Book excerpt: This book features a selection of contributions that were presented at the Modeling and Optimization: Theory and Applications Conference (MOPTA) held at Lehigh University in B ethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA between August 16-18, 2017. The conference brought together a diverse group of researchers and practitioners working on both theoretical and practical aspects of continuous and discrete optimization. Topics covered include algorithms for solving convex, network, mixed-integer, nonlinear, and global optimization problems, and address the application of deterministic andstochastic optimization techniques in energy, finance, logistics, analytics, health, and other important fields. The selected contributions in this book illustrate the broad diversity of ideas discussed at the meeting.