This issue of Inverse Problems in Science and Engineering (IPSE) contains selected papers presented in the Inverse Problems, Design and Optimization (IPDO) Symposium, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during March 17--19, 2004. The main objective of the IPDO Symposium was to bring together the three communities of researchers (inverse problems, design theory and optimization experts) and provide a common forum for presenting different applications, problems and solution concepts. The IPDO Symposium also celebrated the 10th anniversary of the journal Inverse Problems in Science and Engineering.
During the IPDO Symposium, three Keynote Lectures, six Invited Lectures, two Tutorial Sessions and 85 Oral Presentations were delivered. The symposium was closed with a round-table discussion on Synergism and Unifying Aspects of Inverse Methods, Design and Optimization Concepts. One hundred and sixteen participants, from five continents, enjoyed the Symposium in a friendly atmosphere provided by the Pestana Rio Atlântica Hotel on the beautiful Copacabana beach. Fifty-eight conference papers were also submitted for possible publication in special issues of the IPSE journal dedicated to the IPDO Symposium. From these fifty-eight papers, thirty-eight were accepted and will be published in this issue and in others to come.
The IPDO Symposium was co-organized by Florida International University, Miami, Florida and COPPE, which is the graduate school of engineering of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The Symposium was sponsored by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Group, National Science Foundation (NSF-USA) and by agencies from the Ministry of Science and Technology and from the Ministry of Education of the Brazilian government (CNPq and CAPES, respectively). We would like to express our gratitude to these sponsors, as well as to the members of the International Advisory Committee, for playing a fundamental role towards the success of the IPDO Symposium.
The next IPDO Symposium will be held in Miami, Florida, in 2007.