Margaret H. Wright, Ph.D.

Margaret H. Wright, a numerical analyst, is Silver Professor of computer science in the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. Her career path began with an M.S. in computer science from Stanford, scientific programming at GTE Sylvania, and a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford.

After that, she was a researcher in the Systems Optimization Laboratory in the Stanford Operations Research Department and then moved in 1988 to the Computing Sciences Research Center at AT&T Bell Labs. She joined the Computer Science Department at the Courant Institute in 2002 and served as chair of the department from 2002–2009.

Wright’s research focus is on optimization methods, including aspects of theory and practice in both mathematics and computer science (as well as scientific and engineering applications). Her special interests are non-derivative methods for nasty functions and interior-point methods for nonlinearly constrained problems.

Wright is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She holds honorary doctorates from the University of Waterloo and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm. She has chaired the Advisory Committee for the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the National Science Foundation, the Nevanlinna Prize Committee for the International Mathematical Union, and the International Review of the Mathematical Sciences in the United Kingdom.