During June 15–20, 2014, a group of scientists gathered together in a conferenceon “Optimization, Control and Applications in the Information Age” in order tocelebrate and honor Panos M. Pardalos on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Themeeting took place at theMeliton Hotel of Porto Carras on the middle leg (Sithonia)of the Chalkidiki peninsula in Macedonia, northern Greece, a place of exquisitebeauty and one of Panos’s favorite places. The conference was organized by SergiyButenko and Athanasios Migdalas and was attended by scientists from all over theworld. More than 50 members of this “Panos’s club” presented talks during thisevent.This volume is dedicated to Panos M. Pardalos, on the occasion of his 60thbirthday. The articles collected in this volume are based on selected talks presentedduring the conference. Several members of the Panos’s club could not attendconference, but have submitted their papers to this volume in order to honor him.The papers published in this volume cover a wide range of topics and presentrecent developments and surveys in research fields to which Pardalos has activelycontributed and promoted during his career.In addition, Panos’s spouse, Rosemary Bakker, has written a brief biographydescribing Panos’s exciting journey from a pastoral village on the high mountainsin Thessaly, central Greece, to a Distinguished Professorship at the University ofFlorida, that is, Panos’s own Odyssey. We therefore dedicate to him the first versesof Homer’s Odyssey and Cavaphes’ poem “Ithaka” believing that they accuratelydescribe Panos’s past, his present, and his future discovery voyages.We are indebted to Springer publishers and particularly to Razia Amzad for theirsupport in making the publication of this volume possible.