Semi-infinite programming is a natural extension of linear pro- gramming that allows finitely many variables to appear in infinitely many constraints. As the papers in this collection will reconfirm, the theoretical and practical manifestations and applications of this prob- lem formulation are abundant and significant. This volume presents 20 carefully selected papers that were pre- sented at the International Symposium on Semi-Infinite Programming and Applications, The University of Texas at Austin, September 8-10, 1981. A total of 70 papers were presented by distinguished participants from 15 countries. This was only the second international meeting on this topic, the first taking place in Bad Honnef, Federal Republic of Germany in 1978. A proceedings of that conference was organized and edited by Rainer Hettich of the University of Trier and published by Springer- Verlag in 1979. The papers in this volume could have been published in any of several refereed journals. It is also probable that the authors of these papers would normally not have met at the same professional society meeting. Having these papers appear under one cover is thus something of a new phenomenon and provides an indication of both the unification and cross-fertilization opportunities that have emerged in this field. These papers were solicited only through the collective efforts of an International Program Committee organized according to the fol- lowing research areas.