The New Common: How the COVID-19 Pandemic is Transforming Society, 2021 (22-4-21)

Emile Aarts is a Professor of Computer Science at Tilburg University (The Netherlands). After completion of his academic studies at Radboud University Nijmegen and Groningen University, he joined Philips Research in 1983 where he worked in various research and management positions until he was appointed in 2009 as Chief Scientific Officer. In 2012 he left Philips to resume a full-time academic career as dean of the faculty of Mathematics and Computing Science of the Eindhoven University of Technology. From 2015 until 2019 he has been the rector of Tilburg University. Emile Aarts is an experienced and highly-cited scientist. He is the co-author of 20 books and more than 250 scientific papers. His most influential work is on local search, a branch of mathematical optimization that has a broad application in engineering, management sciences, and artificial intelligence.