The boundaries between Operations Research and Computer Science have become blurred. Important new theories and whole fields, like polyhedral combinatorics, have been and are being developed jointly by computer scientists, operations researchers, and applied mathematicians who consider themselves a little bit of both. Presentations of new results on graphs and matroid theory can be heard at Operations Research conferences, while papers on linear programming, network flows and matchings in graphs are frequently presented at Computer Science conferences. The mathematical content of the papers has become greater and more diverse. Yet, in spite of this, few Ph.
D students graduate with an equally solid knowledge of all three areas.
D program in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization at Carnegie Mellon is intended to fill this gap. The program brings together the study of the mathematical structure of discrete objects and the design and analysis of algorithms in areas such as graph theory, combinatorial optimization, integer programming, polyhedral theory, computational algebra, geometry and number theory. The academic requirements are the same for all students in the program. The Coordinating Committee has established a challenging core curriculum in Analysis, Algebra, Probability, Combinatorics, Linear and Integer Programming, Graph Theory, Algorithms and Complexity Theory. Besides the core courses, a host of other courses are available for the students to take.