From Cuts to Convexity & Beyond

Honoring Michel Goemans at 60

Date: June 11th, 2025
Location: MIT Math Department

Please join us for a one-day celebration of Professor Michel Goemans and his 60th birthday. Michel has made groundbreaking contributions to combinatorial optimization, graph theory, approximation algorithms, and more. This event aims to showcase and celebrate the many areas of mathematics close to Michel's heart.

Please register for this event here.

Speakers:

Samuel Fiorini (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Nick Harvey (University of British Columbia)
Jon Kleinberg (Cornell University)
Thomas Rothvoss (University of Washington)
Ola Svensson (EPFL)
David P. Williamson (Cornell University)
Jan Vondrák (Stanford University)
Rico Zenklusen (ETH Zürich)

Schedule:

All scheduled talks take place in 2-190 and last 45 minutes each. Breakfast, coffee breaks, and dinner all take place in 2-290. Further details regarding the schedule, including titles of talks & abstracts, will be added as the event approaches.

8:15 am -- 8:55 am	Check In & Light Breakfast
8:50 am -- 9:00 am	Opening Remarks
9:00 am -- 9:45 am	Samuel Fiorini
9:45 am -- 10:30 am	Nick Harvey
10:30 am -- 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am -- 11:45 am	David P. Williamson
11:45 am -- 12:30 pm	Rico Zenklusen
12:30 pm -- 2:00 pm	Lunch
2:00 pm -- 2:45 pm	Ola Svensson
2:45 pm -- 3:30 pm	Jon Kleinberg
3:30 pm -- 4:00 pm	Coffee Break
4:00 pm -- 4:45 pm	Jan Vondrák
4:45 pm -- 5:30 pm	Thomas Rothvoss
5:30 pm -- 5:45 pm	Closing Remarks
5:45 pm -- 8:00 pm	Reception & Banquet (registration required)

Event Poster:

Michel's Former License Plate:

(excerpt taken from Donald E. Knuth, "Mathematical Vanity Plates", Mathematical Intelligencer, Vol 33, 33-45, 2011)

Organizers: Nick Harvey, Thomas Rothvoss, John Urschel, David P. Williamson, Jan Vondrák
Contact Email: urschel@mit.edu
Organized in collaboration and with the support of the MIT Mathematics Department

photo credit: julili Photography
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