the 1990s Vanderbei's research governed the development of interior-point solvers. In 1993, Helmberg, Rendl, Vanderbei, and Wolkowicz developed an interior-point algorithm for semidefinite programming. Vanderbei later developed algorithms for quadratic problems, convex, and finally nonlinear optimization problems. Vanderbei is the author of a textbook on linear programming and a software package for nonlinear programming called LOQO. Purple America Vanderbei received widespread attention for something that was only intended to be an exercise for the freshman computer programming course. U.S. News & World Report magazine, among other media outlets, reprinted his so-called Purple America map, which he made after the 2000 US Presidential election (and then subsequent national elections) to depict on a county-by-county level how the elections turned out. Recent research interests Since 2001, most of Vanderbei's research has been devoted to developing high-contrast imaging systems with the eventual aim of direct imaging of exoplanets. The concepts he has contributed to include shaped-pupil coronagraphs, PIAA-style pupil mapping coronagraphs, and space-based external occulters. Together with J. Richard Gott, Vanderbei is the author of a National Geographic book called Sizing Up The Universe (Book website). Other interests Vanderbei also was a serious glider pilot for many years. From 1988 to 1999 he was chief flight instructor for the Central Jersey Soaring Club. In 1999, he retired from soaring and took up the hobby of astrophotography. He regularly posts new astroimages on his astro gallery website. Awards and honors He was elected to the 2006 class of Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. In 2013 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society, for "contributions to linear programming and nonlinear optimization problems". References This article incorporates material from Robert J. Vanderbei's bio, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. 1955 births Living people Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Cornell University alumni Princeton University faculty American operations researchers American computer scientists Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics People from Grand Rapids, Michigan 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians