What a Conference in Yalta

The second day of the 3rd Yalta Conference on Optimization with the theme of Network Science is now over with ( at least the technical part). The conference organizers have even planned an excursion to a local winery for this afternoon.

Yalta is a historic city located in Crimea, Ukraine.

I have enjoyed listening to the talks very much on wide-ranging network topics, including a fantastic talk on sensor networks in space and influence of space weather with risk analysis, prediction, and optimization.

Yesterday I gave a keynote talk, "Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World," which may be accessed in pdf format here.

Participants at this conference have come from the US, from Ukraine, Russia, Italy, and Romania. Some are students at US or Ukraine universities. The group from Romania drove for three days to get here; a couple from the US flew into Kiev and then drove down, whereas another group from Kiev took the train, which was late and they missed my talk.

It has been very special to be in this beautiful part of the world and to hear Ukrainian as well as Russian spoken.

The organizers of this conference have outdone themselves in attention to detail.

The banquet last night was exquisite and I will post photos after I return to the US.