Computer Sciences Professor Steve Wright awarded prestigious George B. Dantzig Prize

July 22, 2024

Steve Wright

Computer Sciences (CS) Professor and Chair Steve Wright is the 2024 recipient of the George B. Dantzig Prize, widely regarded as the most prestigious award in the field of Optimization. Wright was chosen for his fundamental contributions to nonlinear optimization and for applying optimization techniques to such areas as control, compressed sensing, machine learning, and data science. “Because it is deeply embedded in so many technologies, optimization touches members of the public in many ways,” says Wright. “Algorithms, software, and applications that I have worked on have influenced many technologies in daily use, for example in recommendation systems for online commerce, investment portfolio optimization, and process control in chemical production.” Wright has contributed outstanding, highly influential work to a broad range of topics in mathematical optimization and its many applications. His comprehensive contributions span theory, algorithm design and analysis, applications of optimization to science and engineering, and the development of high-impact software. His key contributions to interior-point methods culminated in an influential SIAM monograph on the subject in 1997.

Steve Wright (second from left) receives the Dantzig Award at the 25th International Symposium on Mathematical Programming in Montreal on July 22, 2024. Photo by Bill Cook.

“I’m tremendously honored to receive the Dantzig Prize,” says Wright. “It’s an honor just to be a member of the optimization community, a wonderful community that is thriving and expanding because of the usefulness of optimization in solving complex problems in many areas, including AI and data science.” Wright notes that he is especially pleased to follow in the footsteps of former UW-Madison colleague Professor Stephen M. Robinson, who won the Dantzig Prize in 1997. Inaugurated in 1982, the George B. Dantzig Prize is awarded every three years to one or two individuals for original research “which by its originality, breadth, and depth has a major impact on the field of mathematical optimization.” The Mathematical Optimization Society (MOS) administers the prize, which is awarded jointly by MOS and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). The award was presented to Wright at the 25th International Symposium on Mathematical Programming in Montreal, Canada. Congratulations, Professor Wright!