Introduction of Dr. Petra Renáta Rigó

 Dr. Petra Renáta Rigó

research fellow / assistant professor

Education: PhD in Mathematics (Budapest University of Technology and Economics), MSc in Applied Mathematics, BSc in Mathematics, BSc in Business Informatics (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca)

CIAS, Corvinus Center for Operations Research / Institute of Mathematics and Statistical Modeling

Managers: Dr. Gyula Vastag, Dr. Zoltán Szántó, Dr. Tibor Illés, Dr. Csaba Ágoston Kolos, Dr. Erzsébet Kovács

It is a great honor for me to have received the Gyula Farkas Award. The environment and the team I worked in were very important to me during my career. In Cluj-Napoca, I started my research on interior-point algorithms under the supervision of Zsolt Darvay. After successful admission, in 2016 I became a scholarship student at the Doctoral School of Mathematics and Computer Science of Budapest University of Technology and Economics. I completed my PhD studies under the supervision of Tibor Illés in 2020, I defended my PhD thesis with summa cum laude. Hungarian operations research is very strong border from here and beyond. Thanks to my internationally acknowledged supervisors, I had the opportunity to get to know and to work with several famous researchers in this field. Since September 2020, I have been a member of the newly established Corvinus Operations Research Center. In addition, I teach as an assistant professor at the Institute of Mathematics and Statistical Modeling.

Together with my co-authors, we developed new types of interior point algorithms based on the algebraically equivalent transformation of the central path equations for several problems – linear programming, linear complementarity, and symmetric optimization problems. Recently, I have been working on the development of predictor-corrector algorithms for sufficient linear complementarity problems. During my professional career so far, I have published 28 scientific publications with my co-authors, 9 of which have been published in Q1 or Q2 rated journals. I have presented my results at more than 10 international conferences and have been an active participant in a number of research projects. I have won various applications – New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology, Collegium Talentum Program – and research awards. I received the Gyula Kőnig Youth Research Award in 2018 at Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

I would also emphasize my passion for education. I completed the 5-year pedagogical program in Cluj-Napoca, which will be of great benefit to me in education. I gave lectures in math camps and prepared students for competitions. In 2019, one of my MSc students defended her dissertation under my supervision. As a supervisor, I am currently working with several students. It is a challenge for me to introduce students into the world of mathematical optimization and to show them the beauty of research.

I like to spend my free time with my family, my husband and little girl. My hobbies are baking, traveling and listening to music. I was a member of the Lyceum Choir in Cluj-Napoca for several years. I like playing the piano and singing folk songs, I consider the preservation of traditions important.