Professor Emeritus Michael Saunders from Stanford University talked about “Algorithms for Constrained Optimization: The Benefits of General-purpose Software”

2023/09/08

The seminar “Algorithms for Constrained Optimization: The Benefits of General-purpose Software” was held by the School of Business of Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) on 7th September 2023 (Thursday) at 10:00 a.m. at the Lecture Theater O702 at MUST. The seminar was given by Michael Saunders, Professor Emeritus of Stanford University. Leaders of research institutes and the School of Business (MSB) attending the seminar include Chair Professor Wu NaiQi, Director of Macao Institute of System Engineering, Head of the Department of Engineering Science of Faculty of Innovation Engineering; Professor Qian Tao, Director of Macao Centre for Mathematical Sciences; Professor Wang Wenmin, Program Director of International Institute of Next Generation Internet; Professor Sheng Ni, Dean of MSB; Professor Chan Tung Sun (Felix), Vice Dean of MSB; Professor Tang Hua Jun, Assistant Dean of MSB, and Associate Professor Li Xin, Head of Department of Decision Science of MSB. More than 150 students and faculty staff attended this seminar and the interactive atmosphere during the seminar was good.

The speaker Professor Emeritus Michael Saunders from Stanford University shared his professional academic knowledge, experiences, and opinions in numerical optimization and some unexpected applications of optimization software within aerospace, signal analysis, systems biology, economics, radiotherapy, etc. during the seminar. The speech of Professor Saunders provided the students and faculty members with a precious learning opportunity and really brought them inspirational ideas for research and teaching.

Michael Saunders is a Professor (Research) Emeritus at Stanford University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford in 1972 (advisor Gene Golub). He is also co-author of general-purpose numerical software for sparse linear equations (MINRES, SYMMLQ, LSQR, LSMR, MINRES-QLP, LUSOL) and for constrained optimization (MINOS, LSSOL, NPSOL, QPOPT, SQOPT, SNOPT, PDCO). His awards included Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, SIAM Fellow, SIAM Linear Algebra Prize, and Stanford Invention Hall of Fame.

Professor Michael Saunders gave a speech to MUST teachers and students

Professor Michael Saunders interacted with teachers during the seminar

Dean Sheng Ni (Right) presented a souvenir to Professor Michael Saunders

Group photo of Professor Michael Saunders with MUST teachers and students