids
2008 - 2010	Member advisory board Lorentz Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
2007	Member program committee European Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Applications - [EUROCOMB]
2007	Co-organizer Trento, Italy - ADONET-CIRM School on Graphs and Algorithms
2005 - 2007	Chair steering committee International Conference on Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization - [IPCO]
2003 - 2007	Co-editor Journal: Mathematical Programming Series A
2003 - 2006	Member science council Mathematical Programming Society - [MPS]
2002 - 2005	Member steering committee International Conference on Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization - [IPCO]
2001 - 2005	Member of the board Landelijk Netwerk Mathematische Besliskunde - [LNMB]
1999 - 2007	Editor Journal: SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics - [SIDMA]
1999 - 2003	Associate editor Journal: Mathematical Programming

Selected Publications

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, G. Whittle. On inequivalent representations of matroids over non-prime fields. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 100, 740–743, 2010.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, G. Whittle. Tangles, tree-decompositions, and grids in matroids. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 99, 657–667, 2009.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, B. Reed, P.D. Seymour, A. Vetta. On the odd-minor variant of Hadwiger's conjecture. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 99, 20–29, 2009.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards. Excluding a group-labelled graph. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 99, 247–253, 2009.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, G. Whittle. Towards a matroid-minor structure theory. Combinatorics, Complexity, and Chance. A tribute to Dominic Welsh., 72–82, 2007.

B. Gerards, M. Conforti, G. Zambelli. Mixed-integer vertex covers on bipartite graphs. International Conference on Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4513, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA, 324–336, 2007.

M. Conforti, B. Gerards. Packing odd circuits. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics 21, 273–302, 2007.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, G. Whittle. Excluding a planar graph from GF(q)-representable matroids. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 97, 971–998, 2007.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, G. Whittle. Towards a structure theory for matrices and matroids. Proceedings of International Congress of Mathematicians 2006, Madrid, Spain , 827–842, 2006.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, G. Whittle. On Rota's Conjecture and excluded minors containing large projective geometries. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 96, 405–425, 2006.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, G. Whittle. Matroid T-connectivity. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics 20, 588–596, 2006.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, N. Robertson, G. Whittle. Obstructions to branch-decomposition of matroids. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 96, 560–570, 2006.

M. Chudnovski, J. Geelen, B. Gerards, L. Goddyn, M. Lohman, P.D. Seymour. Packing non-zero A-paths in group-labeled graphs. Combinatorica 26, 521–532, 2006.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards. Regular matroid decomposition via signed graphs. Journal of Graph Theory 48, 74–84, 2005.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, N. Robertson, G. Whittle. On the excluded minors for the matroids with branch-width k. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 88, 261–265, 2003.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, G. Whittle. Disjoint cocircuits in matroids with large rank. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 87, 270–279, 2003.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, G. Whittle. Branch-width and well-quasi-ordering in matroids and graphs. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 84, 270–290, 2002.

J. Geelen, B. Gerards, A. Kapoor. The excluded minors for GF(4)-representable matroids. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 79, 247–299, 2000.

M. Conforti, B. Gerards, A. Kapoor. A theorem of Truemper. Combinatorica 20, 15–26, 2000.

B. Gerards. On Tutte's characterization of graphic matroids---a graphic proof. Journal of Graph Theory 20, 351–359, 1995.

B. Gerards. An orientation theorem for graphs. Journal of Combinatorial Theory - Series B 62, 199–212, 1994.

B. Gerards. Graphs and polyhedra binary spaces and cutting planes. , CWI Tracts 73, 1–188 CWI., 1990.

B. Gerards. A short proof of Tutte's characterization of totally unimodular matrices. Linear Algebra and its Applications 114, 207–212, 1989.

B. Gerards, A. Schrijver. Matrices with the Edmonds-Johnson property. Combinatorica 6, 365–379, 1986.

All publications (link to repository)