Professor Panos Pardalos Celebrates His 60th Birthday

On June 17, 2014, Panos Pardalos—Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida and Scientific Advisor at the HSE’s International Laboratory of Algorithms and Technologies for Networks Analysis—celebrates his 60^th birthday.

The international laboratory was established at the HSE’s Nizhny Novgorod campus in 2011 under the leadership of ProfessorPardalos, one of the world’s leading scholars of computer science, mathematics and their applications. Bringing such a well-known researcher and academic administrator is undoubtedly the most significant event in the history of this campus.

In just over two years, a research team capable of solving any level of research task has formed at the HSE Nizhny Novgorod under Professor Pardalos’ guidance. Nizhny Novgorod has also become home to two international conferences on network analysis, as well as several international summer schools.

Professor Pardalos loves working with his students. In the U.S. alone, where he has taught for more than 30 years, he has worked with more than 50 students to defend their doctoral dissertations.

'The best reward for a teacher is to see his students succeed. It is important to be honest, friendly and available to students, to create the opportunity for students to develop short- and long-range educational goals, to understand themselves, to explore the world of research, to foster critical thinking and decision-making skills,' he says.

One can speak about Professor Pardalos’ academic achievements and honours for a long time. His research in the fields of network structures, algorithms, and optimization has found application in e-commerce, telecommunications, medicine, bioinformatics and many other sectors. His books, especially on global optimization, have become classic textbooks for students. Recognition by ProfessorPardalos’ colleagues is clearly demonstrated by a major international conference in his honour that is being organized in his native Greece.

But Professor Pardalos is fascinated not only by mathematics and its applications; he is also interested in ancient Greek philosophy and 20^th century poetry. Even Euclid explored how mathematics is connected with music, aesthetics and architecture.

'Many times in my life I have written poetry. Mathematics expresses the rigorous part of your character. In poetry we express things that we cannot formulate precisely; poetry, like music, is needed for understanding and communicating different parts of ourselves,' Professor Pardalos says.

Best wishes for a Happy Birthday, Professor Pardalos!