The Mathematical Optimization Society announced the three finalists for this year's A.W. Tucker Prize for outstanding doctoral thesis at the International Symposium on Mathematical Programming held in Pittsburgh, one finalist being our newest assistant professor, Dima Drusvyatskiy. He is cited for his 2013 thesis, Slope and Geometry in Variational Mathematics, which "distinguishes itself by its scope, developing fundamental concepts in mathematical optimization through a unique blend of semi-algebraic geometry and nonsmooth optimization theory and applying these to semi-algebraic or so-called tame optimization problems. Built on rich imagination and creativity, this dissertation makes an inspiring set of fundamental and far reaching conclusions in the area of nonsmooth optimization."