Carl Laird is an associate professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. His research focuses on high-performance computing, mathematical programming, and modeling of complex systems, with applications in critical infrastructure protection, process operation and safety, and infectious disease modeling. He is the recipient of several research and teaching awards, including the prestigious Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software based on his work on IPOPT. He is also a recipient of the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Development (CAREER) Award and the Montague Center for Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Laird earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon in 2006 and his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta.