Rate My Professor Samuel Burer

Burer's research specializes in mathematical optimization, developing theory and algorithms for challenging problems in operations research. His highly influential publications include 'A nonlinear programming algorithm for solving semidefinite programs via low-rank factorization' with R.D.C. Monteiro (Mathematical Programming, 2003), 'Non-convex mixed-integer nonlinear programming: A survey' with A.N. Letchford (2012), 'Local minima and convergence in low-rank semidefinite programming' with R.D.C. Monteiro (2005), 'On the copositive representation of binary and continuous nonconvex quadratic programs' (2009), and 'Ensemble Pruning Via Semi-definite Programming' (2006). He has received major awards such as the INFORMS Computing Society Prize (2020, with R.D.C. Monteiro), SIAM Optimization Test of Time Award (2023, with R.D.C. Monteiro), University of Iowa President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence (2022), Collegiate Research Impact Award (2024), NSF CAREER award, and Optimization Prize for Young Researchers (2002). Burer serves as Area Editor for Operations Research (2020–present), Associate Editor for Mathematical Programming (2022–present), and previously for SIAM Journal on Optimization, Management Science, and others. He has delivered numerous invited talks, including a plenary at SIAM Conference on Optimization (2023) and presentations at INFORMS, MIT, and international universities.