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Dear All,</div>
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<i>----- Apologies for any cross posting ----- </i></div>
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<b>(Become a Member of the Bilevel Optimization Society by filling the form here:
<a href="https://forms.office.com/e/xa7m37UDcJ" target="_blank" id="OWA85c861b3-2e1e-4297-0929-9d01f7625b7c" class="x_x_x_OWAAutoLink" title="Original URL: https://forms.office.com/e/xa7m37UDcJ. Click or tap if you trust this link." rel="noopener noreferrer" data-linkindex="0" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="margin: 0px;">
https://forms.office.com/e/xa7m37UDcJ</a>)</b>.</div>
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As you would remember, about a year ago, many of you signed up to support the initiative to create a Bilevel Optimization Society (BOS). The good news is that this process has now completed, and we are delighted to inform you that the BOS has now been approved
as a technical section of the Mathematical Optimization Society (MOS). We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported this initiative in various ways, and in particular by signing up to be a proposer for the MOS application. </div>
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Recall that the goal of the BOS is to create and maintain a community of researchers that recognize their work as related to bilevel optimization, while at the same time expanding its basis and promoting its outreach within and outside academia. This will be
achieved through the organization of (i) the International Conference on Bilevel Optimization (ICBO) series and (ii) the dissemination and promotion of research and information related to bilevel optimization. The bylaws of the BOS and some more information
about it can be found on the Society's website: <a href="https://bileveloptimization.org/" target="_blank" id="OWA1d8f9765-e817-b343-4a5b-0aefc4ffc71b" class="x_x_x_OWAAutoLink" title="Original URL: https://bileveloptimization.org/. Click or tap if you trust this link." rel="noopener noreferrer" data-linkindex="1" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="margin: 0px;">
https://bileveloptimization.org/</a>. <br>
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<span style="font-weight: bolder;">Purpose of this call:</span> The aim of this message is first to announce the good news above, and secondly to ask you to now register to become a member of the BOS by filling the form here:
<a href="https://forms.office.com/e/xa7m37UDcJ" target="_blank" id="OWA78e3bd38-03ea-e5b3-eaaf-a1d21e48d300" class="x_x_x_OWAAutoLink" title="Original URL: https://forms.office.com/e/xa7m37UDcJ. Click or tap if you trust this link." rel="noopener noreferrer" data-linkindex="2" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="margin: 0px;">
https://forms.office.com/e/xa7m37UDcJ</a>. If you fill and submit this form, you will automatically become a member of the BOS if you do not hear from us within a week from your submission. Additionally, note that as a member of the BOS, you will receive regular
email updates on the activities of the Society. You will be expected to engage with as many of those activities as possible in order to help the BOS to grow and thrive in the coming years. </div>
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<span style="font-weight: bolder;">Election of the first COBOS: </span>The activities of the BOS will officially start in January 2025. For this to be possible, the first Committee of the Bilevel Optimization Society (COBOS) (i.e., the Chair, the Secretary,
the Treasurer, and the Webmaster) needs to be elected by the end of this calendar year (precisely, the elections will take place from 7 to 21 December 2024). For more information on the duties of each of these roles, see the bylaws of the Society, which are
available via a link on its website: <a href="https://bileveloptimization.org/" target="_blank" id="OWAaa1d95e2-5bc7-2be5-637b-51ac7d63440f" class="x_x_x_OWAAutoLink" title="Original URL: https://bileveloptimization.org/. Click or tap if you trust this link." rel="noopener noreferrer" data-linkindex="3" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="margin: 0px;">
https://bileveloptimization.org/</a>. As part of filling this form, you can nominate someone to stand for elections for each of the aforementioned positions; see more details in item 11 of the registration form.<br>
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<span style="font-weight: bolder;">Deadline to sign up to become a BOS member: </span>
There is no deadline to sign up to become a member of the BOS. However, to take part in the election process for the first COBOS, please sign up by 6 December 2024. If you do not sign by this date, you will not be able to nominate someone for the different
positions or stand for the elections. But of course, you will still be able to vote if you sign up to become a member of the BOS by 21 December 2024. </div>
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With best wishes from the BOS founding committee</div>
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(Luce Brotcorne, Victor Bucarey-Lopez, Margarida Carvalho, Ted Ralphs, Martin Schmidt, Alain Zemkoho, and Jin Zhang)</div>
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