Jim Luedtke

Jim Luedtke is a Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, within the College of Engineering. His research focuses on stochastic optimization, mixed-integer programming, and their applications in risk management, energy systems, and data-driven decision-making. He holds a Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology (2007) and postdoctoral experience at IBM Research. Luedtke has received notable awards, including the NSF CAREER Award (2010), the INFORMS Optimization Society Prize for Young Researchers (2013), and the IBM Faculty Award (2015). He currently serves on the editorial boards of Mathematical Programming Computation and chairs the Mathematical Optimization Society Publications Committee.

Education

• Ph.D., Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007
• M.S., Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004
• B.S., Industrial Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001

Research Interests

Luedtke’s work addresses challenges in stochastic optimization, particularly under risk constraints, and advances mixed-integer optimization methods. His research bridges theoretical developments with practical applications in power grids, supply chains, and data-driven systems. Key areas include:

• Bi-objective stochastic integer programming for power grid resilience
• Data-driven sample average approximation techniques
• Algorithmic enhancements for Benders decomposition and Lagrangian methods

Recent Research Trends

His publications emphasize balancing computational efficiency with robustness, such as sparse disjunctive cuts for binary variables and residuals-based distributionally robust optimization. Recent work extends stochastic programming to handle covariate information and missing data in subspace clustering.

Awards & Recognition

• 2022: Best Paper Award, Mathematical Programming Computation
• 2018: Harvey D. Spangler Faculty Scholar (UW-Madison)
• 2015: Fulbright Scholar

Advising & Grants

Luedtke has secured grants from NSF and industry partners, including the NSF CAREER Award. While no formal advisee list is provided, his courses (e.g., Stochastic Programming, Operations Research) suggest active involvement in mentoring graduate students.