Fulkerson 100 is a workshop organized by the Dept. of Combinatorics & Optimization (C&O) in celebration of Ray Fulkerson's centenary year of birth. It will be held from July 17-19, 2024 at the University of Waterloo.

Delbert Ray Fulkerson was born on August 14th, 1924, and had a profound and lasting impact on combinatorial optimization, helping shape the burgeoning field of Operations Research during his twenty years at the RAND Corporation and his time as a Professor at Cornell University. In addition to being the year of his 100th birthday, 2024 also marks the 70th anniversary of two of his pioneering papers: "Maximal Flow through a Network" (with Ford, RAND report), and "Solution of a Large-Scale Traveling-Salesman Problem" (with Dantzig and Johnson, J.ORSA). The former is probably Fulkerson's most well-known work, which helped establish the subject of network flows. The latter work introduced the use of cutting planes for solving integer programs, thereby laying the foundations of modern integer-programming solvers and helping to launch the area of polyhedral combinatorics. In recognition of his seminal contributions, the Fulkerson prize was established in 1979, a highly prestigious award given jointly by MOS and AMS for "outstanding papers in the area of discrete mathematics."

Fulkerson 100 is a meeting organized to celebrate Fulkerson's legacy and impact in discrete mathematics, especially in the fields of graph theory, optimization, and operations research. The workshop will feature invited talks in graph theory, combinatorics, optimization, and theoretical computer science, given by some of the foremost researchers in these areas. It will also feature lightning talks and a poster session devoted to students and postdocs. By bringing together various leading researchers in discrete mathematics with junior researchers and students, the workshop aims to boost research in the areas pioneered by Fulkerson, while (implicitly) commemorating his vision and contributions.

Cornell University will host a parallel event, from Sep 20, 21, 2024 that will focus on the life and contributions of Fulkerson. While the two events are independent, we are coordinating with the organization of the two events.

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You may also be interested in attending ISMP 2024, being held from July 21-26, 2024 in Montreal, CANADA.