The IUTAM Symposium on "Discrete Structural Optimization" was devoted to discuss optimization problems for which design va riables may not be sought among continuous sets. Optimum sizing from lists of available profiles, segmentation; as well as allocation and number of supports, sensors or actuators, are good exam ples of such problems for which design variables may be chosen only from finite sets. The above problems are having not only important practical applications. They are also inspiring scienti fic research in the field of discrete applied mathematics. Among them are controlled...