News
Networks and Optimization group news
CWI Fellow co-edits book about Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
In July 2022, the book 'Edsger Wybe Dijkstra: His Life, Work, and Legacy', edited by CWI Fellow Krzysztof Apt and Tony Hoare, was published. From '52-'62, Turing Award winner Dijkstra worked at CWI (then MC), where he designed a.o. the shortest path algorithm used in all navigation systems.
New mathematical insights on popular optimization methods
The widely used simplex algorithm (1947) is one of the algorithms that work well in practice, while according to the theory, this should not always be possible. Sophie Huiberts (CWI) and her colleagues provided new theoretical solutions for long-standing problems in this area.
Lucas Slot wins 2022 KWG PhD Prize
Lucas Slot, PhD student at CWI, won the annual KWG prize for PhD students for his research and presentation at the Dutch Mathematical Conference (NMC) in 2022.
New optimisation model enables rapid response to disruptions
PhD studen Dylan Huizing (CWI/VU) has developed a solution for planning preventive tasks maintenance tasks of ProRail such that incident fighters are evenly located over the network at all times, thus ensuring a rapid incident response time.
Abel Laureates Lectures at CWI with László Lovász and Avi Wigderson
On 8 April 2022 the two 2021 Abel Prize Laureates - László Lovász and Avi Wigderson - will give lectures at CWI during a festive afternoon programme for the Dutch science community. We are also offering a live video stream for remote participants.
Monique Laurent appointed CWI Fellow
Monique Laurent, researcher and former MT member at CWI and a professor at Tilburg University, has been appointed as CWI Fellow for her contributions to science and management.
Veni grant for Simon Telen
NWO awarded a Veni grant to Simon Telen, who will develop new strategies for solving complicated mathematical equations and apply them to real-world problems.
CWI co-organizes international trimester program at Bonn University
CWI is co-organizing an international trimester program on Discrete Optimization at the Hausdorff Research Institute for Mathematics in Bonn. Goal of this community service is to collaborate and make progress on long-standing open problems.
Monique Laurent elected as EUROPT Fellow 2021
Monique Laurent (CWI and Tilburg University) was elected EUROPT Fellow 2021 for being an outstanding researcher in continuous optimization.
Strong Contribution of Networks and Optimization at IPCO 2021
Research carried out by CWI's Networks and Optimization (N&O) group has resulted in several contributions to the 22nd Conference on Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization, IPCO 2021: three presentations of research papers and the award in the Student Poster Competition.
NETWORKS consortium awarded €1M from EU COFUND for postdoc programme
After receiving the COFUND grant from the Horizon 2020 programme for 14 PhD positions, NETWORKS has been granted a COFUND grant of €1.0 million to appoint 14 postdoctoral researchers for 2 years.
Guido Schäfer named professor by special appointment at UvA
Guido Schäfer has been named professor by special appointment of Algorithms, Optimization and Game Theory at the University of Amsterdam.
Pieter Kleer wins Gijs de Leve Prize
Pieter Kleer, former PhD student of CWI, was awarded the Gijs de Leve Prize 2018-2020 for the best PhD thesis in in the area of Mathematics of Operations Research defended in the last three years.
Daniel Dadush and Samarth Tiwari receive Best Paper Award at CCC'20
Daniel Dadush and Samarth Tiwari from CWI's Networks and Optimization research group receive the Best Paper Award at the Computational Complexity Conference 2020 for their work 'On the Complexity of Branching Proofs'.
Daniel Dadush receives prestigious Van Dantzig Prize
Daniel Dadush has been awarded the Van Dantzig Prize, which is considered the highest Dutch award in statistics and operations research. It is awarded by the VVSOR once every five years.
CWI researchers involved in two NWO-Groot grants
In the NWO Open Competition ENW-GROOT programme, four CWI researchers received in total two grants to study machine learning and neural networks: Nikhil Bansal, Monique Laurent, Benjamin Sanderse and Leen Stougie.
QuSoft/CWI team earns 4th place in Benelux Algorithm Programming Contest 2019
On Saturday 19 October 2019, Arjan Cornelissen, Farrokh Labib and Ruben Brokkelkamp formed a combined QuSoft/CWI team in the BAPC 2019 programming contest. They earned the 4th place, competing against companies such as ASML, Booking.com, Ortec and Sioux.
CWI research connects quantum computing and optimization
Sander Gribling studied if and how quantum computers can help solve optimization problems, like finding the shortest route. He developed new quantum algorithms that can help to solve them more efficiently. He defends his PhD thesis on 30 September.
Cum laude for CWI research quantifying effect of safety margins in route planning
When drivers avoid certain highways to escape the risk of usual traffic jams, they can significantly increase the average travel time for everyone in the road network. CWI researcher Pieter Kleer developed models to analyze this.
Jie Li and Sophie Huiberts selected to participate in the 7th Heidelberg Laureate Forum
Jie Li from the DIS group and Sophie Huiberts from the N&O group have been selected to participate in the 7th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF). The annual HLF event selects a small group of 200 most qualified Young Researchers worldwide to meet pre-eminent scientists from the fields of mathematics and computer science.
Monique Laurent member of Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities
Researcher and MT member Monique Laurent (CWI and UvT) has been invited to become a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen – KHMW) in Haarlem, the oldest academic society in the Netherlands.
CWI and Dassault Systèmes start PPS project to improve supply chain technology
CWI and Dassault Systèmes recently started a collaboration in the field of optimization technology for businesses.
Marie Curie ITN grant awarded to POEMA network
Recently, the EU awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) grant for POEMA – ‘Polynomial Optimization, Efficiency through Moments and Algebra’. The consortium consists of 14 academic and industrial partners, such as CWI, Tilburg University, Inria and IBM.
Sophie Huiberts nominated for UU Graduate School of Natural Sciences Thesis Award 2018
Sophie Huiberts, a PhD student at CWI, was one of the three nominees for the Graduate School of Natural Sciences Thesis Award 2018 at Utrecht University.
2018 Women@McKinsey Dissertation Award for Yllka Velaj
CWI researcher and ERCIM Fellow Yllka Velaj has won the 2018 Women@McKinsey Dissertation Award for her PhD thesis, which analyzes the problem of how to maximize the dissemination of information and opinions in social networks. The award comes with a job offer by McKinsey & Company, and a sponsorship to attend the Open Data Science Conference 2018.
Monique Laurent opened World Women in Mathematics event in Rio
Monique Laurent from CWI opened the World Women in Mathematics event (WM)² in Rio de Janeiro with a keynote lecture.
ERC Starting grant for CWI researcher Daniel Dadush
In July, Daniel Dadush (CWI) was awarded an ERC Starting Grant of 1.5 million euro for his proposal ‘Towards a Quantitative Theory of Integer Programming’. He aims to revolutionize the understanding of integer programming (IP), the most popular method for finding optimal solutions to optimization problems.
CWI trainee Carla Groenland runner-up in UvA Master Thesis Award 2018
Carla Groenland, UvA alumnus and a trainee at CWI’s Networks & Optimization research group, was chosen as the runner-up in the finale for the UvA Master Thesis Award 2018. In total there were 92 competitors. You can listen to her podcast.
CWI researcher Monique Laurent elected as KNAW member
Researcher and MT member Monique Laurent from Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) was elected as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The KNAW announced this on 19 April 2018. KNAW members are prominent scientists who are nominated by fellow researchers within and outside the Academy.
Vici grants for Nikhil Bansal and Roeland Merks
CWI researchers Nikhil Bansal and Roeland Merks have been awarded Vici grants from NWO. With the 1.5 million euro grant, Bansal and Merks can develop their own research lines in the next five years.