The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) announced that Santanu Dey is the inaugural recipient of the INFORMS Optimization Society (IOS) Egon Balas Prize. Dey is an A. Russell Chandler III Professor in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).

The Egon Balas Prize was established in 2020 and is awarded annually to an early-career individual for significant contributions in the field of optimization, including theory, algorithms, and/or computations. In the award announcement, Dey is cited for his “strong and seminal contributions to the theory of maximal lattice-free convex sets; multi-row cuts; cutting planes in integer programming; the structure of mixed-integer convex optimization; and, along with co-authors, developed practical algorithms for power problems based on strong relaxations from a detailed analysis of the underlying systems.”

“Congratulations to Santanu on being the inaugural winner of the Egon Balas Prize,” said ISyE School Chair Edwin Romeijn. “He has made a substantial impact on the field of discrete optimization during his career, and this award further confirms that. We are proud to have him as part of the ISyE team, and I look forward to his future contributions.”

Dey's research interests are in the area of non-convex optimization, and in particular, mixed integer linear and nonlinear programming. His research is partly motivated by applications of non-convex optimization arising in areas such as electrical power engineering, process engineering, civil engineering, logistics, and statistics.

"I am honored to receive this award and feel truly humbled," said Dey.

He has received a number of professional recognitions for his work, including an NSF CAREER Award in 2012 and the INFORMS ENRE Best Publication: Energy in 2019.

Dey, who serves as ISyE’s associate chair for graduate studies, will present his work at the virtual INFORMS Annual Meeting in early November.