diff --git a/gtsam/inference/Ordering.cpp b/gtsam/inference/Ordering.cpp
index 685bbcd0d..fbda41ac0 100644
--- a/gtsam/inference/Ordering.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/inference/Ordering.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 /**
  * @file    Ordering.cpp
  * @author  Richard Roberts
+ * @author  Andrew Melim
  * @date    Sep 2, 2010
  */
 
diff --git a/gtsam/inference/Ordering.h b/gtsam/inference/Ordering.h
index 45f53f2ad..6cf125551 100644
--- a/gtsam/inference/Ordering.h
+++ b/gtsam/inference/Ordering.h
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 /**
  * @file    Ordering.h
  * @author  Richard Roberts
+ * @author  Andrew Melim
  * @date    Sep 2, 2010
  */
 
diff --git a/gtsam/inference/tests/testOrdering.cpp b/gtsam/inference/tests/testOrdering.cpp
index 90e1cbe66..b769551bf 100644
--- a/gtsam/inference/tests/testOrdering.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/inference/tests/testOrdering.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 /**
  * @file testOrdering
  * @author Alex Cunningham
+ * @author Andrew Melim
  */
 
 #include <gtsam/inference/Symbol.h>
diff --git a/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizerParams.cpp b/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizerParams.cpp
index ef0f2aa9b..f20a36b5d 100644
--- a/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizerParams.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizerParams.cpp
@@ -107,10 +107,17 @@ void NonlinearOptimizerParams::print(const std::string& str) const {
     break;
   }
 
-  if (ordering)
-    std::cout << "                   ordering: custom\n";
-  else
-    std::cout << "                   ordering: COLAMD\n";
+  switch (orderingType){
+  case COLAMD:
+	  std::cout << "                   ordering: COLAMD\n";
+	  break;
+  case METIS:
+	  std::cout << "                   ordering: METIS\n";
+	  break;
+  default:
+	  std::cout << "                   ordering: custom\n";
+	  break;
+  }
 
   std::cout.flush();
 }
@@ -155,6 +162,34 @@ NonlinearOptimizerParams::LinearSolverType NonlinearOptimizerParams::linearSolve
   throw std::invalid_argument(
       "Unknown linear solver type in SuccessiveLinearizationOptimizer");
 }
+
 /* ************************************************************************* */
+std::string NonlinearOptimizerParams::orderingTypeTranslator(NonlinearOptimizerParams::OrderingType type) const
+{
+	switch (type) {
+	case METIS:
+		return "METIS";
+	case COLAMD:
+		return "COLAMD";
+	default:
+		if (ordering)
+			return "CUSTOM";
+		else
+			throw std::invalid_argument(
+			"Invalid ordering type: You must provide an ordering for a custom ordering type. See setOrdering");
+	}
+}
+
+/* ************************************************************************* */
+NonlinearOptimizerParams::OrderingType NonlinearOptimizerParams::orderingTypeTranslator(const std::string& type) const
+{
+	if (type == "METIS")
+		return METIS;
+	if (type == "COLAMD")
+		return COLAMD;
+	throw std::invalid_argument(
+		"Invalid ordering type: You must provide an ordering for a custom ordering type. See setOrdering");
+}
+
 
 } // namespace
diff --git a/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizerParams.h b/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizerParams.h
index dafc1f065..a390555e2 100644
--- a/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizerParams.h
+++ b/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizerParams.h
@@ -37,15 +37,21 @@ public:
     SILENT, TERMINATION, ERROR, VALUES, DELTA, LINEAR
   };
 
+  /** See NonlinearOptimizer::orderingType */
+  enum OrderingType {
+	COLAMD, METIS, CUSTOM
+  };
+
   int maxIterations; ///< The maximum iterations to stop iterating (default 100)
   double relativeErrorTol; ///< The maximum relative error decrease to stop iterating (default 1e-5)
   double absoluteErrorTol; ///< The maximum absolute error decrease to stop iterating (default 1e-5)
   double errorTol; ///< The maximum total error to stop iterating (default 0.0)
   Verbosity verbosity; ///< The printing verbosity during optimization (default SILENT)
+  OrderingType orderingType; ///< The method of ordering use during variable elimination (default COLAMD)
 
   NonlinearOptimizerParams() :
       maxIterations(100), relativeErrorTol(1e-5), absoluteErrorTol(1e-5), errorTol(
-          0.0), verbosity(SILENT), linearSolverType(MULTIFRONTAL_CHOLESKY) {
+          0.0), verbosity(SILENT), linearSolverType(MULTIFRONTAL_CHOLESKY), orderingType(COLAMD) {
   }
 
   virtual ~NonlinearOptimizerParams() {
@@ -152,12 +158,27 @@ public:
 
   void setOrdering(const Ordering& ordering) {
     this->ordering = ordering;
+	this->orderingType = CUSTOM;
+  }
+
+  std::string getOrderingType() const {
+	  return orderingTypeTranslator(orderingType);
+  }
+
+  // Note that if you want to use a custom ordering, you must set the ordering directly, this will switch to custom type
+  void setOrderingType(const std::string& ordering){
+	  orderingType = orderingTypeTranslator(ordering);
   }
 
 private:
   std::string linearSolverTranslator(LinearSolverType linearSolverType) const;
-  LinearSolverType linearSolverTranslator(
-      const std::string& linearSolverType) const;
+
+  LinearSolverType linearSolverTranslator(const std::string& linearSolverType) const;
+
+  std::string orderingTypeTranslator(OrderingType type) const;
+
+  OrderingType orderingTypeTranslator(const std::string& type) const;
+
 };
 
 // For backward compatibility: