CS Professor Steve Wright to be plenary speaker at International Congress of Mathematicians 2026 and named Vilas Research Professor by UW–Madison

By Karen Barrett-Wilt Steve Wright, Professor of Computer Sciences and former chair of Computer Sciences, has received two recent honors: He will give a plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Philadelphia in July 2026, and he has been named a Vilas Research Professor by UW–Madison.   The ICM Plenary  Held generally every four years since 1897, the ICM is the premier gathering in mathematics. The field’s most prestigious awards are presented here, including the Fields Medal — often called the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics” — and the Gauss Prize. (The 2022 congress, originally scheduled for St. Petersburg, moved online after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.) Wright’s invitation to speak stems from his work developing optimization algorithms with mathematically rigorous performance guarantees, not just experimental results.  Wright’s colleague Professor Jin-Yi Cai says that the plenary lecture at ICM “includes many in the pantheon of history’s greatest.” Cai continues, saying that Wright “has had a tremendous impact on a broad range of areas, especially as applied to big-data problems in machine learning and algorithms for compressed sensing. He is an exceptional colleague, and we in the Computer Sciences department greatly admire him.”  Among roughly 20 plenary speakers at the 2026 congress — each representing a branch of mathematics — Wright will speak on “control theory and optimization.” Several speakers, like Wright, come from engineering or computer science rather than mathematics departments, a reflection of how much important mathematical work happens outside math departments proper. For mathematicians, a plenary ICM invitation is considered something like induction into a hall of fame.  “It was an honor and a surprise to be invited to speak at the ICM,” Wright said. “In my talk, I plan to discuss the complementary roles of mathematical theory and computational practice in optimization, showing how each of these two aspects of the field has driven developments in the other.”  The Vilas Research Professorship  That same interest in connecting theory and practice in optimization has also earned Wright recognition at UW–Madison. Vilas Research Professorships were created for the advancement of learning and supported by the estate of professor, US Senator and UW Regent William F. Vilas. They are granted to UW–Madison faculty with proven research ability and unusual qualifications and promise. Wright’s award letter from Provost John Zumbrunnen notes that the Professorship is “arguably the highest honor bestowed by our university.” Vilas Research Professorships are lifetime awards, with about 20 recipients still living. Wright joins Computer Sciences professors Guri Sohi and Miron Livny as holders of this professorship.   Wright’s stature in the field of Optimization  While many researchers in optimization focus on either theory, computational implementation, or practical applications, Wright is active in all three aspects. His research program has thrived in the interdisciplinary environment that UW-Madison is renowned for. His work applies across many fields, from machine learning and data science to computational biology. His book Numerical Optimization (with J. Nocedal) has been highly influential as a textbook and reference across many research communities. Wright has been recognized with the top awards in optimization, including the George B. Dantzig Prize from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the Mathematical Optimization Society in 2024. In the same year he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He served as Chair of the UW–Madison Computer Sciences department from 2023 until 2025.